3. Meaning
The crisis of our day isn’t a lack of information; it’s a lack of meaning.
We have access to more information than we’ve ever had, and yet our depth is lacking.
One of the greatest contributions you can make as a leader is to bring insight—to offer meaning in a world of information.
That can only be done if you set aside time for prayer, reflection, reading and digesting what you know.
4. Peace
One of the reasons I hated slowing down when I was younger is because every time I did, there was an uneasiness that would surface.
I realized later that there were some things God wanted to deal with in me.
Through counseling, prayer and the help of friends, I dealt with the unhealth that was impacting my leadership, my marriage and even my parenting.
After I dealt with that, I began to crave time alone. I began to love silence.
What I discovered in the silence was peace.
Peace isn’t the absence of conflict. It’s the presence of God.
5. Self-awareness
The best leaders are self-aware leaders.
Self-awareness takes time. It takes time to ask others what their experience of you has been. It takes time to reflect, to pray and to think about why you’ve ended up where you’ve ended up.
It takes time to banish the excuses and take responsibility.
If you’re always busy, you’ll never become self-aware.
If you want more on self-awareness in leadership, here are four things self-aware leaders know that others don’t.
6. Kindness
The first thing to go when I’m rushed is my kindness.
Busyness has a way of making you both impatient and ungracious.
You are rarely kind when you’re in a hurry.
In the same way lack of money impacts generosity, lack of time impacts kindness.
If you want to be more kind, be less rushed. There’s a direct correlation.
7. Purpose
Busy leaders mostly think about ‘what’ and ‘how.’ They rarely think about ‘why,’ largely because they don’t take the time to do that.
And yet, as we’ve seen, meaning is one of the greatest contributions you can make as a leader.
The more unhurried time you take in leadership, the more you will be able to clarify and direct purpose.
You’ll even eventually discover why you do what you do.
And when you see that clearly, you’ll clarify meaning and purpose for everyone in the organization.
The ‘what’ and ‘how’ of any organization grow old quickly. ‘Why’—especially in the church—never gets old.
If you want to inspire a team over the long haul, purpose is far more motivating than strategy.
