The #1 Secret of the World's Most Successful Leaders-- And How You Can Use it to Your Advantage

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One of the greatest quotes on time came from Apple cofounder and former CEO Steve Jobs:

“It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.”

The most commonly heard words I hear on time are these: “I don’t have the time.” Let me tell you something:

Yes.

You.

Do.

This is fact, not opinion.

This subtle mindset change will shift the paradigm for how you view your days, weeks, and months. It will get you to think deeper on how you choose to spend this most precious resource. It’s truly a matter of prioritization. All of us will have days—perhaps consecutive days—in “back-to- back meetings” focused on business results. That’s to be expected.

But if you find yourself in this position every day, with no time for your team or strategic thinking, it’s time to reconsider how you plan your day. The most powerful time prioritization and productivity tool I use with clients is the Eisenhower Matrix, which gives us a framework to become more efficient by determining what is most important and urgent.

Prioritizing What's Most Important

You can use this for yourself and also with your team. Either way, the best place to begin is organizing your priorities by importance. One example is to see your tasks and meetings through these three areas: innovation, teamwork, and results.

Start here and think about how things stack for you. You can also develop your own criteria. Let’s look at several areas (among many) of what’s most important for you as a leader (in no particular order):

● Growth;

● People;

● Communication;

● Vision and strategy;

● Excellence of results;

● Quality of products, ideas, and offerings;

● Financial performance;

● Leadership;

● Hiring and retaining employees;

● Developing new products, ideas, and offerings;

● Teamwork;

● Culture;

● Cultivating new leaders; and

● Advancement opportunities.

Diving into The Eisenhower Matrix

Now, let’s dive into the matrix, shown above. Your starting point for properly using the Eisenhower Matrix to your team’s advantage is to first define what is urgent and important, as shown in the first quadrant. I encourage you to begin with importance, which will tie back to your vision, purpose, mission, and strategic goals.

This should be an inclusive process that receives input from many stakeholders and is pressure-tested by variables such as time, effort, and impact.

So what does it mean to define importance? The answer should be: “By doing these things, we will deliver maximum value to our organization and those we serve.” This is unique to each organization. “Important” comes first. At a strategic level, that definition guides you to set the tactical things that you need to accomplish.

Urgency determines the order for when things need to be completed. Where I see some leaders struggle is thinking “the next fire” or “shiny object” is what needs their immediate attention. You safeguard against this by balancing urgency with importance. In the broader view, it’s best to have an intake system.

Creating Your Intake System

This means that every time a new strategic initiative, project, or task comes in, your team has a repeatable process geared toward efficiency and quality to help you plan, delegate, and execute. Consider these factors for your intake system:

● Define the level of importance, when it’s due, who it’s for, and who the request is coming from;

● Evaluate how much time it will take;

● Determine risks and dependencies;

● Decide who will be the owner or directly responsible individual (DRI); and team members assigned to the work; and

● Put a date on when you expect this to be completed.

Having an intake system gives you more control and influence over how you manage each new priority. It helps you stay organized, knowing that plans will always change. Choose what you need to own, what you can partner with others on, and what you can delegate to others. I call this “Own, Partner, Delegate.” This can form the backbone of your intake system and prepare you for what comes next.

Understand very clearly what work tasks, meetings and strategic initiatives you need to Own and run with yourself. Recognize what you need to partner with someone else on to complete and plan accordingly. And last, and perhaps most important, master the art of delegating work, tasks or meetings that no longer rise to your level and are best suited for someone else to complete.

Create *Your* Version of the 3 C's

Last, let's look at the classification of your time. What has worked wonders for my clients, and helped me exponentially as an entrepreneur, is classifying my time into categories. I call mine “the 3 C’s”:

● Clients: My top focus as an executive coach, consultant and keynote speaker is the clients I serve. I want to know them, understand their needs, and do everything in my power to serve them. Clients come first.

● Creativity: Creativity is what made writing this book possible. I’m an author who writes books and speeches, prepares team-building workshops, and contributes thought leadership to thousands of organizations. I also created the LinkedIn Learning course “Leading with Emotional Intelligence.” Creativity is where I spend a lot of my time.

● Create new business: Creating new business is the lifeblood of every entrepreneur and every successful organization. Marketing, sales, and understanding who needs my services is another way to prioritize my time.

You may be the CEO of a large technology company. You may be a senior executive for a pharmaceutical or financial services company. You may be an entrepreneur yourself, leading a start-up.

My message to you is simple: find your 3 C’s. Create your own classification for how you prioritize your time. Come up with a simple mnemonic that you can always turn to that helps you stay organized. The key is to choose something that becomes a part of your subconscious memory and is easily recalled.

Whether that’s the 3 C’s, an acronym, or even a name, use something that helps you classify the majority of your most important work. Every successful leader and employee that I know is someone has has mastered the art of prioritizing their most important responsibilities and developing consistency on executing them everyday. That's what leading like a champion is all about.

Please consider sharing this on LinkedIn and with friends and colleagues! Welcome to The Champion Leader Movement! Hit the subscribe button to receive this newsletter each week.

Christopher D. Connors is the author of The Champion Leader (pre-order now!). He's a keynote speaker, executive coach, and globally recognized expert on emotional intelligence. Christopher consults with executives and leaders at Fortune 1000 companies and with organizations spanning many industries.

He is the #1 best-selling author of Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader, one of the top selling emotional intelligence books in the world. He is also the creator of top LinkedIn Learning course, Leading with Emotional Intelligence.