Do you know the difference between activity and real accomplishment? (136-5)

Effective leaders don’t confuse activity with accomplishment. Read Proverbs 14:23.

Even top flight, experienced leaders can find ways to wile away time. It happens in a different way than the first year apprentice but the lack of actual work and accomplishments are just as damaging and over time become just as obvious.

There seems to be two situations where even experienced leaders are more likely to become victim to poor time management and lack of productivity:

When a leader has been working at the same job for a long time, done the hard work of building an efficient team, put structure and organization in place, finely tuned plans and everything runs smoothly without constant attention – The lack of problems to solve and even the need for a leaders influence every moment can create a situation where the leader learns how to kill time. King David of Israel just prior to his affair with Bathsheba is an example of this situation. You can re-read that story in 2 Samuel 11-12.

When a leader believes they have no control over the job at hand or the future and sense that no matter what they do it will have no impact on the current situation – When a leader feels they have a lack of control over their situation it is easy to develop a complacent attitude which leads to slothful management practices. A story of success in just such a situation was Moses. God had assigned Moses the duty of leading the people of Israel out of a bad situation in Egypt. Once they had escaped the Egyptian Army by crossing the Red Sea they began a time of 40 years of aimless wandering in the desert wilderness yet Moses found ways to communicate with God, organize the people, establish laws that we still base our laws on today and accomplish many other great things. You can see Moses philosophy in his prayer in Psalm 90 particularly in verses 12 and 17.

Effective leaders understand the difference between activity and real accomplishment. They understand that work brings profit and mere talk brings poverty. It was Henry David Thoreau that said, “As if we could kill time without injuring eternity.” Time is a leader’s most precious resource. Effective leaders understand the stewardship of the time they have been allotted.

Memorize Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.”