We live in a busy filled-to-the-brim world. This is true for everyone, but especially for leaders. There are more distractions, diversions and noise in our world than ever before in history. And while everyone has 24/7 news, email, texts, social networks and a hundred other sources of information and noise, leaders probably have more. . .
More interests, more people wanting part of their time, more things to read and keep up on . . . more.
I was struck this weekend by the impact of noise in a new way.
I love college basketball – and as a college basketball fan, March, and perhaps particularly this weekend (the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament) is the perfect time to be a fan. While I certainly didn’t watch every game from start to finish, I did watch more television over the last few days than usual – a lot more.
And what I found last night as I laid down was that it was the first time since the very beginning of my day that my world had been quiet. And while I enjoyed my day with my family and college basketball, at the end of the day I realized that without quiet I didn’t have time to think.
As leaders we must have time to think.
If we want to build more effective leadership skills for ourselves and others, we must carve out quiet time, because without quiet time we cannot adequately think about our challenges, our opportunities, our goals and our plans.
In order to master the complexities of our leadership communication and to influence most effectively we must create or carve out quiet time to think.
I realize this isn’t a leadership skill as much as a personal habit, but it is a habit that will make a huge difference in our ability to lead others effectively.
Want to be a better leader?
Create quiet time in your life.
Give your yourself time to think.
Creating this habit may be the most important leadership development you will do this year.
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