"Making the very most of your time [on earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence], because the days are [filled with] evil.

Ephesians 5:16 (AMP)

 

In leadership, time is an important resource that a leader cannot afford to mismanage. The reason is because everything a leader will ever do and accomplish is within a timeframe. Leaders that make the most of their time are usually motivated by a sense of urgency. Jesus said something profound about this resource in John 9:4. He said to His disciples: "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work." This was the reason Jesus was about the Father's business in His three and half years that He was here on earth, because He knew His time to accomplish the work is very short. Any leader that is motivated by this sense of urgency is usually able to get many things done within the shortest timeframe possible.

 

Listen to Podcast: UNDERSTANDING TIME AS AN IMPORTANT RESOURCE IN LEADERSHIP

 

So, most effective leaders understand this time resource factor and they make use of it, recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity to effect the necessary changes in their nation, organization, family, ministry and in whatever level of leadership that they find themselves. While great leaders make the most of their time, others waste their time on things that are not important and counterproductive. An example of a leader who understood that there is time for everything, and made use of the limited time he had in leadership judiciously was Josiah. He didn't consider that he was too young to start to make changes as the leader that he was as early as possible while he was a king.

 

"Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ² And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. ³ For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images. ⁴ They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars which were above them he cut down; and the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ And so he did in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali and all around, with axes. ⁷ When he had broken down the altars and the wooden images, had beaten the carved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem."

2 Chronicles 34:1-7

 

I remember the famous quotes by Thomas Edison which says: "Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing we can't afford to lose." The secret to effectiveness and lasting impact in leadership is in recognizing that you will not occupy that position of authority that you are currently occupying forever and that the earlier you start to get the job done, like king Josiah; the better for you and your leadership. Those leaders who do not understand how to make use of this time resource in leadership make a mess of their leadership.

 

For example, it is a common practice for many politicians in Nigeria to waste their entire first term in office believing they will get another term. Some will even postpone some of the projects they are meant to execute during their first tenure into sometime in the future of their second term. In most cases, some of them don't get re-elected, and these projects become abandoned projects, and we have so many of them littered across the states of the federation today. I don't know what you have been able to achieve so far this year as a leader, and the things you have planned to achieve. My message for you today is simple: Time Is Waiting For No Man.

 

And if time is waiting for nobody, it means you as the leader also don't have that luxury of time on your side too. So, lace your booths, roll your shirts and launch yourself into that assignment that has been committed in your hands as the leader. I believe this short piece have inspired you greatly.

 

Thank you for your time, and God bless you!

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

Feel free to share your thoughts or testimony in the comment box below. I promise to respond to them as soon as possible!