John C. Maxwell - The Law of Priorities: Lesson 17 from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

1998 and 2007 by John C. Maxwell

This ebook is derived from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John Maxwell, 1998 and 2007 by Maxwell Motivation, Inc., a Georgia corporation.

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Scripture quotations noted CEV are from THE CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION.
1991 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations noted The Message are from The Message: The New Testament in Contemporary English. 1993 by Eugene H. Peterson.

ISBN 978-0-7852-7431-5 (HC)
ISBN 978-1-4185-3831-6 (ebook)
ISBN 978-1-4002-7576-2 (ebook of Chapter 17)

This book is dedicated to Charlie Wetzel, my writing partner since 1994. Together weve written more than forty books, and Ive enjoyed our collaboration on every one. As I have labored to add value to others by identifying and teaching leadership principles, Charlie, you have added value to me and my efforts. Your insights and skills as a wordsmith have been enjoyed by millions of readers. As a result, you have made a greater impact on more people than has anyone else in my inner circle. For that I thank you.

CONTENTS

Thank you to the thousands of leaders around the world who learned and sometimes challenged the laws of leadership, thus sharpening my thinking.

Thank you to the team at Thomas Nelson who gave me the chance to revise and improve this book, and especially to Tami Heim for her strategic leadership and to Victor Oliver who was instrumental in the development of the original concept.

Thank you to Linda Eggers, my executive assistant, and her assistant, Sue Caldwell, for their incredible service and willingness to go the extra mile every day.

Thank you to Charlie Wetzel, my writer, and Stephanie, his wife, with-out whose work this book would not have been possible.

Leaders Understand That Activity
Is Not Necessarily Accomplishment

Leaders never advance to a point where they no longer need to prioritize. Its something that good leaders keep doing, whether theyre leading a billion-dollar corporation, running a small business, pastoring a church, coaching a team, or leading a small group. I think good leaders intuitively know that to be true. However, not every leader practices the discipline of prioritizing. Why? I believe there are a few reasons.

First, when we are busy, we naturally believe that we are achieving. But busyness does not equal productivity. Activity is not necessarily accomplishment. Second, prioritizing requires leaders to continually think ahead, to know whats important, to know whats next, to see how everything relates to the overall vision. Thats hard work. Third, prioritizing causes us to do things that are at the least uncomfortable and sometimes downright painful.

TIME TO RETHINK PRIORITIES

I know the pain of reprioritizing from personal experience. In 1996, I was living in San Diego, which is one of my favorite places on the planet. San Diego is a gorgeous city, with one of the best climates in the world. If you live in San Diego, you can be on the beach in minutes or on the ski slopes in hours. The city has culture, professional sporting teams, and fine restaurants. Its a place where you can play golf year-round. Why would I ever want to leave a place like that? I expected to live there the rest of my life. It was very comfortable. But leadership has nothing to do with comfort and everything to do with progress.

Back then I spent a lot of time on airplanes. Living in San Diego, I spent entire days traveling to airline hubs like Dallas, Chicago, and Atlanta just to make connections. Most of my speaking and consulting work was east of the Mississippi River, and the travel was taking a toll. I knew in my gut that I needed to make changes. So I asked Linda, my assistant, to figure out exactly how much time I was spending traveling. What I learned shocked me. In the previous year, I had spent the equivalent of twenty-seven full days traveling back and forthjust between San Diego and Dallas to make flight connections. It made me realize that I needed to sit down and reevaluate my priorities.

If I was going to live consistently with the priorities I had established for myself, I was going to have to move myself and my companies to one of the hub cities. Author Stephen Covey says, A leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells, Wrong jungle! I felt a little like that when I realized what we were about to do.

After a lot of research, we settled on Atlanta. It was a major airline hub. From there I would be able to reach 80 percent of the people in the United States within two hours by plane. And the area is beautiful, offering excellent cultural, recreational, and entertainment opportunities to my employees. I knew people could live well there. It would not be an easy move, but it was a necessary one.

Its been ten years since we made the move. You may ask, Was it worth it? My answer is an emphatic yes. Atlanta is a business-friendly area. The cost of living is very reasonable compared to other large cities. And most important for me and for the consultants who work for my company, travel has become so much easier. Most of the time I can travel, speak, and return home the same day. As a result, my productivity has skyrocketed. Can you imagine getting twenty-seven days of your life back every year? In the ten years since the move, Ive gained 270 days. A normal work year for most people is 250 days. Its like Ive had an extra year added to the most productive time of my life! And theres nothing like being at home with my wife at the end of a day of traveling instead of being in a hotel room.

THE THREE RS

Leaders cant afford to just think inside the box. Sometimes they need to reinvent the boxor blow it up. Executive and author Max Depree says, The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. That requires the Law of Priorities. When youre the leader, everything is on the table.

Every year I spend about two weeks in December reevaluating my priorities. I review the previous years schedule. I look at my upcoming commitments. I evaluate my family life. I think about my goals. I look at the big picture of what Im doing to make sure the way Im living lines up with my values and priorities.

One of the guiding principles I use during this process is the Pareto Principle. Ive often taught it to people at leadership conferences over the years, and I also explain it in depth in my book