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Leadership is about Taking Action

Guest post by: Dr. Rick Johnson

Article Overview: Leadership is often measured by your ability to take action. Yes, sometimes that means shooting from the hip by taking "calculated" risk. It becomes a function of how fast you can analyze a situation, take action and make things happen. The more proactive you are, the more productive you will become. This earns trust and respect. There is no greater reward than accomplishing a difficult task. However, you can't complete a project if it never gets started.

Leadership is about Taking Action

Leadership is often measured by your ability to take action. Yes, sometimes that means shooting from the hip by taking "calculated" risk. It becomes a function of how fast you can analyze a situation, take action and make things happen. The more proactive you are, the more productive you will become. This earns trust and respect. There is no greater reward than accomplishing a difficult task. However, you can't complete a project if it never gets started. Effective leadership deals with procrastination by applying the following tactics:

• Create self imposed deadlines to keep you focused. Don't create undo pressure but do make timeline commitments. Create milestone markers to judge your progress. These can be termed mini goals leading to your ultimate goal.

• Don't be a perfectionist. Unless you are a brain surgeon don't let perfection or analysis paralyze you into inaction. Sometimes good is good enough. The slogan "Good is the enemy of great" (Collins) does not apply when dealing with procrastination. Remember, once you decide on your initial actions you can always go back and adjust or react to circumstance. Remain flexible.

• Don't prioritize based on how difficult a problem is and leave it for last. Prioritize based on impact on your goals and importance. We face both easy and hard issues every day. Generally, it is better to get the tough ones out of the way first. Also, if you are in a leadership position, learn the art of empowerment and delegation. When confronted with a distressing problem or task, complete it immediately instead of wasting time avoiding it. This relieves your concerns, frees up your attention and allows you to move on to more productive activities. Taking on the easy tasks first allows us the opportunity to "lolly gag" in our actions to avoid the more difficult tasks.

Create a "To Do List"

I often wonder how many of you actually do "To Do" lists. I do "To Do" lists. I think they are basic to effective time management. I wouldn't have admitted this when I was younger but yesterday I did something that wasn't on my "To Do" list. So......... I wrote it on and then crossed it off. How many of you would admit to that? A "To Do" List will free up space in your mind so that you can concentrate on the job at hand. You can give these things your full attention without the stress of worrying that you will forget something.

Another thing I do that I wouldn't own up to when I was younger has to do with spelling. If I don't know how to spell a word, I'll write it real fast because I'd rather be considered sloppy than stupid. Procrastination can become an immobilizer. Don't allow yourself to become susceptible to procrastination. Build up your defenses by striving to be proactive in everything you do. Taking action is always the best way to conquer procrastination. Doing nothing should never be an option.

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Article Tags: coach, leadership, management, mentor, Succes



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