The White Rabbit Syndrome

Christian Leaders and their time.

When my children were growing up -and in the days of VHS- they would love to watch the Disney movie "Alice in Wonderland" The opening scenes of the white rabbit running and looking at his watch crying out "I'm late! I'm late! I'm late, for a very important date!" would make my children smile with glee and anticipation as they prepared themselves for what would happen next.

This got me thinking this week at how many young Christian leaders I come across who are late for things and also seem to bogged down with work with no end in sight to different projects. They spend their time running around like the white rabbit, crying they don't have enough time.

I have just as much time as they do; 24 hours in a day.

There are two areas that I have always been very good at; Letting my yes be yes and my no mean no and also the fact that I always like to get to my next appointment at least 10 minutes before due time. If someone asks me to do something and I say yes, then I do it. If I say sorry no I can't do it, I don't. Over the years people who know me have come to see that I do exactly what I say I will do. The fact that I am always on time is an added bonus.

The reasons that the young leaders do not have time is that they need to adhere to two simple rules. These rules helped me both in business and in Christian leadership, in this blog I want to deal with just the first rule. The second will take a little longer to explain and I will deal with next time.

Rule One: Learn the right time to say yes and the right time to say no.

If you offer to ring someone, DO IT! Don't forget don't make an excuse.
If you say to someone I will email you. DO IT! Don't forget don't make an excuse.
Get others to be your first line of pastoral care. Your wife, your secretary or your mid week home group leaders.
Say No to any appointment outside of normal working hours.
Have an open door policy, when my door is open say "yes come in", when my door is closed say "sorry no I am not available."
Practice being a person of your word. Don't just say things for the sake of pleasing people.

By practicing this rule you will find that you have more time to learn rule two.

Next Time: Rule Two: Learning the difference between watching the time and real time.

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