The dashboard of my MacBook has a little electronic Post-It Note that sits right in the center of the display.  On it are a very few words that have served me incredibly well as a leader.  Here’s what it says:

What Do I Do?

1.  Communicate God’s Word

2.  Develop Leaders

3.  Lead and Inspire Through Vision

4.  Pastor Those In My Care

5.  Coach Staff To Achieve Excellent Performance

That little Post It Note is invaluable when it comes to keeping me focused as a leader.  Getting distracted as a leader is incredibly easy – emails, voicemails, meetings, questions, projects and people all compete for our time and attention.  If I’m not careful, I can work like crazy all day long and not do anything on my Post It Note.  Those days are incredibly frustrating!

So, I try to run everything I do through the filter of my Post It Note.  If it doesn’t touch one or more of those categories, I’m out.  It’s not my job which means it is someone else’s which means I need to delegate.  Pretty simple in theory.  Harder in practice.  But totally impossible if you don’t know what should be on your Post It Note.  If you’ve never thought through what you should be doing as a leader, take some time and work on it today.

One piece of advice – keep the list short!  One of my goals over the next two years is to reduce my Post It Note to just three things.