What is the essence of leadership?

To do what needs done and to do it well.

How does one do that?

By taking charge rather than waiting for someone else to make it happen.

What will taking charge do for you?

Improve your life.

So, how does one take charge in a job?

By asking questions and taking on additional responsibilities. This unearths your creativity. This is the 1st step, a small step, but, a great leap for you.

It won’t be unusual for you to have more experience than some fellow employees or bosses, and less than others.

So, what do you do about that?

You accept it, and move forward. We are not all good at everything, but, we can learn more. Start by taking on responsibilities in areas that you are good at and that bring you happiness. Then, don’t be afraid to try something new. You might find something that brings you even more happiness.

Do you know that some bosses are happy to have you take over their work?

They are busy, and as an added bonus to them, you may help free up their time for another round of golf. You may wonder why you would want to make their life “easy street”. Well, when the boss is gone, you get to be the boss of your time. To heck with the saying, “When the cat’s away the mice will play!” Instead, take on responsibilities to get ahead so you can say to yourself, “When the cat’s away, the mice take over the day!”

You will soon see that it doesn’t matter whether the boss is around, because you are happy learning more, doing new things and calling your own shots. Eventually, you might surpass your boss on the corporate ladder. Go get ’em tiger!

Lastly, I shared a thought about how you can get ahead at work. How, you can start saying “When the cat’s away, the mice take over the day!” I pointed out that some bosses will let you learn more, if you just ask, because you actually free them for more projects. These projects let them climb the ladder, and may include off-site activities while they entertain clients. That gives you more control of your future at your job. As they climb, so can you!

Hopefully, you’ve been asking questions, and are taking on more responsibilities, to learn new skills at work. It may seem that your schedule is getting tighter, but, you may feel happier, because you are pulling yourself out of your rut.

What can you do to gain more control of your time?

Take a close look at it. To begin, track how you spend your time. Can you see how easily a co-worker or phone call can steal your focus away from what you are doing? That puts you in a crisis mode, and, then, you attempt to “make up for lost time”. This is unrealistic. We only have so many hours in our years, month, weeks, and days. How do you spend yours?

Do you procrastinate on some things because you really don’t like doing them or aren’t sure how to get them done? Do you find yourself day-dreaming?

Sometimes we don’t want to face the fact that we just don’t understand. But, there is one thing we can understand, better than anything else, and that is how we individually spend our time. It matters little how another spends their time.

I consider time a valuable resource. It is my time. I know I only have so much of it, and I am responsible for how I spend it. I consider it like a checking account. I get an advance of one month’s hours 720 (24 hours x 30 days), then I deduct the hours as I use them. I stay focused on how I spend my time when I see it as important. So, start tracking your hours to see how you use your precious time. Don’t hand over your time to others, use it wisely.

The best way to change something is to understand it. You can get an understanding of how you spend your precious time and how you let others spend your time if you take the time to write down what you do every day. Why not write down how you spend your time for a few days this week? If you don’t track it daily, at least write down the amount of time you spend working, driving to work, sleeping, exercising, watching television and any other ways you spend time with family and friends.

Next, you can see how easily you can organize your day to work with your valuable commodity of time. How will you trade your time this week? Enjoy your precious time today!