The number one question that leaders ask us to speak about these days is: How do you motivate others when you have poor time-management? This was true of Carlos, who headed up a team of brokers.

“With everything that’s flying at me, everything that’s coming in, all the calls that I get, all the obligations that Ihave, I could really use another 10 hours in my day,” Carlos said. We laughed: “This is true of everyone, Carlos. Stop thinking you are unique. Re-program and bring yourself into focus. Reboot your mind. Start over.”

All talented people in this global market have more to do than they have time to do.

That’s not really a problem. It’s an exciting fact of life. “But it’s very, very tempting to cave in to a sense of being overwhelmed,” Carlos said. “It’s tempting to get into that victim mindset of being ‘swamped.’” “True enough. So regroup and get the view from 30,000 feet. Rise up. Lift yourself up!” “But the truth is, I am swamped,” Carlos almost yelled
out. “There’s nothing I can do. I’m overwhelmed. How can anyone manage this team when you’ve got all this stuff going on? And right when you think you’re getting ahead of it, you get a call, you get an e-mail, you get another request, there’s another program that has to be implemented, there’s another form that has to be filled out, and I’m about to throw up my hands and say, ‘How do I do this?’” “Carlos, listen. Get a grip for now. The simplest system that you can come up with for time management will serve you as a leader. Keep it simple.” “Why does it have to be simple?” Carlos asked. “It seems like I need a more complex solution to a complex set of challenges.”

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“Because no matter what you do, you can’t stop this one truth about leadership: You are going to be hounded, you’re going to be barraged, and you’re going to be interrupted. And there are two reactions you can choose between to address this leadership fact of life.” Carlos said nothing. “You could just become a victim and say, ‘I can’t handle it, there’s just too much to do.’ That takes no imagination, it takes no courage, and it’s simply the easiest way to go to complain about your situation. Maybe even complain to other people, other leaders, other managers, other family members; they will all sympathize with you and might even say, ‘You’ve got to get out of that business.’”