I found many helpful things in this book. Some of the helpful insights that Maxwell provided were:
- Don't manage your time, manage your life. Maxwell writes about how you can't make more time. There's only 24 hours in the day and the best thing is to try to make the most of your time as a leader. Many people try to say things like, "I need to make time" or "I need to find the time", but these things are not possible because you still have the same tasks you need to do. It's more about taking the time to do the things you need to do.
- Maxwell writes that people who manage themselves poorly undervalue themselves by doing what others want them to do. They put too much time into what other people think are important and not enough time and effort into what they think is valuable and important. This jives with me because of my own job where I am told that what I think is important isn't and I need to do something else. My time is wasted in many cases because I'm not as effective as I could be.
- Maxwell adds that people also ruin their effectiveness by doing unimportant things. He gives a rating for things you need to do based on terms of importance and urgency that is very helpful to follow.
- Maxwell says that people reduce their potential by doing things without coaching or training and basically just flounder through whatever it is they are doing. They aren't able to do things as well as they could if they would simply ask for help. They say you don't have to reinvent the wheel. If someone else knows a fast and effective way of doing something, why not just take their lead and make it work for you? They also say Rome wasn't built in a day so take your time to do what you need to do, don't rush into it.
- Another key insight that I really liked was Maxwell's saying, "Don't send your ducks to eagle school." This basically means that each person was made a different way. Some people work better in groups, some as individuals. Don't try to give people things that they aren't good at. Challenge them, but not to do something that they just can't do. If you try to do something that you just can't do and you fail, give it up and do something that you can do and do it well.
In closing, there were 26 lessons in this book and above I only showcased a few. I'm sure that for leaders of all types they would read this book and find something that works for them and would help them to build themselves as better leaders. I endorse this book and challenge other leaders to learn and take from it what they can back to their organizations and I can almost guarantee that it would make the effectiveness higher and help those in the organization to be more likely to reach their potential.
