If a teacher can’t say no, she will say yes to the principal and parent volunteers and end up serving on five committees and organizing school-wide rallies and fundraisers and having two or three after-school activities happening in her classroom every week. Soon the teacher will be pulled in so many directions she will become burned out and be no use to anyone. Her classes will suffer, though they are the real reason she gets up and goes to work every day. The classes should have been her priority.
But the same thing can happen to the principal: he will find himself at sports events and district meetings and talking to parents and working all weekend and he too will suffer burnout. Jobs are like that: whether you are the “Indian” or the “Chief,” you are always at risk: low-priority activities will increase until you are unable to do the most important tasks well. Believe it or not, even the CEO must stay in his lane. In fact, a CEO I know was replaced last week because he allowed some of the out-of-office trappings of his executive role to draw his focus away from the work he was doing that earned him the leadership position in the first place.
Examine your role and your skill set. There are tasks that are yours alone, jobs that require the talents, gifts, and experience that got you the position you have now. But many other opportunities will come your way, tasks you may want to handle—tasks you probably could do better than anyone else—but you must let those tasks be done by others. You must maximize your strengths.
Do what you do best. Say no to the things that someone else can do.
The New Testament church grew like wildfire in the early days. They saw amazing successes, but they experienced growing pains as well. At one point, men were trying to feed and care for widows and it began to distract the apostles from their preaching. Finally, they had had enough. The apostles called the believers to a meeting and addressed the problem:
“It is not right for us to neglect the preaching of the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty” Acts 6:2-3.
The apostles knew they were called to preach. They had seen the risen Christ. They had the gifts and the calling. They jealously guarded their time and energy, finding others to handle the distribution of resources. Someone else could divide up the food among the orphans and widows. Did the apostles consider this task important? Absolutely. They wanted only the best men to handle it, men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom. But catch this:
It is quite possible the apostles would have handled the task more efficiently if they had done it themselves. But they knew it was distracting them from their main focus: preaching the word of God. So they delegated the task to others.
What is your main focus? What is the key thing you contribute on the job? Focus on that and protect it—never let other things draw your attention away from your top priority. What is the main way you make a difference at home, among family and friends? Again, focus on that. Let nothing stop you from blessing the people in your life by offering your very best, whether it be preaching the word or something else. Establish your priorities, then keep them in focus.
Stay in your lane, do the thing God made you to do, and do it with excellence!
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