Energy Burst
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Leadership Straight from Bill Hybels
Energy Burst
I always look at a week
in terms of a start time
and an end time of a work day.
I do not look at 24 hour
periods of time
because I do not think
God wants us to work 24 hours.
I think there is
a time to work
and a time to stop working.
I mean really stop working.
I get a start time
and an end time.
I think you have to really know
when that end time should be
and end when you say
your end time is
and celebrate it with a ritual.
The only way that you will
stick to an end time
in a fired-up church situation
is to reward yourself with a meaningful ritual
when you end on time.
For 20 years, my ritual was
walking out at a certain time,
meeting my running partner,
running for 45 minutes,
taking a shower,
then I was done.
That is enough work for today.
No more.
I can engage
my family and friends.
That has changed
for many reasons.
Now my end time is a little later.
But my wife and I have a date thing.
We watch the network news,
which is a big thing in the USA,
30 minute broadcast
on a major network.
That is our ritual.
She is done working
for her day.
I am done working
for my day.
We meet at 5:30.
We are done.
Then we have dinner after that.
It is a nice, pleasant ritual.
Every time it is 5:30
somewhere in the world
and I am not watching
the network news with my wife
I miss it.
It is a meaningful way...
It gets me home on time.
A big change I made
a few years ago
because I started
teaching twice as much...
I used to teach
18 weekends a year.
I am teaching
35 weekends a year now.
I used to be the first person
on the church property.
I am not anymore.
I get up early at 6 am.
I work from 6 - 11 am
on message prep
each day of the week.
I do not go into the office.
I work from an office in my house.
And that firewall here
has given me the head space
and reading time needed
to up my teaching quality
even though I am teaching more.
I had to create more space
to be with God, to read good stuff,
to listen to good stuff.
This is a radical change.
People who know me well still
cannot believe I am sticking with it.
But I am.
When I get to the church,
I have energy bursts
as I talk about in my book Axiom.
I do not just meet
with some people.
I think,
"What do I need to move ahead today?"
I do not do meetings
for someone can check in with me.
You can check in
with me via email.
I do not need
to meet with you
for you to check in with me.
Just send me an email.
I am good. Great.
It saves me a meeting.
The question is
in these afternoon
30 or 60 or 90 minute
time blocks
I call them energy bursts.
Each afternoon between now
and 5 pm when I go home
I have to be a part.
I have to energize initiatives
or movements that we are
trying to push up field.
If that is a capital campaign,
if it is doubling the number
of people in Alpha,
if it is sorting out a complication
in human resources,
I throw 60 minutes...
I refuse to do meetings if we are
not moving something ahead.
Leaders know.
Your biggest asset is not time.
It is energy.
Everyone has the same
amount of time.
It is energy that moves people,
initiatives, and programs ahead.
I am very fussy about
which offices I walk into
and which meetings
are held in my office
because I only want
to be part of meetings
that are moving important
stuff dramatically ahead.
Every other thing
just do by email.
Just check in.
Do not let people
waste your time.
If you are going to do
a lot of sermon prep,
you only have a certain
number of hours.
They all have to count.
I do that until 5 pm.
Then I go home and watch
the news with my wife.
This has changed so many
times during eras of my life
when I was teaching less,
had more meetings
and travel messes
with that some.