We all know people who leap before they look or have a ready, fire, aim mentality. What’s funny is these same people often feel they will lose their freedom of expression if their impulsive ways are stifled. And if you try to introduce the idea of having a schedule and systematically working toward a solution, they look at you like you have a third eye. I like this quote, “Impulsivity is something akin to spontaneously jumping out of an airplane and not realizing that you forgot something until about five seconds before impact.” 

There is a significant difference between acting decisively and deliberately, and impatiently reacting to circumstances that need our attention. And there is nothing quite like a whimsical leader who expects everyone around them to run down every rabbit hole that happens to run across their mind, in the moment. These same leaders are nowhere to be found when the proverbial crap hits the fan, because they have long ago moved onto their next unpredictable conquest aka rabbit hole. 

The best leaders are patient, organized, methodical, and decisive. They do not fly by the seat of their pants, and they always have a plan or a schedule. I have collaborated with many managers in the past who have all the credentials in terms of acronyms that impressively embody their signature lines, but for whatever reason they don’t grasp the simplest of managerial traits, such as the ability to organize and follow-thru. I used to tell salespeople back in the day, “You can have the best product, the best hottest company, the best rhetoric, you can even be the best looking, but if you don’t have follow-through, you are toast! Maybe, these same individuals see having patience, a disciplined schedule, and taking the time to properly follow-through as restrictive to their creative nature. Who knows? 

Stephen Covey said, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” That must have been what he meant by saying that “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” It takes patience and fortitude to stay the course when you are bombarded with daily obstacles but stay resolute and you will win in the end.