Whenever you plan to communicate a message – through either speaking or writing –ask yourself: “Why am I doing this?”, “Does this message need to inform, persuade, entertain, inspire, or call to action?”, “What is the specific response I hope for from the audience?” and “What’s the specific purpose of this message?” Pray for God’s guidance.

Build strong relationships. Do your best to build the kind of relationships with others that will help them follow your leadership – relationships marked by respect and trust. Recognize your own value by embracing your identity in Christ and not settling for anything less. Recognize the value of other people by remembering that they’re all made in God’s image. Don’t isolate yourself from others because someone hurt you in the past. Keep taking the risks necessary to reach out to others, knowing that it’s worthwhile to do so. Learn vital social skills like: listening without interrupting, not dominating a conversation, learning something new to contribute to the relationship, knowing when to use humor, and reading facial expressions and body language well. Learn how to ask for what you need in a relationship, how to cooperate well with others, and how to affirm others. Lead in your areas of strength and allow others to lead in theirs. Set appropriate boundaries (around your time, energy, and affection) so your relationships will function well. Learn how to solve problems creatively, deal with difficult people wisely, speak up assertively, and let go of emotional baggage that’s weighing you down. Look to your relationship with God as the model of the ultimate relationship.

Manage your time wisely. Seek to master time so it doesn’t master you. Know that if you manage your time well, you can accomplish a great deal as a leader. Ask God to give you the right perspective on time so you’ll have peace about it and avoid unnecessary stress. Use your time to seek God’s kingdom before anything else, to know God, take on His character, serve Him, represent Him in every aspect of your life, and bring others to Him. Discern your priorities, and schedule your time around what’s most important (rather than just what seems urgent). Orient each of your days around God by including planning time in your daily devotional time.

Pray about your to-do list and seek God’s guidance about it. Set both long- and short-term goals for different areas of your life (physical, spiritual, financial, personal, relational, educational, occupational, and social) and plan specific ways to use your time to meet each of those goals. View interruptions and opportunities to learn something.

Accept responsibility for the choices you’ve made about how to use your time, and be willing to face the consequences (for example, if you’ve decided to enroll your kids in lots of extracurricular activities, you’ll have little time to prepare dinner on weeknights). Make changes to your schedule when you need to do so, being willing to let go of a current activity when you decide to add a new one. Learn how to say “no” to requests for your time that don’t match up with what’s most important to you right now.