The next morning I had a nice relaxing shower, a good breakfast and boarded the train at Paddington Station at 6:30 a.m. When the train arrived at Heathrow I gathered my bags and entered the main check-in hall. I was shocked to see long check-in lines and agitated people everywhere. And in the distance was the longest line I had ever seen at a boarding area security check point.

I hurried through the shortest check-in line I could find and got my boarding pass. Then I stood at the end of the very long security line to enter the boarding area. I waited in this very slow moving line for 45 minutes regretting that I had not taken the earlier train. Finally, only twenty minutes from the time of departure for my flight, I went to the front of the line to try to get the guard to let me through. After I showed my boarding pass to the man, he said, "You are flying business class, just step right over here." I had been waiting in line all this time not knowing that there was a special line for business class passengers that had virtually no one in it!

I made my flight to Helsinki that morning but the check-in experience had made me more tired than I would have been if I had not had the extra thirty minutes of sleep the night before. And being in a rush when I reached the check-in area at Heathrow, I had been too anxious to notice the short business class security line which cost me 45 minutes that I could have been used more productively.

On occasion, I have made the mistake of underestimating the time I'll need to get to a place or to do an important task. My instinct to try to be as productive as possible sometimes works against me, when I try to pack too much into too short of a time span. I end up getting less done and being inefficient when my goal was to get more done and to be more productive.

Great leaders always allot enough time to get important things done. They know that if they arrive early or have extra time, they can fill it with tasks such as mental relaxation, spiritual meditation, exercise or writing notes to friends and colleagues. Although their goal is to be as productive with their time as possible, they never put important tasks in jeopardy by trying to pack too much into their schedule. By getting important things done promptly and making them a priority, they are less anxious and have more energy to accomplish other tasks as well.

Do you allow enough time to important tasks you need to complete? Are the things that matter most in your life too often at the mercy of the time you've allotted to less important things? How much more productive and efficient would you be each day if you were more reasonable in the way you scheduled your activities and divided your time?