As leaders, we don't fully grasp the importance of the word "no." Being a leader is not about pleasing people. It's not about saying yes to everything that comes your way. It's about knowing where you want to go and how you're going to get there.

Good leaders are laser focused and don't let things distract them.

How do you determine what to say no to? You have to know where you want to end up.

If you're trying to drive from New York to Miami in two days, you're super focused on getting there. If you're friend calls you up and says "Hey. Can you stop by Nashville for a second to grab a cup of coffee." You'd say no. It's easy in that situation because the effects are amplified but we do it in the smaller things all the time.

"Can we sing this song this week?" Sure. "I know you have practice at 6 but can you meet me at 5:45?" Yeah. "Can I be on the worship team and sing with you this Sunday?" Okay.

The problem is a lot of us don't have a clear vision of where we want to go.

We can only clearly identify the distractions when we clearly identify the vision.

"Can we sing this song this week?" - That's a good song and it might work someday BUT this Sunday we're focusing on the love of God and that song focuses on the resurrection of Jesus. We want to be focused so we make a bigger impact. Let's save that song for another time.

"I know you have practice at 6 but can you meet me at 5:45?" - I'm sorry, I've made the commitment to my team to be prepared for practice and those 15 minutes before practice are crucial in my preparation. I'd love to be able to dedicate more time to our conversation. Let's meet some other time.

"Can I be on the worship team and sing with you this Sunday?" - It would be awesome for you to lead worship with us at some point. Here's the process we have in place to make that happen.

Good leaders know where they're going and say no to distractions.