From Cleaner to Leader: How John Maxwell’s Priority Principles Changed My Life

Inspired by John C. Maxwell’s Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 – Part 1: The Key to Leadership – Priority

The Problem Every Leader Faces

Running a business or leading a team can feel overwhelming. The to-do list never ends. Emails pile up. Deadlines press in. And despite working harder, you still feel behind.

Here’s the truth: you don’t have a time problem—you have a priority problem.

Everyone gets 24 hours a day. The difference between leaders who thrive and those who burn out is not time management, but priority management. The good news? Understanding this problem is the first step towards its solution, bringing a sense of relief and hope.

The Stakes: What Happens If We Ignore Priorities

If you don’t decide what matters most, life will decide for you—and usually in the wrong order. The cost is high:

Burnout from constant busyness
Stalled growth for you and your organization
Missed opportunities because urgent things overshadow important ones

Many leaders never reach their potential because they confuse activity with accomplishment.

The Solution: Learn to Lead by Priorities

John C. Maxwell teaches that the key to leadership is learning to focus on the few things that matter most, and letting go of the rest. With clear priorities, leaders:

Multiply their effectiveness
Create margin for reflection and growth
Move forward with clarity instead of spinning their wheels

This principle changed my life. Let me explain how.

From Cleaner to Leader: My Story

Almost four decades ago, my leadership journey began—not as a CEO, not even as a manager, but as a young worker cleaning telex machines (akin to the internet in the 90s) in a telecom company. I had no vision for my future. I simply went wherever life took me.

Then in 1988, a friend handed me a book that changed my life: Developing the Leader Within You by John C. Maxwell. I read it cover to cover. And something sparked inside me. For the first time, I dreamed of becoming successful—a leader in my own field.

That one book shifted my priorities. Instead of drifting through life, I chose to invest in myself. I went back to school, completed my degree in Electrical Engineering, and step by step earned promotions. My days of cleaning devices gave way to leading people, making decisions, and shaping projects.

But more than promotions, I discovered a calling—to grow as a leader and to help others do the same. Looking back, it wasn’t time that changed my life. It was priorities.

Without them, my dreams would have died under the weight of busyness. With them, I rose from cleaner to leader.

Why Priorities Matter More Than Time

Maxwell puts it simply: activity does not equal accomplishment.

Early in my career, I recall being overwhelmed by endless tasks—technical issues to fix, reports to complete, meetings to attend. My desk was stacked high, my phone ringing nonstop. I often went home exhausted, but not fulfilled. I was busy, but I wasn’t moving forward.

The reality is:

Overload blurs judgment. When everything feels important, nothing is.
Too many priorities paralyze. Like a lion staring at four chair legs, we freeze when our focus is divided.
Small urgencies sink big goals. Chasing minor issues closes our eyes to what really matters.
Emergencies reorder values—too late. Crisis forces clarity, but wise leaders choose priorities in advance.

5 Priority Principles Every Leader Needs

Work smarter beats working harder. Systems and better thinking beat long hours.
You can’t have it all. Success requires saying no to good things so you can say yes to the best.
Good is the enemy of best. Leaders must protect their focus on what creates the highest impact.
Proactive beats reactive. If you don’t pick your priorities, someone else will.
Important must outweigh urgent. Train yourself to distinguish between noise and significance.

3 Tools to Reset Your Priorities

1) The Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule)

20% of tasks, people, and products create 80% of results. Focus there.

When I applied this, I realized I was spending too much time on low-impact work. For instance, I was investing a significant amount of time in micromanaging every aspect of a project, when in reality, 20% of the tasks, people, and products were creating 80% of the results. Once I shifted my focus to these high-impact areas, results improved dramatically.

2) The Three R’s (Requirement, Return, Reward)

Requirement: What only you can do.
Return: Where you bring the greatest results.
Reward: What energizes you.

For me, my sweet spot is teaching, coaching, and leading. That’s where I create the most value. Everything else, I must delegate or minimize.

3) Margin (White Space on Purpose)

Leaders need breathing room. Reflection, strategy, and renewal only happen when you create margin. Guard 20% of your week as “white space.” Without it, even your best priorities will collapse under exhaustion.

What Happens When Leaders Prioritize

When leaders embrace priorities:

Clarity replaces chaos
Growth accelerates
Impact multiplies
And most importantly, leaders regain freedom to focus on what truly matters

My story is a testament to the transformative power of priorities. I started with no vision, no path, and no plan. But with new priorities, my life was transformed. If priorities could turn a cleaner into a leader, they can transform your path too. Let this be your inspiration to reevaluate and reset your own priorities.

Reflection Guide: Develop the Prioritizer Within You

Take 10 minutes to reflect on these questions. Write down your answers to turn ideas into action:

Where do I need to work smarter, rather than harder?
What must I stop doing to focus on what only I can do?
Which “good” things are stealing energy from the “best” things?
How can I shift from being reactive to proactive this week?
What margin (white space) can I intentionally create in my schedule?

Final Word

Leaders don’t find time—they make priorities. Choose your vital few. Align with what only you can do. Protect margin. Focus on the best.

Do this consistently, and you’ll trade busyness for breakthrough, pressure for progress, and leadership by design.

And this is just the beginning. In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing more lessons from Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 and how they shaped my journey—from cleaner to leader, and now as a coach helping others grow.

Follow along—I promise the next lesson will challenge and inspire you even more. I also encourage you to share your own experiences with prioritization in the comments. Your stories can inspire others and contribute to our shared learning journey.

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