If you are unfamiliar with the Disney animated series Phineas and Ferb, you are missing some great leadership material to use in your organization. The storyline of the show is that Phineas and Ferb are two brothers who are on a seemingly continuous summer vacation and each day brings a new opportunity. Before I continue, I have to give the disclaimer that I am familiar with this show because we have a four year old grandson who has attached himself to all episodes we can find on Netflix. While I don't have time to go into the entire plot of this show, it does  beg to mention that both of these brothers have high IQ levels and build things that of course can only be done in cartoon land. For more information on the show please visit - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_and_Ferb

What can we learn from these cartoon characters that has anything to do with leadership you might ask? I believe there is one great lesson that can be learned form these two enjoyable, good natured brothers. Follow along after the break.

Use Every Moment To Be Productive

This is the one major principle I see in every episode of Phineas and Ferb. In other words, don't waste time. Phineas and Ferb are a couple of kids that spend their summer vacation doing something and not sitting around wasting their time. As a mater of fact, in every episode Phineas tells his brother Ferb, "I know what we're doing today Ferb!" Whenever I write about leadership, I go back to the simple truth that everyone is a leader somewhere in their life. Just because your job title or your position may not carry the responsibility of managing a department, a project, or even one person, you are a leader. Great leaders know how to use their time wisely to empower others to be great leaders. It is my belief that we waste too much time in doing things that don't matter or actually doing nothing. When you do nothing, nothing happens. No one grows. The organization doesn't grow the way it should. You don't grow and develop as you should.

According to this online article at Forbes.com, more people waste time at work than what you might imagine as shown in the chart below:

Sixty four percent of employees visit non-work related websites each day. In this category, the amount of time wasted per week on non-work related websites is as follows:

Time Wasted                  Pct of Employees
<1 hour                                  39%
1-2 hours                               29%
2-5 hours                               21%
6-10 hours                             8%
10+ hours                               3%

Here are my suggestions to improving your use of time to be a better leader:

Use Every Moment To Be Innovative and Fresh

If you haven't watched an episode of Phineas and Ferb, I want to challenge you to do so as soon as possible to understand what I am sharing with you. These two brothers look at the common and mundane and truly think of out of the box solutions for what they will do each day. It is the mantra of thinking not what isn't, but what is possible. This principle is employed in every growing business and church. I am not talking about  inventing a new product every day or some new program that is life changing. Rather, approach each day and each moment as one you have never had before and will never have again.

As someone who is a follower of Jesus, the message I have been given to share is timeless and powerful, but to some, it is old and archaic. I have to ask myself when I am sharing this great story, do I make it sound fresh as the first day I heard it, or do I make it boring? The fact of the matter it is not boring, but if I don't believe it, live, and give it like it matters, then it may sound dull.

Use Every Moment To Take Others With You On The Journey

In every episode of Phineas and Ferb I have watched so far, they always include others in their daily summer vacation adventures. These two kids have learned that two are better than one and three better than two. When you watch these guys, their plan always includes bringing in others to help them achieve what they cannot by themselves and the results are incredible! Alright, I know I am talking about a cartoon, but what if you would bring others into the process with you? How much more could you accomplish by including others in the adventure? How many more lives would be impacted if you weren't a glory hog or if you weren't so untrusting?

You are not as good as you think you are. I don't care who you are. You by yourself are far worse than you with someone else.

Use Every Moment To Never See Failure As An Option

Great leaders never see failure as an option. If they do, then they shouldn't be leading. That doesn't mean failure will never happen, but vision is doomed when the leader(s) fear failure. The other side of this coin that can be just as dangerous is when leaders worship success, but that will be for another blog post. Phineas and Ferb embody this when it comes to using every moment they have during their summer vacation. They have a limited number of days to enjoy the summer and when they build their inventions or contraptions, they do so never thinking it will fail. They definitely understand the Latin phrase, Carpe diem.

Use Every Moment to Be Yourself

These two brothers are who they were meant to be and never try to be anything but themselves. We live in a world where we want to emulate the success of others which can be unproductive, unfulfilling and unappealing. Leaders that have always made an impression on me are the ones who were themselves in their conversation, their personality, their life, their faith, their family, their honesty, their failures, and their successes.

So, if you have never seen an episode of Phineas and Ferb, stop what your doing and go to Netflix and search for the show and sit back and learn leadership from two adolescent cartoon characters.