Time Management Articles
Time Management Articles:
Guard Your Time | Balance – It is Possible
Guard Your Time
If you have participated in one of our increasingly popular time management classes, you know how passionately we teach the value of using your time wisely. If you keep making yourself promises to get organized, get a handle on your time, get your act together, and yet haven’t really done much to take positive action on controlling your time, perhaps the following story will be the catalyst for immediate action:
Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said, “We can’t keep the Christians from going to church. We can’t keep them from reading the Bible and knowing the truth. We can’t even keep them from conservative values. But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding experience in Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.
“So let them go to church, let them have their conservative life-styles, but steal their time, so they can’t gain that experience in Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining hold of that vital connection throughout their day.”
“How shall we do this?” shouted his angels.
“Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent schemes to occupy their minds,” he answered.
“Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to leave their homes to go to work and bury the husbands in work 6 or 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their excessive life-styles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of life.
“Overstimulate their minds so they cannot hear that still small voice. Entice them to keep the TV, the VCR, and their CD’s going constantly in their homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.”
“Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogues, every kind of newsletter and promotional offering, free products, services, and false hopes.
“Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted, and unprepared for the coming week.
“Don’t let them go out in nature. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts, and movies instead. And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions.”
“Let them be involved in soul winning. But crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family unity for the good of the cause.”
It was quite a convention in the end. And the evil angels went eagerly to their assignments, causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and rush here and there.
Has the devil been successful at his scheme in your life? If so, put the past behind you and start fresh. With God’s help and strength, you can control your time and restore your focus to reflect His will for your life. Together, let’s support each other in this journey.
Balance – It Is Possible
It’s fall and with it comes back-to-school, a busier work schedule, church activities in full swing, and the holidays are just around the corner! So how do you keep it all straight, get it all done, and not lose your mind in the meantime? Two words planning and priorities.
1. Priorities Time management studies show that on average, 50% of our day is controllable (appointments, activities, projects, phone calls that we control and plan) and 50% of our day is uncontrollable ( activities scheduled by someone else that you must do, interruptions, meetings, waiting). So in planning your daily “to do’s”, do not fill your day with your controllables. Also plan for the uncontrollables. For example, in an average eight hour workday, four hours can be set aside for your controllables and four hours need to be reserved for your uncontrollables. If you pack your day with eight hours of “to do’s” (controllables) you will rarely get through half of them because you didn’t anticipate the interruptions or projects that come up which you don’t control. Be realistic about what you can and cannot get done each day. Look at your “to do’s” and establish priorities what must be done, and what must be done by you. Then delegate items that others can do. Also learn to say “no” to requests that aren’t part of your priorities. Then you’ll have time for the ones you say “yes” to, which are part of your priorities.
2. Plan ahead Though it’s only September, you know how hectic November and December can be, so plan now. Look at your calendar through December and fill in first all the dates, appointments and activities you have already committed to personally (lunch dates, anniversary, book club, Bible study group, parties). Then fill in all the dates that are family activities (a quick call to your child’s school and your church will help here). Next, fill in all the business dates you have scheduled (meetings, trips, convention, major project deadlines). Now, take a closer look at November and December. Sit down and ask each family member what one holiday activity is the most important for them to do, that isn’t already on the calendar (making cookies, ice show, Christmas pageant, trimming the tree). Then look realistically at your calendar to schedule one activity for each family member. It’s easier to discuss it now, without all the emotion involved (begging, pleading, guilt)!
Planning and priorities — it’s not brain surgery, but it does require discipline and commitment. Take some steps toward making a difference this fall to have a balanced schedule you can live with!