“24 hours isn’t enough.”
“There are just not enough hours in the day.”
“I’m under a time crunch.”
“If only I had more time in the day.”
“I need an eighth day of the week.”
Ever feel this way? We all have. Often we struggle to complete all the tasks before us in a given day and all of us feel the strain of mounting tasks and responsibilities each week. Granted, we often find ourselves short on day because someone or something throws us a curve. Those hitches in our planning and work flow are not typically the problem when it comes to productivity and time management. The problem is often how we spend our time, how we use the time given us. Chances are we have the time to do all we need to week in and week out. So, what if we could create one more hour in our day? Each day. Every day? We could all benefit from an extra day in our week to get our work done and truly live life. What if we could create a 25th hour in our day and reclaim the time we all wish we had? Here are some helpful hints on how:
Develop Healthy Habits.
Commit time to the Lord first. Spiritual health feeds productivity. Invest time in your personal walk with Christ. Without health spiritually, you are empty and cripple your ability to produce worthwhile results and properly prioritize.
Physical health is a catalyst. If you feel bad you won’t perform as well. Invest in your physical health. It is important.
Focus on family health. It is a conduit toward healthy ministry. If you lose your family, you have lost your ministry. Focus on what is of primary importance. Entertaining those students over the health of your family is not a good trade-off. Also,
Develop healthy work habits. Organize your week. Work in blocks. Identify key and vital tasks. Identify secondary tasks. Identify things that you will do only if there is time remaining. Work in the proper order. Schedule you day so you can function not just react. Know when to say no. Don’t buy into multi-tasking. Know when to work. This means you know when not to work. Work smart, and work hard.
Get a Head Start.
Go to bed earlier. Wake up earlier. Sleep, or lack of, affects performance. This is low hanging fruit. Grab it. Develop healthy sleep patterns. As Mary Poppins said, “Well begun is half-done.”
Take notice.
Evaluate your use of time. Actively manage it.
Where are you spending time? How can you save it?
Focus on the Important
Prioritize past the urgent. Do the main things you were called to do and that you have been
hired to do.
Recapture Opportunity.
Avoid time wasters. Use time wisely. Select beneficial activities, and get rid of games. Work time is work time. Get busy and get finished. When faced with dead time, work rather than tend toward diversion.
Expect the Unexpected
You can’t know when surprises are coming, but you can plan to be ready for when they do. Don’t allow obstacles to side-track you because you didn’t plan for their inevitability. Plan for interruptions. Prepare so you can function when future detours are thrown your way.
Use help Effectively
Rely on the example of others. Expand your personal leadership though the experience and success of others. Enlist help when possible. Delegate. Hand over the tasks of ministry to the church. Equip the saints and release then to serve.
By taking control of your time, you will begin to forge a path toward less pressure with increased success. Efficiency can enable excellent ministry. Using your time wisely can mean that 25th hour you just created can be used for fun.
How do you create time during the day?
Todd Sanders, BGCO Student Education