Please enjoy this excerpt from Manage Your Mission – Living wisely and abundantly for today and eternity. This book will help craft your life mission, establish its priorities, and succeed in each area: Faith – Family – Fitness – Field – Friends – Fun – Finances.
Time management
Time management may seem like a secular topic, but everything we have is a gift from God. Therefore, we should be good stewards of our treasures, talents, and time.
I learned a long time ago that I inevitably forget some things if I don’t write them down. So I have two simple rules I follow for any to-do, whether for work or home:
- Write them on a list.
- Look at the list daily.
That’s it. I get lots of things done and rarely forget to do anything. I’ve used an app called Todoist on my PC and phone for years. It lets me quickly add any to-dos to various categories. It is easy to assign dates and make to-dos recurring if necessary. I use it for work tasks, lists of things I want to tell my supervisor, team, or individual employees, birthdays and anniversaries, house maintenance, packing lists for when I travel, financial tasks, miscellaneous information, etc. When in doubt, something goes in Todoist. I highly encourage people to have a system like this. Forgetting important things can be very costly in terms of your productivity and reputation, not to mention that it isn’t a great way of loving your family and neighbors. Being a little more organized can save you lots of friction. When I meet new people, I put their names on a list in Todoist. Remembering people’s names goes a long way in relationships.
Another big time-saver is using the Only-Handle-It-Once (O-H-I-O) technique, where you strive only to handle documents, emails, etc., once instead of procrastinating and continually saving them for the future.
But my biggest time-savers are avoiding social media and computer games and watching little, if any, TV. I used to watch a lot more TV, especially sports, but I phased out much of that when we had kids. Then I realized I didn’t get that much value from what I watched, and it was easier to cut back more. I’m too compulsive about computer games, so I avoid those. If you can’t do things in moderation, cut them out completely. I did that with Twitter. I tried taking a month off to see if I could return to it less compulsively, but it never worked. No regrets.
I also found that scaling back on news consumption saved time and reduced stress. We live in an unprecedented time where we unwittingly feel we are nearly omniscient and omnipotent. We think we know everything happening in the world in real-time, and if we go rant on Twitter, we’ve done something about the issue in question. And the repetition of analyzing the same stories can be pointless. I like being informed of current events, but I’ve learned to limit my time with the news cycles.
I’m not pressing all those views on you or judging those activities, but I offer those as examples and principles to consider when evaluating and controlling how you spend your time. You need to be intentional about what you are not going to do. Overriding habits can change your life.
If you aren’t reading the Bible and praying regularly, it is because you have decided not to. You may think you don’t have enough time, but you are saying that everything you do — all day, every day — is more important than that, and that God designed the universe without giving you enough time to hear from him or talk to him. So watching one hour of TV instead of two each night (or playing fewer computer games, or less social media, etc.) will free up an entire hour for something more meaningful and lasting. The idea isn’t to become a monk but to manage your time carefully.
And be creative with your time. Most of us spend a lot of time in the car, so instead of listening to secular music, try listening to the audio Bible (free downloads at Bible.is) or Christian podcasts. Redeem your commute!
I took social media apps off my phone and got off them altogether, because I wasted too much time checking them. Instead, I pick up my phone and memorize Bible verses with my Bible Memory app. It is a much better use of time. I know many Christians fear offending others, but if you use social media, I encourage you to work in some Christian truths where possible. Bible verses, links to sound articles defending the faith, etc., will signal non-believers that you are safe to come to if they have questions about God.
My wife jokes that I’m like the guy in the Cheaper By The Dozen movie, who automated everything he touched, including what his twelve children did. My approach is that if you do something regularly, figure out how to do it in the fewest possible steps. For example, I try to learn every meaningful shortcut on any computer software. The time savings you accumulate will be significant. I still get more productivity and free time because of the Excel features I learned 30 years ago.
Time is a precious gift from God. Use it wisely.
Copyright 2022
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible
Eternity Matters 