"Every few months it seems a new book comes out on time management and personal effectiveness. Each one claims to have found “The hidden secret of success” which everyone before them has somehow overlooked. However, after watching the fads for many years now, I’ve really concluded there are only 3 absolutely essential pillars to time management and nearly every new book or tape on the topic builds on these 3 concepts.
1. Set goals
2. Prioritize your goals
3. Schedule activity to help reach your highest priority goal first.
There’s a lot we can add to those three concepts, especially from a Christian perspective of making sure we’re doing what God wants us to do, but much of it comes right back to those three things:
1. Set goals
2. Prioritize your goals
3. Schedule activity to help reach your highest priority goal first.
It’s really a very simple formula, but it will help us redeem the time.
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How many email addresses do you have? If you answered “one” you might be spending too much time with email. Here’s a way to save time 3 accounts.
Have one account for friends, family, business associates, and one whose mail you want to see the same day they send it. You can also have a second account for ministry newsletters, advertisements from companies you want to do business with and mail you would like to get, but don’t need to see right away. You can quickly buzz through this account, every other day, or twice a week. Finally, have one account for junk mail. When you have to give your email to register for a web site, but you don’t want to be on their list, give the junk mail account, which you never check.
Most internet service providers will give several account names at no extra cost. Why not take advantage of their offer by setting up a 3 account system that will allow you to better redeem the time.
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Motivational speaker Charlie “Tremendous” Jones says, “Readers are leaders. 5 years from now you will be the same person you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” I agree with that quote wholeheartedly.
Many people still equate reading with college exams or punishment for misbehaving in elementary school. When they say, “I’m more of a visual learner than a reader,” what they really mean is, “I’d rather watch TV than put the extra effort into reading a book.”
But while you’re watching the latest rerun, those headed for the top are sharpening their skills by reading materials that will help them grow, both mentally and spiritually.
Reading the right material is a great investment of time. Why not make a commitment right now that you’ll spend one hour of time this week reading something that will either benefit you in this life or help prepare you for the next life. Either way, by reading you’ll be redeeming the time.
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Remember the roadrunner cartoons from when you were a kid? Think about this, “If the coyote had enough money to buy all that acme stuff, why didn’t he just go buy some supper?”
That’s a good question, but the truth is a lot of us waste time going though some pretty unnecessary shenanigans when it comes to deciding what to have for supper. How often have you and your spouse both said, “I don’t care you decide.” “No, I picked last time, you decide.” The problem is that as Christians we don’t want to push our choice so we often have difficulty gauging what each other really want.
One way to overcome this is to rank different options on a scale of 1-10. Instead of saying, “Yes, I’d like to go there.” Say, “That would be a 7 to me.” This tactic gives a clearer picture of what you both really want.
Learning to make minor decisions quickly is a good skill to develop because it helps us redeem the time.
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