For this Friday’s video blog I wanted to share with you a prayer that I have used over and over again in my life when I am seeking God’s perspective on how I use my time each day. I am currently working on a Time Management Bible Study that I hope to release in the next year or so but I felt led to share this short video that I created about this prayer with you today. My hope is that it touches and blesses you and you will share it with others.
People want to feel valued and important. When you know the names of people and remember details about their life it can transform your business, ministry, and personal relationships with people. However, if you are like me you may struggle to remember and recall the right details with the right people all the time.
Over the years of working with clients and individuals in a wide variety of capacities I have learned to develop skills that help me keep my information organized and accessible to myself. I thought today I would share with you the three part system that I have developed to help me over the years.
Part One: The Initial First Contact
I have found that a great deal of information about a person is learned in that initial first contact. Therefore, I created a simple document that I use every time I speak to someone for the first time it has places for me to make notes about the following things if and when they come up in conversation:
One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.
Tony Robbins
In our daily lives we often struggle to make progress on the goals and visions that we have for our lives. We struggle within our routines and habits because there are so many things that pull at our time and our attention. Only one thing can bring relief is to our lives, to develop the ability to focus:
F: Follow
O: One
C: Cause
U: Until
S: Success
When you are not focused you tend to chase many priorities at once and you are often worn out physically and mentally. You are not effective when you are not focused because you are not operating at your peak potential.
Focus can mean the difference between something that you hope to achieve and something that you are able to achieve.
The old saying, “Time is Money” took on a whole new meaning for me this week when I reread an old bible story with a new perspective.
In Luke 21: 1-4 we are introduced to the Widow bringing her offering to the temple:
1LOOKING UP, [Jesus] saw the rich people putting their gifts into the treasury. 2And He saw also a poor widow putting in two mites (copper coins). 3And He said, Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4For they all gave out of their abundance (their surplus); but she has contributed out of her lack and her want, putting in all that she had on which to live.
I started to think about this woman and the sacrifice that she made to trust God to provide for her needs after those two copper coins left the palm of her steady hand.
The bible does not tell us that she stopped and thought about what she was doing or seemed worried as she put them in but rather that she contributed out of her lack and her want. She dropped those coins knowing that God would make a way.
Often times many of us, myself included, give out of our comfort zone. We give of money in a way that fits into our budgets, we give of our talents in a way that is not too demanding, and we give of our time to causes that we deem worthy of our investment and involvement.
Comfort zones can be stumbling blocks to our growth as Christians because when we are in one we often give out of OUR definition of sacrifice.
God gives us each 24 hours in a day– no matter what your position, rank, net worth, or popularity we each get the same chance each day to make a difference. Are you spending your time inside a comfort zone- giving like the wealthy man in the story who gave only what was required of them? Giving in a way that is respectable but not uncomfortable?
Or Are you all in? Like the widow in this story are you willing to place yourself 100% on God’s agenda for your time each day and watch him use you to accomplish greater things than you ever could have planned or prepared to do with your 24 hours?
Change your perspective of time to be this:
T.I.M.E= These investments matter eternally
It is not time management we are working to master, it is investment management. I think we could do no better than learn to develop an investment strategy like the widow — give it all and let God use you, your time, your talents, and your energy– for his purposes! Talk about return on investment!
Can you imagine walking into a library that did not have a system? You walk in with the goal of finding a book about China but you quickly discover that may be near impossible because there are no shelves in this library. Books are stacked one on top of the other haphazardly throughout the giant room. Some of the stacks are almost as tall as you are and you are quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of books and the unbelievable lack of order in the room.
In one corner you spot books on Mexico so you go over there, thinking that must be the travel section. Once you are close enough to read the titles you see the books on Mexico are sandwiched between books on dogs, Thai cooking, and a few fiction titles.
You turn around and begin carefully climbing over shorter stacks and tiptoeing around taller stacks, careful not to cause them to topple over. You make your way to the front desk where a middle aged woman is pacing back and forth looking very distraught. You can hear her mumbling to herself, “ I just saw it yesterday. Where did I set it down at?”
You can tell by her name badge that she is the librarian, the master of the chaos that you are surrounded by. You gently ask her for help in locating a book about China but are surprised when she responds with, “I want to tell you where it is… but I have no idea at all. I would start digging in the pile under the window.”
I know this seems like a very EXTREME example of disorder but… in reality many of us are living in this type of chaos each day.
Our 24 hour period of time is the library and all of our appointments, priorities, to do items, and “stuff” are the books. If your day is structured like this library then your appointments are everywhere, you are unclear of your priorities, unable to complete to do items orderly, and unsure where you stuff is. You are feeling frustrated and overwhelmed like the librarian in the story and you too are missing so many opportunities to help yourself and others around you.
The problems in this library are fixable by establishing order in the chaos these books can become useful again. Taking time to sort through the books and group like ones together, get rid of duplicates, and create a system to find what you want when you need it will turn them from stumbling blocks on the floor to resources on the shelves- they will be able to be used as intended again.
Your time management problems are fixable too–you are not sentenced to the chaos that poor time management skills create in your life. You can make a choice today to renovate and reclaim your time and use it as it was intended- not to be stressed and frustrated but to make a difference.
Your time is an investment… what that investment yields is determined by you and the value you place on it. Being a good time manager means that you know what your definition of success and a full life is so that you can spend your time wisely on what brings you pleasure and passion.
A story that clearly illustrates that is the one of the Fisherman and the CEO:
“Not long,” the Greek fisherman answered. “Probably an hour or so.”
“May I ask,why didn’t you stay out longer so that you could catch more fish?”
The Greek fisherman shrugged and tried to explain to the visiting CEO that his catch was sufficient to meet his needs, and those of his family.
Confused the CEO asked, “But what will you do with the rest of your time today?”
I will play with my small children, and take a nap with my wife, maybe fish a little more. In the evening, I go to the village to see my friends, dance a little, play the bouzouki, and sing songs. I have a full life.”
The CEO shook his head and said, “I have an MBA from Harvard, let me help you. I suggest that you begin fishing longer each day. By fishing longer you’ll catch extra fish so that you can sell them in the marketplace. With the extra money, you can buy a bigger, better boat. That larger boat will bring you extra money because you will be able to hold more fish. Then you can eventually buy added boats, until you have an entire fleet of fishing vessels in these waters.
You will no longer be selling your fish to a middleman, you will be able to negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe someday you will be able to open your own plant. Then you will be able to ship fish to markets all around the world. In time, you could move to New York City and manage your huge company.”
The Greek fisherman looked at the CEO with wide eyes, “How long would that take?” he asked.
“Perhaps twenty or twenty-five years,” replied the executive causally.
“And after that?” The fisherman asked.
“When your business is really booming, you will be able to sell your stock and make millions!” exclaimed the executive with excitment.
The fisherman said, “Millions? Really? What will I do after that?”
“After that you will play with your grandchildren, and take a nap with your wife, maybe fish a little more. In the evening, you could go to the village to see your friends, dance a little, play the bouzouki, and sing songs and have a full life.”
I created this short video to share with you some of the principles of time management and a short prayer to help you change your view of this important issue. Take a moment and watch this:
Click here if you are interested in learning more about the Time Management bible study that I have written and am currently leading online.
As Christmas festivities wrap up, we turn our attention to the beginning of 2011 and all of the promise that lays ahead of us in the new year.
When people are sitting down to make their resolutions for the upcoming new year chances are that some of these popular items may appear on their list:
The thing about all of these items is that they require you to change the way that you spend and manage your time so that you can change old behaviors or add new ones to your daily schedule. I would contend that in order for any of us to successfully manage our New Year’s resolutions… we must resolve to better managers of our time.
Ii is for this reason that I am very excited to announce that in the month of January, I will be leading a FREE online bible study entitled The Gift of Time through a Facebook Group that we have set up. I would love to invite you all to join! The format of the bible study is as follows:
I hope that many of you will join us and start your 2011 out on a productive note as we discuss biblical time management principles and applications!!! You can join this FREE bible study by simply clicking here to join our Facebook group.
Your Turn: Leave a comment to RSVP for our Twitter Chat and email this post to three friends that you know who may be interested in the information we will share in this study.
A few weeks ago I was blessed to be asked to guest post on Jennifer White’s Blog Inspired and Sharing it!
I wrote a post entitled The Gift of Time to discuss how our time is one of the greatest gifts we are given and spending it wisely is of utmost importance. I encourage to use these links to visit you blog and read this post and others that she has there- it is a great blog.
Today, I want to talk about practical ways that we can use our time as the ultimate gift this holiday season.
A large percentage of American families are cutting back this holiday season on the amount of money they are spending on gifts- forcing many to be more creative this year. Some estimates are as high as 50 percent of families that plan to reduce the budget that have for gifts by at least $300 overall.
I love giving gifts that you could not purchase on Black Friday or online with free shipping. Gifts that create memories and strengthen the bonds of family and friendship. Here are five gift ideas that allow you to give the gift of time to someone special in your life this season:
1. Offer to babysit the children of a young couple so that they get the gift of a night out.
2. Take your children on a trip for the holidays instead of giving gifts. Find a place that you can go for a few days and make memories together that will last much longer than this year’s hottest toy.
3. Set dates with your 10 closest friends on your calendar throughout the next few weeks to treat them to a lunch or coffee. You will both enjoy getting to catch up and spend time together more than she will enjoy another colorful scarf this year.
4. Give someone in your life the gift of a time each week that you are going to set aside to spend more time with them this year. It may be a relationship that is strained and needs to be worked on or one that simply has gotten off track as you both have become busy. Set aside the same time each week for a 30 minute phone call or a coffee to intentionally focus on them.
5. Set up a routine with your children this year that will allow you to spend at least one hour of time with each of them a few times a month. Perhaps you set up to alternate taking them out for breakfast just the two of you on Saturday mornings so you can talk about what is going on with them.
The point is not the purchasing of the gift but the purpose of the gift that matters. I would be so bold as to say that many children and friends would prefer an hour of our undivided attention more than a toy or a gadget this season.
Your turn: I invite you to leave a comment with your thoughts on giving the gift of time versus a traditional holiday gift this Christmas.
With deadlines, end of the year meetings, holiday parties, gifts that need to be bought, family gatherings, Christmas cards that are sitting on your table untouched, and treats that need to be baked… it is no wander that the holidays are one of the most magical yet stressful times of the year.
With so many added demands on our schedule this time of the year it is easy to see why we often feel stressed and frazzled during the holiday season. The problem is that giving into the temptation to say yes to every party invitation or commit to be a part of each holiday activity often distracts us from the true meaning of the season.
God took the complicated issue of salvation and made it simple, through the birth of his son one cold winter’s night in a lonely stable. We however, tend to make the simple reason for the season complicated by adding decorations, food, parties, cards, and so much more.
We always have the best of intentions to take a break; however, seldom do our best intentions get realized. For this reason I encourage you this holiday season to block out some time in your schedule for a stop from the hustle and bustle of the departments stores and festivities to do three important things.
1. Focus on the real reason for the season.
2. De-stress
3. Rest
One important aspect of time management during the holiday season is making a conscious effort to slow down enough to celebrate, stay relaxed, and remain healthy.
Your turn to respond: Leave a comment below and share if you schedule some slow down time in your schedule during the holidays. Why or Why not?
