Time Management

This past Sunday we had the third installment of our September message series, Living Room: Managing Life so it Doesn't Manage You. This week’s topic was time management.

In our modern society, technology and modern achievements have helped us develop the notion that we have more time. Microwaves help us prepare food in a matter of minutes versus hours. Computers help us with word processing, paying bills, and research in a fraction of the time it took previously. These advancements should help us maximize our time, but in reality, we tend to try to cram more into our already overloaded lives, propagating a cycle of busyness and burnout. This type of living only further closes in on our living room and isn’t what GOD wants for us; after all, GOD sent us Jesus so we can have life and have it abundantly! (John 10:10).

Our Christian faith is one of action; we hear the Lord say things like: come, follow, give, serve, love, share, etc. We also come to know that there are times when the best action the Lord calls us to are things like: rest, recover, listen, be still, etc. In order for us to enjoy the living room that GOD has planned for us, we must realize that balance is essential!

Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that GOD has placed eternity in the human heart, but we cannot understand it. This verse comes right after the lines that remind us we need balance in our lives as it pertains to time management. Read again these words from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace. (NIV)

These verses speak to us of balance, but also about knowing when it is time to do what. This is where our connection to GOD comes in so powerfully! Filling our lives with busyness and distraction only inhibits the necessary time for rest and recovery by being present for GOD. When we make ourselves available to the Lord, then we find the direction and vision we need to be engaged in the world. And making time for GOD helps us make better time with the others He has placed in our lives. We know this to be true, but we also know that the allure and demands of busyness can get in the way, so we need a strategy.

Peter Druker, who is business and management guru, did a study on the most efficient and effective CEOs. What he learned is that these leaders took a different approach to time management than most people. Where some might look first at their schedules to figure out everything that has to do be done in a given period of time, the CEOs tend to look first for their discretionary time, or the time when they have the ability to choose what to do and when. This discretionary time becomes the buffer around which everything else is scheduled. I know that since I learned this, I have been endeavoring to carve out the time I need for my own physical, emotional, and spiritual health (this includes my family time) and then plan the things I have to do for work around those. When I began managing my schedule in this way, I learned there was plenty of time for everything, whereas before, I always felt like time was in too short of supply.

Drucker offered some suggestions, in the form of three questions, that can be extremely helpful in dealing with the tasks that come to us in our non-discretionary time. These questions are:

1)      What would happen if this task were not done at all?

Ø  If the answer is nothing, then don’t do it!

2)      Which of the activities on my schedule could be done by someone else just as well or better?

Ø  Once you know, then delegate!

3)      What do I do that wastes someone else’s time without contributing to their effectiveness?

Ø  Don’t take advantage of others, because you can help them better manage their time, too, without putting any unnecessary pressure on them.

This leads me to the third key for our living room: simplicity! Simplifying our lives and schedules isn’t always easy, but it is always worth it! It is about carving out the time we need to be present with GOD to rest, pray, and recover so we can be present and effective for the people in life who need us.

As we seek the abundant living room that Jesus wants to give, may balance, simplicity, and these simple time management questions help you make the most of your time. You need balance and simplicity when it comes to managing your time, because if you don’t have it, your time will certainly manage you!

Stress Management

I continued our Living Room message series this past Sunday, talking about stress management from a biblical point of view. I got a lot of positive feedback from folks about how helpful the material was, so I thought I’d share the highlights in my weekly blog.

GOD created us to deal with stress. Deep within our hardwiring, we have the “fight or flight” mechanism, which helps prepare us to deal with a stressful stimulus. Within our hardwiring, we have tendencies that drive our natural reaction as well, to either fight or flee. Sometimes we can experience stress when we realize that we need to respond in a way that is contrary to our natural tendencies. For example, if you naturally want to take on a challenge, sometimes it is better to take a step back, assess, and evaluate the situation. On the other hand, if like me, you tend to want to want to withdraw, then perhaps you face a situation where you need to engage a challenge.

Since we all are going to face stress in our life – and not all stress is negative – problems can arise when we begin to project stress into a situation where it might not warrant it. Projecting stress is something that we all do when we try to discern if we are going to need to fight or flee. When we aim to project ourselves into a situation, we are not able to see all of the scenarios, so our minds fill in the blanks with the worst case scenario. As this happens, a cycle of stress is born where we are not only anticipating something stressful, but we are typically stressing over things that might not even happen. This projection of stress creates worry and anxiety.

The words ‘worry’ and ‘anxiety’ carry some unique significance in this concept of living room in the abundant life Jesus came to give (John 10.10). I have said in the past two messages that when life happens, it restricts and constricts our inner world. This is stress. This is worry and anxiety. The etymology of the word ‘worry’ in our Anglo Saxon language means, to choke. And ‘worry’ in the biblical languages means to divide one’s mind. So when we are worrying and experiencing anxiety, our minds are divided and spirits choked. This prevents us from being able to maintain perspective. The cycle continues.

Regarding worry and anxiety, a study revealed the way that we often worry. Check out these statistics:

• 40% of what we worry about never happens 
• 30% of what we worry about has already happened and cannot be changed 
• 22% of what we worry about regards problems which are beyond our control 
• 8% of what we worry about are situations over which we have any influence

Do you find this to be true? I know I do! A simple rule of thumb to remember is the 90/10 rule: life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond.

Since we are all going to experience stress, and we are all going to respond in one way or another, then reason stands that our response to stress is really what makes the difference. When we can learn to respond in a way that is consistent with GOD’s plan of abundant living for us, then we will truly be able to manage stress so it does not manage us. Check out this passage from The Message version of Philippians 4.6-9: Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.” 

As you pray to GOD for assistance in your stressful circumstances, know that Jesus indeed wants to come in and displace worry at the center of your life. Carrying your concerns to GOD and then focusing on His character attributes that are directly opposite to your stressors, worries, and anxiety is a perfect way to experience the relief from a divided and choked off mind. This is also essential in keeping the proper perspective when it comes to dealing with the things in life you can control (8%) versus the things you cannot (92%).

The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

(Reinhold Niebuhr, 1943)