Tag: Time Management

Believers, Time Management

The Believers Guide to Time Management

JSB

I’m pretty busy. I have a teenaged son. I work full time and I’m also in a master’s program. I became active in my church a few months ago and am helping to plan a women’s conference. On top of that, today I decided it was a good time to finally learn to cook.

Two years ago, when I started school, I tried to soothe my fear of deadlines by studying time management practices. I read Hal Elrod’s The Miracle Morning in hopes that I would find my answer in an early start. I subscribed to podcasts marketed to female entrepreneurs and moms. I thought that if I gathered all the right information I would find the right tools.

Despite every attempt to manage my time; despite color-coded schedules and calendar apps with timed notifications; despite task lists and reminders, I found myself failing horribly at getting things done.

This morning it occurred to me that the problem isn’t that I haven’t found the right book, radio program or mentor. My issue is that I haven’t turned my day, my desires, and my tasks over to God.

The Bible says, in Psalms 37:23, that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. James 4:15 also says For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do this, or that.

After reading those scriptures, I wondered if accomplishing my goals isn’t so much about setting aside blocks of time as it is about taking ordered steps? I wonder if it isn’t so much about making plans and struggling to keep them as it is about turning everything over to the Lord to manage?

What does that look like in practice? I think it looks like taking everything to the Lord in prayer. What I hope to do over the next coming weeks is to remember to hand my day over to God, considering my obligations like work, church and the responsibilities that come with parenting a busy teenager. My yes has to be my yes (Matthew 5:37), so anything I have agreed to: volunteering in the church bookstore, paying my bills, showing up to work on time, having my son at school on time, turning in my schoolwork on the due date, those things have to be done. I have to make those things a priority and I have to pray for the strength, endurance and favor to accomplish them, while trusting and believing that I’m can do all things through Christ.

The key is to prioritize prayer and reading scripture. As I ask for my daily bread I have to receive and eat it. I have to make time to hear God clearly so that I can follow whatever direction He has for me for each moment of the day with an open heart in case I have to refocus my assignments.

For the past few months, I have been repeatedly reminded that I must seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33). If we seek the kingdom first, and make God and his righteousness our focus, I think He’ll help us to manage everything else. And I think it will be his good pleasure to do so.

Uncategorized

Failing People

JSB

I am an introvert! Let’s just put it out there. And not only that, I’m busy introvert. There’s a strong possibility I may be busy with things I don’t need to be doing – but that’s beside the point.

This week I’ve noticed my patience with others has waned to nil. When I’ve been in the zone, any attempt to get me out has been met with annoyance and frustration. Every chatty telephone call has felt like a personal attack. It’s felt like my loved ones are personally trying to distract me from taking care of business.

And I know that’s not true.

I love people. I love my family. Relationships are important. Where I think my struggle lies (besides taking everything personally) is in the assumption that everyone knows how important my activities are to me; and that they understand that as a full-time employee, single mother, and student, every free moment is precious because free moments are rare.

This week, I have to figure out how manage my relationships or I may go nuts. I need help. I need more sensitivity. I’m failing at nearly every relationship besides the one I have with my son. I need time-management help. I need every kind of help there possibly is.

Starting a Business, Time Management, Uncategorized

Untitled document

JSB

I am not a full-time writer. Truth be told, most days I’m not even a part-time writer. Most days I’m a writer trapped in a full-time employee’s body. Most days by the time I get home from work I can’t imagine turning on my computer. I can’t imagine doing anything other than stare at Youtube.

Today on Myleik Teele’s Instagram (she also has a podcast called MyTaughtYou ) she reposted a question, “Are you willing to let go to grow?”

Catch me on a good day, maybe a Sunday right after church, and I would say yes. I would yell yes! I would shout it from the rooftops. But when I think about my full-time responsibilities: my job, my son, our bills, I know I can’t let go to grow. We have to eat. I can’t chase my dreams with the determination and singular focus of the entrepreneurs who run the podcasts I listen to or bake the cupcakes I treat myself to once a month. Right now I can’t afford it.

However, while I will continue to spend precious writing time volunteering at my church and helping my entrepreneur friends; while I will continue to devote as much time as I can to my wonderful, brilliant son, I will also commit to letting go of my comfort zone. I will let go of my fears. I will lose a little sleep.

pexels-photo-881751

Maybe I can’t let go in the same way other women can, but I can move at God’s speed. I can stay in sync with the flow of His Spirit and leadership. I will do what I can today and look forward to the work I CAN do tomorrow.

I will let go of my fears and leap a little at a time.

Parenting, Time Management, Uncategorized

Be Productive While You Wait

JSB

This week is going to be a good week. I can feel it in my bones. I am determined to be productive. I am going to write a paper, or at least start one. I am going to write several blog posts and read an entire book.

And I am determined to not won’t let parenting duties stop me. I will be effective in every area of my life, starting tonight, even while I sit in my car and wait for my son’s basketball practice to end.

I used to hate waiting for my teenager. Sitting in my tiny gas efficient car seemed like a waste of time. But not anymore. I know how to turn waiting into the most productive time of my day. And if you’re prepared, you can too.

Here are a few tips to make waiting worth your while.

  1. Keep your goals on you. I carry my phone and iPad most places so I have my to-do list with me at all times. (Hint-hint… the Success Wizard App is great for this. I know what exactly what I need to be working on and why.)
  2. Carry a book. If you’re in school and have texts to read or if you have a page-turner you haven’t been able to make time for, there’s no time like the time you spend waiting!
  3. Go analogue. The WiFi in most places may not have a wide enough reach, so if you’ll be waiting in a parking lot, carry a pen and paper. If you need to free-write or brainstorm, a notebook is all you need.
  4. Wind down. If you’ve been working all day, take a break. Meditate. Journal. Nap. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve adjusted my seat, locked the doors and gotten a quick twenty minute rest while waiting for my son to finish a practice or a class.
  5. Have a little fun. If your child’s rehearsal or sports practice is the only time you’ll get to yourself before bed, savor it. Read something just for fun, watch a YouTube video, get in a favorite show on your Netflix app.

Just remember, it doesn’t matter what you do as long as you take advantage of your wait. Wasting time is the enemy of productivity. Let’s be intentional with every movement.

Check-in, MFA, Uncategorized

January Check-In: Failing at Staying Energized

JSB

It’s only January 11th. Eleven days since 2018 started and I’m already out of energy. Seriously. I’m completely tapped out and I haven’t yet done anything.

My excuses are somewhat comforting: I live in the Midwest and for anyone who hasn’t heard, it’s been cold. Really cold. Below zero cold. Curl-up-in-bed-with-a-book-as-soon-as-you-get-home-from-work cold. Nevermind-that-you’re-a-student-and-you-have-writing-to-do cold. Nevermind-your-dreams, just-don’t-freeze cold.

Plus, it gets dark early and it’s hard for me to function without the ever necessary Vitamin D… *insert side-eye here*

What I don’t understand is why no one else seems to need the comfort of a well-crafted excuse? Why isn’t anyone else hiding under a blanket and enjoying the spoils of laziness? Is it that they don’t know how to make excuses or are they too busy producing content to take the time to come up with any? (I may not be great at commitment, but I excel at coming up with reasons to remain stagnant. I could help them out. It could be my first writing job!)

pexels-photo-267684

While I work hard not to covet, several of my Facebook friends finished manuscripts at the end of 2017. They’ve gotten published in lit mags. They started successful blogs. They’re actually working on 2018 goals while I eat cookies in my bathrobe. It seems that everyone is beating me in the race towards success because they won’t stop moving.

I know what I need to do. I’ve always known. I need to overcome myself. I need to get up and get writing. I need to move. Only, it’s hard and I’m tired. Plus it’s cold, and I mean really really cold… change-into-sweatpants-and-watch-Netflix-for-twelve-hours cold.

Time Management, Uncategorized

Failing at Trying to Do it All

JSB

There are only twenty-four hours in a day. I try to devote anywhere from seven to eight of those hours to sleep. I mentioned sleep first because you must understand that, like the fox in the above photo, sleep is my favorite thing to do.

I am required to spend nine hours at my full-time seed money gig (and that doesn’t count commute time). I hang out with my son, eat, sometimes cook, do chores, pray, write and read for school. I read submissions for the two literary magazines I work for and then there’s that hour a week I devote to Game of Thrones. Sprinkled in are church attendance, the time I spend volunteering in the church bookstore, and time with my extended family.

With all of that, it feels as though I have something going every hour of the day. I no longer sit on the couch and binge-watch Netflix. I can’t lay out in my backyard and reread Agatha Christie novels (which is fine because I don’t miss the subsequent mosquito bites.) I no longer have time to do nothing.

When I first began the pursuit of my MFA, I asked one of the women who had been in the program for a year how I was supposed to do it all? She told me that I couldn’t. She told me that I would have to choose.

I spent all of Sunday catering to my son, who has a virus and working on my draft that’s due on Friday morning. There are dirty dishes in my sink and I still haven’t folded last week’s laundry. I’m going to have to leave early in the morning to get both my son’s bus fare and his lunch money from the ATM because I couldn’t leave him to go do it during the day. I may even have to throw a load of clothes in the washing machine at 5 AM because there’s no way I can do it now. Right now I am working on this week’s posts.

Right before I got super busy, God showed me a race. The runners were behind the line, revving up and eager to go. He told me that it wasn’t time to run yet, but that I should rest and wait because once the race started I wouldn’t be able to rest for a long while.

I did rest a good deal during the previous months, so when I started running I thought I was ready. What I didn’t understand was that I could get distracted by trying to take on more than one race at a time. Not only is that not a very smart thing to do, it’s impossible. No matter how many hours there are in a day, I can only concentrate on one task until it is complete… And right now that task is The Game of Thrones because really, Jon Snow deserves my immediate attention. He deserves everyone’s immediate attention.

Parenting, Time Management, Uncategorized

Failing at Morning Routines

JSB

This post will be published around the time my teenager and I are stumbling out of the house for the first day of school. There will be faint whiffs of excitement, a lot whining, and some yelling. The yelling will be from me.

I am always late. No matter where I go. I am late – running through the door at eight for work, sneaking in through the back doors at church, waving across the room at chatting friends who have been waiting for at least five minutes. I try. I really do, but my efforts never pan out.

For months I have been obsessed with morning routines. I watch youtube videos and listen to podcasts. I read blog posts. I even read Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning. The problem is, I can never stick to the routine. Sure, I do great at first: lunches packed the night before, clothes laid out and ironed, breakfast prepared and ready to go, morning meetings with myself over coffee… and then I fall off. Game of Thrones comes on, someone calls, or I fall asleep on the couch, and then nothing gets done. The next morning I find myself once again scrambling to get out the door ten minutes too late.

The good thing about a new school year is that gives me and my son a chance for a new start. Maybe this time it’ll work. The Miracle Morning works, planning ahead of time works. It’s me that’s a problem and I’ve got no choice but to get it together. I’m tired of fighting with myself every morning. It’s getting me nowhere, and definitely not anywhere on time.