I’ve found myself saying this little axiom a lot lately.
“The hardest decision I make every day is deciding what I’m not going to do today.”
I’m not sure if I heard it from someone or if I made it up. Maybe I’ll just tell people that I made it up until I end up telling to to the person who actually told it to me… then I’ll give them the credit.
I don’t profess to be a pro at time management at all. I feel like I’m better than I’ve ever been, probably thanks to Jim Wideman. I do feel like I have a lot of capacity and I work pretty fast, so I tend to get a lot done. However, I’ve learned a few things over the years.
- There will always be more to get done than I’ll have time to get it done.
- Ministry can be a disease where I feel the pressure of getting everything done and I end up putting off family, friends and other priorities.
- When I don’t have a vision or focus of where I’m going, I’ll be very busy but get very little done
My family is very important to me. Actually, even a little downtime to myself is very important to me. In order to stay healthy, I have to constantly look at the list of things to be done and decide what I’m not going to do, either today, this week or ever.
In my earlier idealistic years of ministry, I probably would have scoffed at this statement. Today I try to live by it.
For a lot more great time management ideas and principles, pick up Jim Wideman’s book, “Beat the Clock.“
