Sorting through the time crunch
Today’s assignment in the Balanced Challenge is one that I know I’ll have to keep coming back to. I don’t know about you, but for me it’s often a challenge to figure out how I’m going to make the best use of each 24 hour segment God gives me. There just isn’t enough time to do everything.
Tricia Goyer shares one way to sort through the time crunch: Sit down and make a list with four categories.
- Things I have to do (non-negotiable items like work or feeding and clothing your family)
- Things I should do (no one will die if these things aren’t done, but they are very important. e.g. reading the Bible)
- Things I want to do (those things that bring me joy and make me feel more alive e.g. my work with InScribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship)
- Things I’m doing to “look good” or doing out of guilt (usually volunteer activities that are good, but may be zapping our energy)
Tricia then challenges us to cut ALL the items listed under #4 and schedule the rest of the items into some sort of calender. I’ve shared the beginning of my calendar at the top of this post. It still needs some work – my husband and I plan to compare notes and calendars.
This exercise has been an important reminder to me that I can’t be everything to everybody. Some things have to give. Tricia reminds us that there are different seasons in life and sometimes we have to wait to do things until a different season.
How do you plan your schedule? What do you struggle with the most? I’d love to hear from you in the comment section.
