Teri's Time Management Tips
by Teri Spray
How can you get done what needs to get done? I feel like I have no time, or I keep getting interrupted. Help!
I don't think I'll ever forget when a friend told me that I had been the subject of conversation at a recent home school support group meeting. The moms were wondering how in the world I did so many things, (ie: teaching children,writing curriculum and newsletters, consulting, speaking, etc.) One of the moms chimed in, "I know how she does it, she shops at 11-o-clock at night, I saw her at Safeway last week!" Perhaps that bit of information disqualifies me as an expert on time management, but I am willing to share a few tidbits if I can be of any help.
An important feature of time management is the realization that it is an earthly factor, and not a kingdom feature. In heaven there is no time. That is so hard for us to comprehend, but God is not constrained by time. When we grasp this important fact, most of our time "management" becomes time submission. Here is what I mean: Ephesians 5:16 Seen then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (interruption #1)
God is our Alpha and Omega He IS the Beginning and the End. God is not only the Master of the Entire Universe, but He is also greater than time itself. When we can grasp this concept of time, then managing our hours becomes easier. God alone can stretch time. He can give us all of the time we need to nurture our children and maintain a comfortable home. He can also cause our hours to extend along with our hearts and empower us in ministry to others. (interruption #2)
Perhaps you are thinking, "but I am constantly juggling to keep my children educated, my home in order, and my family fed!" Welcome to the days described above as evil! Yes, here on earth we do struggle with time for all of our activities. The answer is to allow the Lord the freedom to juggle our days for us! Instead of a day planner, we need to allow the Lord to give us His kingdom planner each morning as we meet with him. When we allow His mighty Holy Spirit to direct our days, we will discover that His priorities are not our priorities, but everything which needs to get done, will get done. Ask the Lord each morning to show you what is most important to do today. (interruption #3)
Then work on that area first and foremost with every available moment of time, and then move toward the next priority which God assigns. This takes prayerful determination and obedience. This means that we must actually die to ourselves and nail our to-do list to the cross each day. (interruption #4)
In this manner, the Lord will direct our days and they will become "victory days" in his kingdom instead of "evil" unwise frustrations. A very similar time management principle is the principle technique used by highly successful entrepreneurs such as Mary Kay Ash and Zig Ziglar.
Here is a story often shared at business conferences: A gentleman shared this principle of setting priorities before performance. A man agreed to consult with company without charging a particular fee. The employer could determine the value of the services for his company over the next six months. The consultant thoroughly taught each employee in the office to set up about seven things to do each day from the most important to the the least. He worked to get a commitment from each employee to be "religious" about not working on priority #2 until #1 was completed as far as possible. Each day the employees always began at the top with the most important task identified as #1. After six months the employer was asked to send a check for what he thought the service was worth to his company. The consultant received a fat check for about one year?s salary from the grateful employer. (interruption #5)
When I consider the time available in my days, I generally only consider three blocks of discretionary time in any given day. This is time which does not include meals, personal hygiene and routine daily chores.
A morning block of two-and-a-half hours,
(9:00-11:30?)
An afternoon block of time of two-and-a-half hours (2:00-4:30)
An evening block of time (7:00-9:30)
Whenever I schedule myself, I try to do it within those spaces of time. In this manner, I know ahead of time to try to complete personal hygiene and routine chores in spaces between those blocks of scheduled time. Now I can plan on certain tasks that need to be done during those blocks.
I can plan that most morning and afternoons will be consumed by home school activities on school days. The evening and weekend blocks will be filled with meetings, errands and personal projects. Now I have the ability to roughly schedule myself with margins for variations along the way. This way I can perceive my week-at-a-glance and imagine what to do with my 21 available time blocks. This mental block scheduling helps me to be able to write publications, maintain personal friendships, be active in my church and Civil Air Patrol and still maintain my duties as a wife and mother and home education consultant.
Helpful helps:
First things first!
Prioritize your duties, even if it means you barely get to the end of your list, the important items must come first.
Time-savers potpourri
Keep home school record charts in a bin with the curriculum. Correct books and chart scores in one motion.
Just in case you thought we have a simple life with no interruptions, I recorded a few which happened while I was writing the above article. I thought you might get a smile from this list: