A TIME FOR EVERYTHING

A Time for Everything

Imagine that outside your front door at this very moment is everyone who, in the last week, has sent you a text, an email, called you on the telephone, written you a letter, spoken to you about seeing them for a pastoral visit, invited you to a meeting and those you have chosen to spend time with….

How far around your neighbourhood would that queue stretch and how long would it take you to see them if you saw them one after the other, even without a break?

Perhaps you feel overwhelmed by the demands you and others place on your use of time? Maybe the full weight of the issues you face in making the best use of your time are masked by the technology you use to manage your problem or perhaps you are working far too many hours to cope with all these demands on your ministry?

A Time for Everything

The writer of Ecclesiastes 3 v1-6 tells us there is a time for everything, describing the endless ebb and flow of actions that can sweep us up in an endless flurry of activity that leads to stress. There is a time for everything, but that does not mean we have to do everything NOW, as much as we or others might want us to do so. Nor should we simply succumb to all the demands others place on our time. Although we cannot manage time, as we are not in control of its passage, we can manage the way we and others use our own time. As a servant leader we need to role model a healthy use of time for our own benefit and for those to whom we minister.

10 Top Tips to manage your time better

1.  Review how you use your time.

Spend a week keeping a diary of your use of time, (including coffee breaks, telephone calls, travel time etc.) and with whom. Then review the diary, looking for recurring patterns and highlighting where you have not used your time as you would have liked and/or as effectively as you could. E.g. if you split your day into morning, afternoon and evening: do you regularly work all three sessions? Would it help if for all or part of the week you only worked 2 of those sessions per day?

2.  Review your diary with a trusted friend

Discuss the various areas in and then agree to take steps to address a couple of the issues it highlights.

3. Prioritise your use of time.

Steven Covey in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” introduces a simple four box model to help us use our time effectively. On one axis is “urgent” and “not urgent” and on the other what is “important” and “not important”. Our issue is often twofold: firstly, that we spend our time meeting the demands of others in what they see as urgent and important. Secondly, that in failing to deal with the important but not urgent tasks, that the tasks soon become urgent and lead us into feeling and being overwhelmed.

Populate each quadrant of the diagram with your view of what fits where. Next decide, and agree with others what are the important but none urgent issues for you to be an effective leader and resolve to spend most of your time on these. Where would regular hospital visits or home communion come? What about the article for the church newsheet? Personal retreat?

4.  Set expectations

Set expectations about response time and considerations of urgent and none urgent issues. My experience in working with ministers is that when people use the phrase “this needs doing urgently”, this can mean anything from in the next 10 minutes to the next 3 days”. When we and others understand what we all mean we can respond appropriately and prioritise our time effectively.

5.  Take a team approach

Talk to your co-workers about your joint use of time and the challenges you each face and how you can support one another e.g. do we all need to be copied into emails about the redecoration of the church hall? Sifting through which emails to read or not all takes time when we have large numbers of them.

6.  Use Meetings effectively

Do meetings have to happen the way they always have? Do you have to be there for all of the time or just the part that needs your input or when you need to hear vital information? Can other technologies help reduce the time and frequency of your regular meetings? Can you have an on-line discussion of some agenda items before the deacons meeting?

7.  Don’t let technology control you

Take control of the technology. It is easy to respond to the ring of the telephone or the bleep of the mobile phone or the ping of the email arriving in the in box. Turn off the bleep of the email and only check your emails twice a day (see also “Taming the Email Dragon” ). Turn off mobiles during meals, use an answer machine or call divert on a mobile phone when you should not be interrupted. Would we pause in the middle of a conversation with a bereaved couple to respond to a text message? Why do we then allow other situations to be interrupted by the call of technology?

8.  Manage interruptions

Research suggests it takes approximately 8 minutes to recover from being interrupted when you are in the middle of a task. Be ruthless with time, but gracious with people when handling interruptions and try to keep interruptions to a minimum. Find a time and a space where you won’t be interrupted, use technology or another “gatekeeper” to help e.g. your wife. Often when we are struggling with the task we find our own interruptions to distract us from the difficulty of the task e.g. that third cup of coffee, social chat with a colleague.

9.  Avoid procrastination

Procrastination:  “putting off the doing of something that should be done—intentionally, habitually and reprehensibly”. (John Adair). Do the worst jobs first – once you’ve got them over with you will feel a sense of relief and won’t be dreading them for the rest of the day/week. If it’s a big job that you are putting off, break it up into bite size chunks: it’s easier to think of repainting one room in a house than having to repaint the whole house.

10.  Does it have to be me?

It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking “If I don’t do it, it won’t happen or be done as well”. Allocate some of your tasks, meetings to others. Might some of them be a development opportunity for others? It may take longer to do this at the outset as you have to explain what is needed but is a worthwhile time saving in the long term.

Reflection

How much of your use of time is driven by your personality and that of others? Do you thrive on being with people generally and certain people in particular? Does sermon preparation get crammed into your remaining time?

Do you have to push yourself to leave the solitude and preparation time spent in the study for pastoral visiting?

Whatever your personality, time spent with a coach reflecting on how our personality impacts on our use of time, supported by the completion of personality inventories that highlight our own issues, can be extremely helpful.

• Commit to completing your time diary
• Set up an appointment with someone to review it together
• Try out one of the tips and see how it works for you: Today!

7 essential things that we must confront if we want to create in our lives the things we want and deserve

I CHOOSE TO BE UNCOMMON.......

I Do Not Choose to Be a Common Man

Today I was listening to Les Brown and has he recite the words from “I Do Not Choose to Be a Common Man” by Dean Alfange and I was amazed because I was thinking about the phrase “being uncommon” earlier in the morning. I replayed the record over-and-over about five times because the words were so profound as it strikes a chord in me. The words from the poem goes like this:

I Do Not Choose to Be a Common Man, by Dean Alfange

It is my right to be uncommon—if I can.

I seek opportunity—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.

I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.

I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat.

It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, “This I have done.”

We all have a choice. Life’s going to come at us it doesn’t matter what we choose to do, either to be common or uncommon. Being uncommon is where we can show our authentic self and do what we love, show our creativity and stand for something, because then is when we know that we matter. 

What type of life style do you want for yourself? Sometimes the life style you want will cause you to step outside of your comfort zone and people may call you crazy. I said this to a friend about eight (8) years ago-If you are crazy enough to think that you can change the world, you might just do it. So don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t, because the sameness lifestyle should be evicted from our daily living. We can’t live our lives in someone else’s shadow. It is okay to be uncommon; it’s just because you refused to conform to someone else’s ideology.

Be You! All others are taken!

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I WILL NOT GIVE UP NOT TODAY NOT EVER.#SomeoneTellMyEnemiesSO

Never Give Up

I choose to write about Never Give Up today because a lot of goals have been set and haven’t yet accomplished. I want to let you know, if the goal is important to you-you should KEEP GOING!

Most people we read about today didn’t accomplish their goals on their first attempt, but they all did something that achieving their goals could not do without. That is TAKING ACTION! They too were faced with challenges; they too were told no; and was even told that they weren’t good enough to play on the team. People like Thomas Edison; Henry Ford; Oprah Winfrey and Micheal Jordan to name a few. I list those name because we hear about them daily as a reminder of the possibility of achieving our goals.

It was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who told us so profoundly with these words “The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night”. Those words are a reminder that we should keep going and take continues action until our goals are met. It is possible to accomplish your goals.

My mom told me a long time ago “Son keep knocking even if the door is close, because someone will hear you”. That is a listen I won’t forget. I encourage you to keep on Keeping on and hold on to your dreams. You are always closer than you think! When you feel the like you can’t go no more, remember why you have started to work on your goals and if you have been holding on so long; it is okay to keep on. You can do it! If you should reach to the end of the rope tie a knot and hold on, because you becoming successful is more rewarding than anything else. You have it in you!

Edgar A Guest “Stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit”.

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I WILL CHANGE FOR THE BEST.....

Changing For The Better

Today my blog is about CHANGE. To change can be a hard pill to swallow. Do you believe it is? 

Changing our present  level of awareness can be very difficult for most of us. It was difficult for me, before I came to the realization after reading and studying other successful people. I came to realized that they change their situation first by the way of their thinking. They went inwardly and look at their values, beliefs, goals, defenses, aggression, assumptions, and hopes to name a view of things they looked at.

However, being self-confident is a goal that should be reached, and by becoming self-confident there will be a better chance of becoming successful.

Do you believe that your mind control your actions and reactions?

When we set in our ways we tend to give excuses or find some form of reasoning for our particular situation on why it is impossible to change. To change is POSSIBLE! This is were most people avoid going beyond their comfort zone, due to the lack of uncertainty. Do you want to change your world?

If you do, this is what Albert Einstein said “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”

Our Thoughts have Power!

Now that we know that our way of thinking has a lot to do with what we accomplish in life, we can start making adjustments. I learned from a workshop I attended that was held by A friend  a few weeks ago of which he stated so clearly that I could recall myself being in the situation years back. He stated that people only change when they learn enough; receive enough information on what they want to change or when they are hurt enough.

What Are You Waiting on to Change?

Lets begin,

Having a total picture of yourself is a great way to see your life in a more positive experience, not has you wish it is, but has others see you. Then your next step is to build that bridge between where you are and where you’ll like to be.

You can be the person you hope to be!

This is what Eric Roth said from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button screenplay “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.”

Our challenges are for us to grow!

A quote by Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym “When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.”

Life was made to LIVE, so LIVE!

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