Do you have any family members or friends who seem to have more hours in a day than you do; the people who accomplish so much daily and still get the requisite 8 hours of sleep? Perception is not reality however. Everyone has the same 168 hours each week, 52 weeks in a year. I would like to offer a reason these people succeed in maximizing their time, and that is that they prioritize what is important over whatever is urgent.

There is an often-quoted principle usually attributed to Dwight Eisenhower that states “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important.  The urgent aren’t important and the important are seldom urgent”.  We tend to spend our time “putting out fires”, tackling urgencies that many times we don’t have time for the things that are really important.

Jesus masterfully accomplished his mission on earth in 3 years. He was certainly approached daily with urgent matters, pleading, begging issues demanding his attention right then, but Jesus took care of important things first so they didn’t become urgent.

His miracles were evidence of how Jesus cared for important things. He knew if he did not address important things, urgent things would dominate.

So, let’s take a moment to examine how we might begin planning our day to accomplish what is important and not feel hijacked by urgent interruptions.

Determine What Is Most Important

Jesus prioritized time with His Father and so should we. Each day, before we begin our day we should check in with our Father and ask Him to direct our path for the day. “We can make our plans, but God determines our steps” ~ Proverbs 16:9 NLT.

A simple prayer could be “Good morning God. Help me today to prioritize the important things, and determine what is most important to live a life pleasing to you”. If we allow God into our day planner, we can trust that He will direct it well.

Delegate When Possible 

Jesus gave us an excellent example of delegating to others what you can. In Matthew 28, we see Jesus delegating to his disciples and us what He was given by His Father.  In verses 19 and 20 he sent them to go into the world making disciples and teaching others.

To be effective during our day, we too should look for opportunities to delegate things on our to do list so we can focus on the Most Important Things we have determined in part 1 above. Delegating what can be delegated could potentially free up an hour or two in your day, as long as you delegate and fight the urge to micromanage.

Do Not Be Driven by Others’ Expectations

This actually is where we see the difference between what is important versus what is urgent.  If we aren’t careful our time can be hijacked by what others may see as urgent.

As a parent we see examples of this routinely. Children are impatient, they have to be taught patience, that their emergency is not necessarily a genuine emergency. Jesus did not get distracted by others agendas. He knew what needed to be done and when it needed to be done. He delayed going to the home of Lazarus for 4 days! Jesus delayed when appropriate and so should we.

If there are expectations on us from others that we know are not truly important, delaying those things will serve 2 purposes. It will free us up to do that which is important and secondly it will help us to teach patience to someone else.

Devote Yourself to Making the Most of Your Time

Finally, knowing we each have the same hours each day, week, month, and year, we should spend our time doing what we are called to do. Quoting Rowland Croucher, the Australian Baptist Minister “You have enough time to do everything God wants you to do. If you haven’t enough time, you are doing something that God doesn’t want you to do”.

Are we effectively using our time? Are we spending too much time being “busy” but not accomplishing the important things? Statistics tell us that we spend 80% of our time being 20% effective, and 20% of our time being 80% effective. Why don’t we start flipping the script, prioritizing what is of utmost importance?

Jesus said it best at the home of Mary and Martha. Martha was busy, working to make a meal for Jesus, and Mary was sitting at Jesus feet, not helping with the chores.

Martha was doing “urgent” things, and was upset that her sister wasn’t helping in any of it. Jesus, full of love and compassion told Martha, “Martha, Martha you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it won’t be taken from her”. Luke 10:41-42.

If we prioritize the important things, we too will find we have enough time for everything we have been designed to do.

NEXT STEPS

Let me encourage you, especially as we are entering a very busy time of the year. The celebrating of Thanksgiving ushers in the blessed birth of our Savior. Jesus came to give us an abundant life, and a life of abundance frees us up to enjoy each day as the gift it is.

So, for the weeks leading up to the holidays, let us challenge each other to start mastering our time. Look for ways each day to look to our Father, to delegate responsibilities, and to choose an important task to complete, not becoming distracted by the urgencies that try to take our focus away.  With all the extra free time it affords you, get some rest. You earned it!

In Christ

Sandy

Photo by Diego PH on Unsplash