Time Management is basically concerned with getting things done. I have over the years written some principles down that I use to govern my life that I have discovered from others that work very well. Most of these guidelines are summed up in a easily remembered motto or “saying”. Let me share a few with you;

1. “The goal is not to just get a lot done, but to get done that which is most significant, most important, that which has the greatest impact on the most people. ” A few significant things done, results in more lasting and important accomplishments than a lot of insignificant things done in the same time frame. People fool themselves into thinking they have been productive because they did a lot, stayed busy, and crossed off everything on their todo list. Choosing to do only or mostly the high impact, and most significant things is very difficult because they aren’t what most around us would choose for us, and we all tend toward pleasing people. Also high impact activity usually requires more thought and planning, more effort, and more focus so we naturally move away from it to the frivolous. A wise and disciplined person who chooses to work at a few very high impact tasks will easily accomplish a hundred times more truly significant things that really matter than the very busy, hard working person who accomplishes a lot of things that have low significance. Another way of saying this guideline is, “Choose to do a few things that really matter rather than a lot of things that don’t”.

2. “I am really gifted and good at a few things, so I major on those activities”. The short, easy to remember motto would be, “Stay in your sweet spot”. God has given us gifts, abilities, temperaments, and talents. Some we were born with, some we acquired as we grew up because of the influence of key people in our life, and some God gave us at the point of our salvation which we call Spiritual gifts. When we work and serve in the area of our giftedness we work with so much more passion and fire. When we are working in the area of our giftedness it is the power of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity that is working in us so we don’t get tired as we serve, in fact we often find ourselves getting energized. When I travel and speak in churches the person who is planning the seminar or event will usually ask how many times I am willing to speak, they usually assume 2 or 3 times. But I tell them to work me like a dog, I don’t mind speaking 8 hours a day, the more I teach the more energetic I feel. Working and serving in my sweet spot not only results in a lot more fruit in my life, but I enjoy myself so much more, I have fun.

I will give you some more tomorrow.