One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, “How do you do it all?” I’ve been called superwoman, amazing, crazy and many other things, however for me, I have a burning desire in me to do more. I do not consider myself any of those things listed above (except maybe the crazy part). All I know is that every morning I wake up with the same calling. I hear it loud and clear and I have ignored it long enough. “Karin, I want you to equip other women to live a happy, fulfilled life. Share with them the things you have learned, share your painful experiences as well as successful experiences and help them to seek, know and love Me.”
Therefore, I am stopping my procrastination and will take on this task as I have been asked to. Obedience has never been my strong suit, which has gotten me into trouble more than one time in life. This is my effort to obey what the Lord is asking of me.
Let’s get right to the topic for this week. Making the most of every minute and every second of the day in order to DO MORE IN LESS TIME. Everyone has the same amount of time gifted to them every day. Why, then, do some people seem to accomplish more than others do? In addition, why do they not seem to be as stressed out and in a hurry all the time? I heard Christian author and speaker, Joyce Meyer, say this statement in a sermon the other day: “When did you ever see Jesus in a hurry? When did you ever see Him panic or stressed out?” Great point! I have never read or heard anything of the sort, and when Jesus did have something on His mind, he removed himself from the crowds and went and prayed for as long as He needed to. This reminded me that there is nothing going on in my life that I should be in panic about and I am not the one in control anyway.
Using simple math, we start each day with one thousand, four hundred forty minutes. Four hundred and eighty of those minutes are used sleeping, three hundred minutes are used in commuting, preparing and eating meals, and showering/getting ready for work (with applying make-up, doing hair, etc.). Those are just the necessary things we need to do every day. We have less than half the time allotted to us daily remaining to spend as wisely as possible. This leaves us with 660 minutes, or 11 hours, of productivity time to get done what you desire to get done, including work, study, exercise, grocery, visiting with your kids or husband or going to sporting events. You get the picture. Very quickly we can run out of time and wind up full of frustration, hurried and dissatisfied with our lives. I should mention that the average person spends over two hours per day on social media.
I have found that the trick to doing more in less time is to master time-blocking. Some of you may know what this is, some may not, and it really speaks for itself. However, there is a huge difference in blocking time out for a specific productive activity and actually following and carrying out the time block.
Yes, I have been guilty of this and many of the ladies I consult for are guilty as well. Here is what happens. For example, let’s say that exercise is an important thing to you. You block out three times per week to exercise at 7:00 am for 30 minutes. At the end of the week you discover that you only exercised one time this week. This starts the cycle of negative self-talk and beating yourself up for missing your workouts. You feel gross, frustrated and guilty that you did not do what you said you were going to do. Following are some helpful tips to be sure you follow through with your time-block.
- Be sure to put your time-block on a calendar or a planner that you look at and follow every day. My suggestion is to look at the full week ahead on Sunday so that you know what is coming that week and then check again each day looking over and preparing for the next day.
- COMMUNICATE your schedule to your spouse, staff and anyone who helps to protect your time. Set rules on what constitutes an interruption of that time. Be specific and stick to it.
- BE FLEXIBLE by looking ahead at your schedule and seeing what other commitments you have. This will allow you to move the time-block if it conflicts with something else however you still get the activity in.
Practicing and implementing these simple strategies in all areas, business or personal, will change your life! You will be on time, organized and focused for the day. You will have a sense of accomplishment, empowerment, and you will find that your time is being used more wisely. You will be setting the example to your loved ones and co- workers and they will learn that there are boundaries on when you are and are not available. Lastly, this will help you move toward the fulfilling life you desire!
I pray this adds some value to your day.
Karin
