Time management
It seems that the more I try and focus on something the more time I have to accomplish it. That seems like a reasonable statement but the reality is life gets in the way of the best made plans. How does life do that you may ask, it is by my allowing it to be the distraction that draws me away from the stated focus I had. The one resounding facet I keep coming up with on why things I want to focus on don't get focused on is me. Whatever I say I want to do, my actions speak louder than my words.
Most things are like that I am finding, for most of us "Me" is a 900 lb. gorilla preventing our best altruistic plans from becoming reality. If I say I want to read my Bible daily and pray more, yet choose to record more shows on my DVR than I can watch in an evening than i am fooling myself. But I am on to "me", I can do something about this Jekyll that creeps up and steals away the time and focus from my desired goals. I can't Hyde from the fact that I am a human trapped in a temporal experience that doesn't let me do whatever I want in the amount of time I want to do it in, I have to play by the rules of reality that currently constrain me.
So what do I plan to do about it? First is I need to tell a couple of unwitting accomplices that I am trying to make a change. The fact that I spend at least 2 hours a night in front of my TV with my wife for several evenings of the week doesn't mean I love her more or less than if I let her know I am going to try and cut back my TV nights to 4 a week. I am sure if I use the time for something other than TV she will be fine with it. Though up to know I enjoyed watching shows with her and conversing about the plot lines and subjects, but that is why I kept doing it.
Second I need to actually set apart some time to do my reading and praying, not a catch if I can moment but an actual time each day that i will use for that purpose. Now I am sure many of you may say why do I even want to do this, that's irrelevant, the fact is if you want to change your habit of losing time to nothing in particular you need to plan to do what you want to accomplish. For me it is because I feel closer to God when I study his word, or if I use my skills to further the kingdom then I also feel like that was a good days work. As a technologist that sense of accomplishment is not always there, God has given us a blessing by allowing us to feel satisfied or dissatisfied with our efforts. Ultimately when viewed appropriately in my opinion choosing to reflect on how God has used you is a way to see him moving in your Life, provide encouragement and offer opportunity for growth. Without real self inspection your just wandering aimlessly, when I get to the end of my life I would like to feel I did not waste my days watching the TV, TV is not bad, but the allowing of it to rob the church of our productivity is bad.
What are you allowing to steal you time? Is it something that when your final day comes you will be glad you emphasized?
