Leadership Lifter: Time Management

by Rick Warren

Ever feel that you don’t have enough time? The simple truth is, you have plenty of time. You just need to learn how to make the most of the time that you do have. If you are going to be effective, you have to learn time management.

Ecclesiastes 8:6 tells us, “…there is a time and a way for everything…” (NLT). The problem is not time, but how you use it. To get mad at your schedule is like getting mad at your bathroom scales. It is not the scale’s fault that you don’t like what it reads. We all have the same amount of time: 168 hours per week. The question is, how are you investing it? We want to learn to manage time wisely so that we don’t end up like the guy who said, “…I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose…” Isa 49:4 (NLT).

If you had a bank account and every day someone deposited $86,400 into it that you had to spend or lose, would you let that money go to waste? No. You would draw out every cent and spend it. You have 86,400 seconds in every day. You need to draw them out.  You need to take advantage of them. 

Here are ten ways to start to manage your time.

1. CLARIFY YOUR LIFE OBJECTIVE. Ask yourself…
What did God make me for? Eph 2:10
What does He want me to do? Mt. 20:28
How has He gifted me? Rom 12:3, 1 Peter 4:10

Most people do not have a life objective clearly thought out and they certainly don’t have it written down. Long before you decide what you are going to do this week, you have to figure out where you are going in life. Once you determine that, you have a direction set and choices become easier. There are many things in my life I don’t have to decide on because they were decided when I made a basic commitment in my life to go a certain direction. Consequently, they are not even optional to me. I don’t consider whether I am going to do them next week because I have already made a life decision that determines how I am going to spend my time. 

2. ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE AROUND 5 TO 8 KEY AREAS
Research has proven that our conscious mind becomes stressed when we try to balance more than 7 or 8 Key Areas. Key areas are things such as home, work, play, etc. If you feel out of control, you don’t have a Life Tree. You have never thought – how do all of these things fit into the grand scheme of my purpose? Imagine a tree.  The Trunk is you and the overall goals you have set for your private and work life. The branches are the Key Areas, which are the main areas on which you need to concentrate your efforts to achieve your goals. Remember, you don’t want more than 5-8 key areas. The twigs are the large tasks that you need to do within each area. The leaves are the practical activities and sub items which are part of the performance of each large task. I have eight key areas in my life. I do not use a “to do” list, instead I use my Key Area list. Every Monday morning or Sunday night I sit down and make my schedule by plugging things into my Key Areas.

3. APPLY THE 80/20 RULE (Pareto principle).
Alberto Pareto was an economist in 15^th Century Italy. He determined that in a list of ten things to do, two of them are going to produce the most benefit.  Twenty percent of your list is going to produce eighty percent of your benefits. There is a difference between high priority and high payoff. Priority is set by deadlines. Payoff is set by Key Areas. Your job is to discover what your 20% is. 

4. PLAN YOUR WEEK IN 21 SEGMENTS.
Effectiveness comes in the management of large blocks of time. The things that you do well, you will do in extended periods of time. It is better to get two or three hours of Bible study than 15 minutes per day.  I am not talking about devotional time, but intense Bible study. Look at your schedule and start to block your time into 21 segments – 7 days of morning, afternoon, and evening. Then start asking yourself, which of these will I give to ministry, my family, recreation, etc. 

5. GROUP SIMILAR TASKS TOGETHER.
Do tasks such as writing letters or making phone calls all at once. If you call my office, unless it is really important, you probably won’t be able to talk to me. I will call you back. I wait until I have a few calls to make, and then I make them all at once. It wastes less time.

6.LEARN TO CONTROL THE TELEPHONE INSTEAD OF LETTING IT CONTROL YOU.
If you walk around with a cell phone, you need to learn that you don’t have to always answer it right away. People answer when they are in the middle of dinner with others, at a movie, or other inappropriate times. It is okay to not answer and then call people back.

7. LEARN TO SAY NO.
This is a mark of spiritual maturity. The world would be happy to enslave you in all the things it has to do. It will gladly waste your time and energy. You have to learn to say no.

8. WRITE IT DOWN.
If I were to summarize success in one phrase, I would tell you that success is the competent management of good ideas. Everybody has good ideas but successful people know how to manage them. Most people don’t even write them down, so they don’t remember them, let alone manage them.  

9. LEARN TO USE “LOOSE CHANGE” TIME.
One of the ways to save money every day is to take your loose change and put it in a piggy bank. Do the same thing with your time. You have loose change in all of the time that you spend waiting. So when you have five minutes here, 10 minutes there, use that time wisely. I keep a book with me wherever I go. If you will read 15 minutes a day, you will read 12-15 books per year. I keep a cassette recorder in my car. I’ve taken several college courses in my car. Courses on management, reading, history, etc. I’ve listened to thousands of sermons. I don’t listen to music much, but I do listen to a lot of tapes. Time spent driving is a lot of wasted time. If I go to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, I don’t stand around for fifteen minutes looking at cold medicine, I go out to my car and listen to a tape for 15 minutes instead.  

10. GET YOUR REST AND RECREATION.
Make sure that you are well rested and cooperate with your metabolism. “It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones” (NLT). When Jesus would have extended periods of ministry he always got away for extended periods of rest. There is a difference between effectiveness and efficiency. Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing. When you are involving yourself with your personal growth, your family, your ministry, you are doing the right thing.

Steve’s Tips – June 2009

by Steve Gladen

The key to health is balance. This is true in everyday life as well as group life.  Balance of the Biblical purposes ensures group health.

FELLOWSHIP: Ask one or two people to share how the Lord worked in their lives during the previous week.  It is always inspiring to hear what God is doing in people’s lives.  These stories will encourage group members to consider how God is working in their own lives. These stories are just as important for the people in your group who are not yet believers. They need to know that God is active in our lives in very real, very personal ways.

DISCIPLESHIP: Have group members talk about the person in their life who has had the greatest spiritual impact on them. Why was that person such an important influence? What was it about that person’s character, words, or actions that sparked spiritual growth?

MINISTRY: As a group, list people who serve in your church. You might want to group them by ministry. Then spend some time praying for these faithful servants. Afterwards, ask each group member to choose one or two different people from the list and write them a note of encouragement on behalf of your group. Provide paper and pens so that the note writing definitely happens.

EVANGELISM: Find a family in the community who needs some work done on their home. Gather for a Saturday work party and help with yard work, housecleaning, or painting. Have someone in the group (or someone from another group) bring lunch over for you and the host family to enjoy together (You may want to work just in the morning and call it a day after lunch). Explain that this project is an act of love from your small group and church.

WORSHIP: It’s harder to forget God’s abundant blessings and it’s easier to avoid the sense that he is distant when we keep a prayer journal. After all, that sense that God is far away usually comes because, like the Israelites, we forget all that God had one in our lives and in our group’s life. But writing down our prayer requests, and later noting when and how God answered our prayers, helps us remember God’s faithfulness. Of course, we know that he never leaves us or forsakes us, we are forgetful creatures. Periodically ask group members to bring their journals to the small group meeting for a night of sharing.

For more ideas like these read 250 Big Ideas For Purpose Driven Small Groups. More next month!

Soul Searchin – June 2009

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30

How rested is your soul? Oddly enough, Pastors are often the people most in need of this advice. Do you feel rested? Do you feel that you are becoming more gentle and humble in heart? Or are you feeling frazzled, drained, and in need of more hours on the clock?

In his book, Confessions of a Pastor, Craig Groeschel writes, “As I approached the pulpit, the truth hit me squarely between the eyes. I hadn’t prayed. Not that day. Not the day before. To the best of my knowledge, I hadn’t prayed all week.”

We can get so wrapped up in doing the ministry of God that we damage not only our relationship with him, but also with those He has called us to serve. Do you ever find yourself just going through the motions? Do you ever dread Sunday morning? Do you find yourself getting sick more often, having more headaches, and more aches and pains? Are you exhausted at the end of the day?

This column will be a place where you can learn to replenish your soul. Join us next month!

Tools of the Trade

BOOKS:

Community That Is Christian by Julie A. Gorman

This is one of the best books on small groups that I have ever read. Gorman has done her homework. She starts with an excellent examination of the Biblical foundations of community and then goes on to describe 21st Century Community.

She then goes on to write how these two ideas may be brought inline- the original concept of community and out modern concept. At the end of every chapter is a section called “Firestarters” which are a series of questions to promote further thinking and examination.

This book is a must read for anyone who not only wants to know how to do small groups, but, more importantly, why we do small groups. Click here to buy a copy.

250 Big Ideas For Purpose Driven Small Groups by Steve Gladen

Want groups that go beyand simply doing a Bible study? Then give them suggestions. This book is full of ideas to get your groups up and moving into the community. Ideas are categorized under each of the Biblical purposes. A great gift to give to each of your small group leaders.

Click here to buy your copy of this resource.

VIDEO:

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM FASCINATES. For millennia, believers, scoffers and the curious have wondered at the Biblical account of the Star. The Bible recounts unusual or even impossible astronomical events at Christ’s birth. For many doubters, the account of the Star is easily dismissed as myth. For many believers, it’s a mystery accepted on faith.

 Click here to find out more about the movie

WEBSITES:

www.youversion.com
Newly out of Beta, this is an amazing Bible resource that allows you and your small group to interact with the Bible is new ways. You can link videos, devotionals, and blog entries to any passage in the Bible and share it with your group. You can choose from 40 languages and 22 versions of the Bible. They have plugins and other features that can be used on your church’s website to bring the Bible to people in a new and exciting way.

Purpose Driven Small Group Network History

In 2006 God laid it on my heart to start a network for Small Group Point People. My first reaction was, No! Who was I to lead such a network? I didn’t have the time or resources, and I wasn’t even sure if there would be any interest.

 At the same time, our small group team was looking at calls and emails to Saddleback, and three things became clear:

1. Most of the people were volunteers, or if they were paid staff, small groups was just part of what they were doing.
2. Most of the information they needed was foundational.
3. When we would coach them to network with other churches, they didn’t have those outside contacts.

While I continued trying to ignore his prompting, God brought me back to my early days of ministry when I was the one calling Saddleback for help. How could I turn a deaf ear on all of the people needing help?

I launched the PDSG Network in 2007. It started out slow, but we were moving toward making sure that “nobody stands alone” (TM). The worst thing that could happen is for you to be doing ministry in isolation without others walking the journey beside you.

Today the PDSG Network has thousands of churches throughout the US and Canada.  It is managed through a volunteer force of 12 Area Point Leaders, 40 State Point People, 2 Province Point People and hundreds of Regional Point People all who are in the trenches doing the ministry and learning from one another!  Join us and make a difference.

To JOIN the Purpose Driven Small Group Network, click HERE.

Steve Gladen
Pastor of Small Group Community
Saddleback Church