So last weeks post was about Living on Purpose, and if you haven’t read it yet please take a moment to do so. In that post I gave three keys to help you reach that goal, and the first key was to Maximize Every Moment. When you hear that, what does it mean to you? What it means to me, in it’s simplest form, is to make the most of my time. All of us have the same 24 hours in a day, but what are we doing with them? Evaluate how you spend your time. About two years ago I did a personal survey of my time management where I logged how I spent my day for an entire week. I found out during this study that in a weeks time I was watching over 50 hours of television (this is a judgement-free zone, people:- Yes, you read that right…I said over 50 hours of television. I couldn’t believe it, but it was right there in black & white, and seeing it up close and personal was what I needed in order to start making changes. Once I began this process I started to take more notice of things-like it took much longer for me to fold clothes if I was doing it while watching tv. So I started shutting the tv off, and instead I would play the message that my pastor preached that week, or a motivational podcast relating to time management. The changes in my life became evident, and as I shifted my focus I started getting things done much faster. Now don’t get me wrong, I definitely still get in my dose of ratchet reality tv (for entertainment purposes, of course) but it no longer takes priority in my life.

Once you take inventory of what’s eating away at your time, you can begin to make better use of it.

Here’s a few other principles that I’ve adopted, and I believe they will help you too:

• Be an early riser. Retire that snooze button, and if you don’t consider yourself a “morning person”, put your cell phone or alarm clock (for all of my vintage O.G.’s) in a place where you have to get out of bed in order to shut it off. If you’re a “night owl”, try switching it up by going to bed early and getting up early. According to Forbes.com, a 2008 study at Texas University showed that students who considered themselves “morning people” earned a full point higher on their GPA than students who considered themselves “night owls”.
• Have a consistent devotion with God. Starting our day without Him is like driving to work on an empty gas tank. When we spend time with God every morning, we gain our delight in Him and He gives us our directions, instructions and strength to fulfill our purpose.
• Don’t waste your commute. On a good day, it takes me about 25 minutes to get to work. I usually spend that time listening to either financial or business related podcasts. If you’re not into that, you can review your goals for the day, listen to an audiobook or learn a new language.
• Be present with others. Being able to multi-task can be a great quality to have, but when you’re spending time with others, it’s just not a good look. I know this may sound old school, but when we have dinner as a family, we all sit at the table together and there’s no cell phones or television. We engage in conversation with one another, and at the ages of 4 and 6, my kids say that it’s their favorite part of the day.
• Eliminate distractions. It’s easier said than done, but trust me, it’s essential. Dr. Gloria Mark, Professor in The Department of Informatics at the University of California says that it takes an average of 23 minutes for a person to regain focus after being distracted. Find a quiet place to get things done, and if that’s not possible, start training yourself to get to a quiet place in your mind (I’ll talk more about that in a future post).

I don’t always get it right, and there are occasions where time gets away from me; however, with practice, those occasions are becoming far less frequent.

“Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time…” Eph 5:15-16 NASB

Until next time…

mjr.