Deadlines are coming. Fast. More work was just dumped on you. Maybe you took another project and said to yourself, “I shouldn’t have taken this one.” Your direct report asks you when it’s going to be done and finished with. “Soon,” you say. “COB,” he says. Your heart beats faster. Maybe your employee or volunteer needs a resource only you can give them. Obviously, they need it like yesterday! You feel disturbed and disconcerted. It happens again the next day. Now, you feel overwhelmed.
So how do you get out of that moment? Before I give you some hacks on creating time (yes, it’s possible), it would be good to evaluate this overwhelming feeling. Is this a temporary feeling, or is it constant? If it is more permanent than momentary, you should be looking into more than just hacks, perhaps a change of routine. Taking a 5-minute break to breathe deeply, focus on God, and listen to your favorite worship song will calm you for sure.
ADD 60 MINUTES TO EVERY DAY
First, here are 4 time management tips for creating 1 more hour every day. Having said that, you’re still going to have 24 hours in your day, but those 24 hours will be invested instead of being spent.
1. Your very first step is to get up when your alarm rings. You’ll save the 9-minute snooze period and gain the added 2-3 minutes before you get up after the second snooze! This is an accessible tip for everyone!
2. Get up 15 minutes earlier. It won’t cut your sleep time too much, and you won’t be in sleep deprivation for it!
3. Take a 15-minute break instead of a 30 minute one. Or cut 15 minutes out of your lunchtime.
4. Take away 15 minutes of Facebook or Instagram scrolling. You can do it!
There, you invested 1 hour in your day without suffering or major changes.
LITTLE DISCIPLINE TIPS
Some habits are really hard to break, especially when they’ve been ingrained for a long time. These next 8 guidelines can be achieved with a minimum change in your lifestyle.
5. Start – It is so weird to say that, but many people take 15 minutes to get going. They stop by the coffee machine, chat for 15 minutes, then boom, 20-30 minutes just disappeared! Once you get to church, just start.
6. NoNo/TiOn – No Notifications, Timer On. Turn the push notifications off, which happen an average of 46 times a day! That’s a disturbance every 12 waking minutes. Turn on your timer. 30-minute work increments allow you to focus easily. Then start another 30 minutes.
7. 50 to 5 – Work for a focused 50-minute period and time it. Take a 5-minute pause. Work for another 50 minutes and so on. In a typical 8 or 9 hour day, you would get more done that way.
8. 55 limit – Tell people you meet for pastoral counseling or any other meeting that you have 55 minutes, and you have to put a timer on it. Explain by saying you have many meetings and want to give everyone equal importance.
9. Out cell – Put your cell phone in another room while you work for a few days, time to get your urgent things done. Americans now check their phones 96 times a day – that’s once every 10 minutes! READ IT HERE If you take it up only 30 seconds each time during your 8-hour work shift, you just saved between 25 and 30 minutes every day!
10. Clean up – clear your workspace of any clutter. This may take a few minutes to do, but studies show that productivity increases by 84%! READ IT HERE If you’re more efficient in your work, less time is required to accomplish tasks.
11. Single task – Multitasking requires more time and is less efficient. Start on one task, finish it, then on to the next one.
12. Freeze – Freeze hours or days in your calendar to complete what needs to get done. Obviously, as a church leader, you won’t be able to do this every day for weeks, but for a short time period, it’ll help you.
NEW HABITS TIPS
13. Brain dump – Write on a piece of paper, or type on your computer, all the tasks that need to be done. Don’t prioritize them just yet; just get them out of your head! You might discover there aren’t that many things on your list or that there are actually tons of things pending. If the list is scarce, do point 14. If the list is fully loaded, do point 15.
14. T on T – Assign a time allotment to each task, Time on Task if you want. You’ll discover how quickly you can knock things out.
15. Prioritize – You can decide on the priority categories like urgent, important, less important. You can list them from 1 to 5, 1 being most urgent. I’ve seen people categorize like “do it now”, “it’s time”, and “whatever”! The idea, do what’s more important first.
16. Time off – I’m not talking about vacationing here. Take time off from social media for a week or two. Americans spend over 3 hours a day on social media, 1300 hours a year! READ IT HERE 18 to 20 hours will be given back to you by taking a break for just a week. Once you have a little more control over your social media, try to let it back in with some time allotments on it.
17. TTD and TNTD – Writing down your list of Things To Do (TTD) allows you to see the things to do! Write a list of Things Not To Do (TNTD) like that paper that can wait for a week or the paint job the church needs.
18. Knock out – Some pastors I know like to knock out the easy tasks first, at a rapid pace. It could be answering quick emails or meeting confirmations, for example. Do this on a regular basis, consistently, and you’ll uncover new ways to get things done.
19. Superpower – Decide to go work in a place where you will not be disturbed and superpower your diligence, focus, and time on harder tasks that require more from you. To make this even more efficient, combine with points 6, 7, or 8.
20. Clump – Similar tasks can be clumped in your calendar. For example, as a pastor, you can decide that two afternoons a week are your meeting moments. If you want an added layer of productivity, put meetings back to back. Then, you won’t be able to prolong one!
21. TBT – Tomorrow Begins Today. I know Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow, but when you start planning your time allotments the day before, you are ready to start when it’s time, and you know what is expected to be produced work-wise. 15 or 20 minutes should be enough. Weirdly enough, you will find some peace in doing this as you release mental clutter.
Of course, these tips won’t solve everything, but looking at building a new work routine will be helpful. It will limit distractions and help you focus. There is one tip that was not mentioned, and that is prayer. Mother Teresa is quoted saying, “If you are too busy to pray … you are too busy.” Martin Luther, a great reformer, author, pastor, and lead figure, once said, “I am so busy now that if I did not spend three hours each day in prayer, I could not get through the day.” Perhaps you do not have three hours to invest in prayer, but when you put a combination of these tips in action, you’ll “Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for his purposes.” (Ephesians 5:16 TPT)
