When Your To-Do List is Too Long

Elisabeth Elliot on our to-do lists:

One reason we are so harried and hurried is that we make yesterday and tomorrow our business, when all that legitimately concerns us is today. If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda which God did not put there. Let us submit the list to Him and ask Him to indicate which items we must delete. There is always time to do the will of God. If we are too busy to do that, we are too busy.

Lord, help me to take your yoke on my shoulder, not a yoke of my own making. May I learn from You to be gentle and humblehearted. May I find that your load is light.

From A Lamp for My Feet by Elisabeth Elliot

Creative Procrastination: Moving God up on your list by moving other stuff down

Back to that time management program I was talking about last week…

Brian Tracey recommends a technique for getting important stuff done (in the context of work) that I think might help you and me move God up to a higher priority on our to-do lists.

Tracey recommends “creative procrastination” or “setting posteriorities.” In other words, take a look at everything on your to-do list today and decide what you can put off ‘til last. What is least important? What won’t matter if you don’t get to it today? After examing your to-do list, do this exercise again with your daily routine--you know, the stuff that doesn’t even make the to-do list--like folding the laundry, reading emails and watching American Idol. What can be put off until everything that is more important has been done?

I’ve been having fun with this. There are lots of things I would like to put off for a bit. It is kind of nice to say to myself, “I won’t fold that load of laundry now. I’ll take 20 minutes to read about the events of Easter week in my Bible.” Or “I don’t have to respond to that annoying email this second. I can take a few minutes to pray about my priorities for the day.” And you know what, the “oh-so-necessary” things like laundry and business emails still get done. They just take a slightly lower priority--more like where they should have been in the first place.

“...let us throw off everything that hinders...and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1

P.S. If you are interested in time management techniques, setting priorities and goal accomplishment in the business context, check out Brian Tracey’s blog. I find many of his suggestions helpful toward running my spiritual race as well.

Creating Quiet for God

I was listening to a Brian Tracy audio program about time management this weekend. Tracy told about a conference he recently attended which included a formal dinner opened in prayer. Upon opening his eyes at the close of the prayer, Tracey was startled to see that four or five people seated at his table seemed strangely moved by the prayer. They remained with heads bowed, hands in their laps, well after the “amen.” In fact, they remained this way even as their food began to be delivered. Then Tracy realized that they had not been praying; they were using the opportunity to check messages on their blackberries.

Now you and I might not go quite that far—checking email during time devoted to public prayer—but I wonder how different I really am from these people when I repeatedly find myself thinking through the day’s to-do list when I actually mean to pray. Or how about when I leap up from Bible reading to answer the telephone, take the laundry out of the dryer as soon as the timer buzzes, etc.? I let things of far lower priority interrupt and distract me from the really important task of speaking with God.

Now Brian Tracy was not trying to emphasize the importance of prayer when he told this story. He was simply illustrating how absurdly attached we’ve become to our hi-tech communication devices. He recommends turning them all off for periods of time during the day—no cell phone, telephone, email, PDA, blackberry or anything else that can summon your attention and distract you from the project at hand—in order to achieve maximum efficiency in time management.

But Tracy’s idea is a good one for Christians seeking to achieve more in their daily relationship with God as well. We know we need to set aside some time when no one can reach us but God. We know we need to get quiet so we can hear His voice above all the others. But it seems impossible in this fast-paced crazy world, doesn’t it? One very practical way to make progress in this area is to deliberately turn off all communication devices for some period of the day. Let the calls go to voicemail. Check email later. While you're at it, make sure the radio, iPod and TV are off as well. Get quiet with God.

Holiday Crush

You can see from the infrequency of my posting this month that I am already feeling the rush of the holidays. What I want to know is, how many years do you have to do the family's Thanksgiving dinner before it becomes routine?

If you are as busy as I am, you probably don't have time to read blogs anyway, but if you find yourself with time on your hands you might want to check out the November 2005 archives for Mary and Martha's Entertainment Survival Guide: 5 Ways to Stay Sane Through the Holidays. It's all about focusing on that one necessary thing that might not even have made your "to do" list yet.

A Layered Approach to Spiritual Growth

What is my obsession with habits anyway? I’ll tell you how it came about. A few years ago I resolved for about the two hundredth time to make God and my spiritual growth a priority. I had failed miserably at this in the past, and I knew it was because my ideas were always too “big,” too unrealistic and didn’t fit well with the other things going on in my life. I would think ambitious things like, “I’m going to get up an hour early and study the Bible,” but at the time I was a working mom with toddlers and totally exhausted in the mornings. On top of that, because they were toddlers, my kids would hear me when I got up and immediately want to get up themselves…needless to say, no more quiet time at my house! I could go on and on about failed attempts at starting prayer journals, unread Christian books collecting dust on my night table, etc.

I decided that I needed to apply what I thought of as a “layering” approach: a couple Bible verses here, a quick prayer there, a sermon on tape during my commute, etc. I thought I’d add a bit more each month and that eventually these efforts might build on one another and amount to something—and, believe it or not, they did! Bible reading times got a little longer and I felt myself more eager to read as time went by. I found myself praying more frequently throughout the day, able to understand what Paul meant about praying without ceasing (not actually going that far myself, but at least understanding that such a feat might be possible and not thinking that Paul was totally insane and obviously didn't have kids or a normal job!) The point is, it all started with tiny steps that I could do here and there despite my busy schedule--little layers I could build into my existing day.

As I layered on more learning and more times with God, I realized that it helped when I turned certain layers into habits. I know the word “habits” sounds like the big, overly ambitious ideas that didn’t work for me in the first place, but I’m talking about really small habits, like “I pray for three minutes as I drive to pick up my son from sports practice. I do not turn on the radio,” or “I subscribe to an email devotional and make sure I read it before I start any other work on my computer.” When I did this I discovered that times with God or thinking about God were happening naturally and on “auto-pilot” throughout the day. They no longer took tremendous effort. They no longer had to be written on a “to-do” list in order for me to remember to do them. And of course, God was doing His work during this time period, meeting me more than halfway and growing my efforts. My baby steps and habits were really just acts of opening up more channels to Him, allowing Him more times to speak to me.

If you think this approach would work for you, think about a few little things you can do within your existing schedule—a few little habits you can establish—that will help you turn your thoughts more frequently toward God throughout the day. Over the next week or so, I’ll offer some more ideas that worked for me. And feel free to post comments on anything that has worked for you.