I don’t know about you but before I knew it, summer seemed to pass me by. One activity after the next popped up and took valuable time away from my personal and family time.
Sure, there were important events like the funeral of a great man from our church, a Five Iron Frenzy concert (thanks to them, my wife and I met), and other family activities. However, there were more than their fair share of interruptions and distractions.
I eventually felt like I was losing control. That I wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do.
You’ve been there too, right? Tell me I’m not alone!
Image by Greg Westfall
Reflecting back on this summer I realize I need to get better at time management and getting my stuff together. If I don’t get better control over my time, my life will continue to be controlled by outside circumstances.
So, the question becomes: What can I do to not lose control of my time?
I think I’ve come up with some good answers. Let me know what you think at the end of the post.
1. Define your priorities: Most of the time we lose control of our time because we don’t have a clear sense of our priorities. We just kind of drift through life and do what comes.
The thing we need to do, instead of drifting through life, is to tell ourselves what really matters in life.
You may find that time with family, friends, and working on a side business are your priorities. Or you could have priorities like getting out of debt, finding a new job, or begin a savings plan.
Whatever your priorities are, define them and let them guide your time.
2. Create rest days: The biggest frustration of the summer was realizing I was being tossed around and I didn’t have rest days written into the calendar. Rather, I let events fill in the dates before I was able to claim them.
There’s power in resting. Our bodies and mind need rest to be in tip-top shape and to perform well.
Make sure you’re scheduling in days and times of rest. Heck, even God rested after creation. If He needed rest, how much more do we need rest?
3. Learn to say no: We know we can’t say yes to everything. And everything we say yes to means we’re saying no to something else.
You can regain control by putting your foot down and saying no rather than saying yes.
Saying no may hurt feelings for a bit but people will get over your no. You may not get over your compromising by saying yes to something that takes away from the important areas of your life.
I didn’t do too good this summer at keeping control of my time. I often let it slip through my fingers and be wasted on trivial matters.
That’s the past. That doesn’t have to be my future. Wasting time and losing control doesn’t have to be a part of your future either.
You can begin to regain control of your time and life by remembering what I shared in the post.
We need to set our priorities. We need to create days of rest. Last, but not least, we need to learn to say no.
Question: Which of these 3 areas do you need to improve upon?
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