Being exhausted and stretched beyond reason appears to be the status quo today.
Back in my high pressured corporate days, I used to tease about running around with my hair on fire. Now it’s like wearing a red badge of courage. Exhaustion is the new status symbol. We are all overcommitted and few of us have any white space or margin in our lives.
Who snuck in and sucked the lazy out of our days?
Truth is, I don’t have to be in a corporate pressure cooker to feel the burn. Any goal worth pursuing requires us to be wildly productive. Hosting a dinner party, heading up a committee for the school carnival, leading a Bible study or striving for a promotion at work will drive even the strongest to a frenetic pace!!
Ask yourself….If something or someone fabulous came into your life, would you have the time? If not, how would you make time? What project would suffer? Who would you have to upset in order to make room for that special something?
Beth Moore, a Bible study teacher and gifted speaker’s topic one night was about learning to care more for ourselves. At one point she said…
“Ladies! Know this! Multi-tasking is not a spiritual gift!!”
The room erupted in laughter! This was good news for me since the only thing multi-tasking offers me is a golden opportunity to screw up multiple things at the same time!
As a coach, people hire me for a myriad of reasons, but a common desire of my clients is to do more of what they want to do and less of what they don’t want to do.
Sounds simple enough.
Problem is, 99.9% of their calendars are so jam-packed, they don’t have room to do more of what they want to do even if they knew what that was. Which sadly, many haven’t had time to figure out!
“Productivity isn’t about being a workhorse, keeping busy or burning the midnight oil….it is more about priorities, planning and fiercely protecting your own time.”
~Margarita Tartakovsky, Clinical Psychologist
If that describes you, here’s an easy and effective written exercise that might help you.
Make a list of everything you do. I mean everything!!!
Do you volunteer at church, carpool, Junior League, Rotary, community groups, etc.?
If you have kids, make sure to include all of their activities…soccer, football, speech therapy, gymnastics…all of it.
If you’re married, that’s a whole list on its own!
And last but not least, if you work outside the home, list all the things you do at your place of business, including any volunteer positions you currently hold to enhance your visibility within your industry.
Don’t leave anything out.
Next, put a check mark next to each activity that absolutely, positively without a doubt, requires you and only you to be there.
OK, got ‘em checked? Great.
Now put two checks next to the things you do that absolutely makes your heart sing. Not just the things you don’t mind, but the things you love!
If you have a few items that don’t have checks next to them, congratulations! You have clearly identified the things that you are not required to do because they do not require you.
Here’s what we all need to really understand…
Not everything we do requires US
Everything we do requires HIM
“The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat. So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone.” Mark 6:30-32
Life is crazy and fun. I love mine! I hope you love yours.
I pray we protect our time for the important things in life and use that time wisely, always making time for the things and people who matter most.
More importantly, I pray we both find time alone with our Lord and Savior soon.
And often.