23U06 Time Management
(written by Dr. Kip Wehrman 2/17/2023)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the PUNLA CoffeeTable for one of our student conversations. PUNLA Christian Ministries in conjunction with our ministry partners in the Philippines has developed a series of informative modules to provide information, guidance are career selection, motivation and preparation for your future jobs and careers. As with all things in life, your relationship with God is the first priority.
In Today’s conversation is about Time Management. I’m guessing everyone feels like they have more to do than they have time to do it. Welcome to the modern world. But I want you to know something. This is a critical part of managing your time. Everyone only gets 24 hours a day. Yes, everyone gets exactly the same amount of time each day. Now let’s find ways to use those hours wisely.
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for being here to guide us and help us prioritize our time. Lord help us to remember you control everything including our time. May we surrender to control to you, so we can make the best use of every moment you have given us. Lord, I pray for everyone listening today, you know what is on their hearts. I know Lord that you and you alone can guide us, can help us. You alone can give us peace and hope no matter what we are facing in our lives. I trust you, Lord. And I pray in your name Lord Jesus. Amen.
I have news for each of you today. Everyone feels like they don’t have enough time. There is always more to do than time to do it. Everyone wishes there was a magic formula or button on our computer keyboard, that would just magically make our tasks and time work together. But there is no special plan that works for everyone. So, we have to make choices, we have to stay focused, we have to pray. I want to begin with a poem titled The Difference by Grace Naessens. It goes like this,
I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day.
I had so much to accomplish that I didn’t have time to pray.
Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task.
“Why doesn’t God help me?” I wondered.
He answered, You didn’t ask,”
I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak.
I wondered why God didn’t show me.
He said, “But you didn’t seek.:
I tried to come into God’s presence. I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided, “My child, you didn’t knock.”
I woke up early this morning and paused before entering the day.
I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray.
First and foremost, if you rush into your day, forgetting your time with God, then yes, your day will be frantic and frustrating. Time with God is pray will settle your spirit, spend time praying for others, not yourself. God already knows your needs. But you think about others, first each day. You will find yourself with a better perspective to face everything you need to accomplish.
Now the internet is full of resources who can give you the 9 tips for time management, 7 essentials time management skills, or 17 practical ways to manage your time. There are a lot of excellent resources, you should each spend some time looking and researching these. I don’t want to waste your just saying what all these sources can tell. I will put some links to a few I liked on our website. Do your research.
In my career, I have often had as many as 20 different major multi-million dollar projects happening all at the same time in counties all over the world. I have to manage meetings in different time-zones, on different continents, travel, teleconferences and phone calls, hundreds of emails daily, plus my normal daily & weekly business tasks, as well as, project deliverable deadlines. I have to schedule my daily time down to the hour and my long term goals and deadlines out many months, sometimes even years in advance. So, how do you balance these with your personal life, family life, church life, and your life?
I actually have a tool I have used for years to help me manage my time and I’ll talk about my method with you at the end of this video. But there are many methods, you have to discover for yourself what and which works best for you. But there are some basic principles that every method must employ if you are going to successfully manage your time.
Every time management system or method will have some variation on these four basic principles. List what you need to do or a “to-do-list” of tasks, decide what needs to happen first or prioritize those tasks, organize your time or schedule when, how and how long you will do each task, then focus on the task at hand. One task at a time. Sounds simple and in fact it is, but it takes a lot of practice to actually successfully implement this in your life, so you can keep a balance. Let’s just take a quick look at each of these for a moment.
AUDIT your tasks. That is the things you need to do. This means make a “to do list” of everything you need to do. School class time, study time, projects with deadlines, exams, personal stuff like church, bible study, events like birthdays and holidays. All the major things in your life at least for the next month to start with. I personally keep a list on my computer so I can easily move tasks around, as new tasks get added. And I assure you no matter how well you plan, you will have additional tasks added all the time.
Next, PRIORITIZE. This means on your list rank the priority for each item listed. This is not as simple as 1, 2, 3. Every day is going to be different. Part of this exercise is listing the deadlines for tasks, short-term and long-term. This will not always be easy because this changes every day based on deadlines that may change or your successes and failure to keep your schedule the previous day.
Next, ORGANIZE your time. This means you have to schedule your time. The more you have to do, the more detailed this needs to be. For large projects or tasks, I recommend dividing them into stages or milestones, which can be accomplished in shorter time periods. Example if you have a class project to present a group paper. I would break the project into preliminary research, Assigning task or delegating work ( you don’t need to do everything yourself), detail research, Outline, committee meetings to discuss direction, further research, draft, final, presentation portion, combine presentation, practice, group practice and class presentation. Many subtasks, for one larger task the project. Works exactly the same on the job. Part of this effort is to assign a given time period to each task. Be realistic but also be efficient with your time. Don’t schedule 3 hours for a task that should only take 30 minutes. Then hold to the time period. This is critical to the success of any time management system. You have to assign a time period, then actually accomplish the task in that time period. Realistic but specific time set aside for each task.
Last is FOCUS. Avoid multi-tasking. There is no such thing. The more things you try to do at the same time the less efficient you are at any of them. Avoid distractions. Don’t let people, music, TV or anything else distract you. If you are easily distracted, then find a place without those distractions. If you don’t do this you are setting yourself up to fail. If noises easily bother you, then get some ear plugs. Don’t try to watch TV and work, you cannot do both. Do your work first, then you will have time to do other things like TV or social media or games. Part of this is telling the people around you what you are doing. I need an hour to work on this, please don’t disturb me. Put your phone down and don’t answer it, until the task is completed. One last thing about focus. There are only 24 hours in a day, you must schedule time for food and rest. If you don’t get enough sleep, you will not be efficient when you work.
Let me show you my tools for doing this. I use a spreadsheet, three sheets. Schedule, tasks and calendar. This one is for my kids’ school, but it will work for a demonstration.
The Tasks file is my to-do-list. These are my big deadlines or subtask milestones. On the far left is the date, then the tasks that are due by that date. If I don’t have anything due on a day. I would usually show it as “open” and high light it yellow. This list changes every day based on new tasks, I would typically list tasks out as far in the future as I know. Leaving the large “OPEN” dates were nothing was do.
Next is my Schedule tab, This tab was usually only for a couple weeks or a month. Across the top is the Date, I like to show month, day and day of the week, on the left side I show time of day usually starting when I normally get up, until I normally go to bed. Now I fill in each hour with what I plan to do in each hour. I use lots of colors because I like lots of colors, it also helps me to just glance and know what is coming next. You will be constantly modifying this but I cross out task and time periods as they are completed. If something does not get done, I move it to another open period. Again, leave open periods in your schedule. It’s good psychology. These open periods tell you subconsciously you have spare time. Key to this method is staying focused on the single task for the scheduled time, then moving on to the next task, also don’t skip break times to allow your mind and your body to relax in between intense moments of study and work.
My last tab is somewhat of a repeat. This is a type of calendar called a Gant chart. It shows each month on one set of rows, the sub rows under each month are large projects. If you are in college it might be each class but a couple OTHER columns of no school events. I used to keep this for many months in advance and I kept to past as well. I could at a glance tell you what days I did what, where I was going back ten years or more. It has come in handy many many times.
Again, I like to see empty cells in my spreadsheet. It helps me to relax and subconsciously, I know I have time. This has worked for me for the last 25 years, It has helped me to not forget things. I also suggest using your computer calendar with reminders and alarms. but you need to find a system and plan that works for you.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father God. I thank you for everything. Guide us as we make decisions such that what we do glorifies you. We trust you, Lord. Help us to seek guidance and assistance from those you put in our life and from those you make ways for us to meet and learn from. I thank you Jesus for promising to guide me. I’m no good when I’m in control, so I pray that everyone listening surrender control to you. Thank you, Jesus for seeing the good in me when I did not see it in myself. I love you Jesus. And I pray in your name Lord Jesus. Amen.
Okay, let me leave you with this today. Time management is critical to your success. The top priority should always be God because when you have your life focused on God, time just seems to work better. I get things done on time in less time. God is in control. In the Bible God made the sun stop in the sky, so Israel could have daylight longer when they needed it. God knows what is best for you and he will guide you if you just surrender control to him. Then do your part, Get organized, make your list, prioritize those tasks and focus on what you need to do, when you need to do it.
Thank you so much for allowing me to have this conversation with you today. Put God first in everything you do every time and trust God with everything. Then experience the abundant satisfying life that God has planned for you. Life in the kingdom of God right here on earth.
I don’t know what God has planned for you, but I am confident that God’s plan for you that is bigger and better than anything you could ever imagine for yourself. If you want to speak with me, you can find my email on our website. www.punla.org. Or on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. Until next time. God Bless
