My husband regularly plays tennis on Thursdays with a guy named Gary. According to my husband, even though Gary is an exceptionally good tennis player, he is intentional about encouraging his opponents. He goes so far as to be careful not to dominate on the court (which he could easily do), but to play just well enough as to challenge the man across the net from him.
I was impressed by this, but I am most impressed by what Gary does every Thursday night prior to his men's league taking the courts. He smiles and enthusiastically says, "Let's have a great Thursday!" My husband says that this has become such a constant that the other men playing say it themselves.
This morning, I said it to my husband. His response was to plan some fun activities for us today. I am encouraged and challenged to give this same message to my children and to you. I found this old picture of my daughter enjoying the snow. It's a cold, snowy day for many of us, but "Let's have a great Thursday!"
When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. (Acts 11:23)
Of course, it isn’t possible to tame time. No one, no matter how bright, efficient, or important has been able to slow the sun or add any more hours to her life than the standard issue. But it is possible to tame the demands on our time.
I cannot imagine my grandmother opining about the need for more time, despite the fact that she always had a lot of very hard work to do. But my grandmother didn’t have the number of choices for how to spend her time that I do.
I used to get a homeschooling newsletter that averaged over 75 8.5×11 pages of things I could do with my kids. I would literally tremble with the anxiety of having to make hundreds of decisions about how to spend my time. The best decision I made was to quit reading the newsletter. I depend on my friends to tell me about can’t-miss opportunities.
Sticking your fingers in your ears to say nananana isn’t a good long-term strategy for managing all the demands on your time. What is? I don’t pretend to have all the answers to that question, but I do use some general principles to guide me.
The first principle is TO as in what to do?
When what to do is up to me (as in I don’t already have a structure imposed on my day), my first focus is TODAY. What must I or could I do to make today a great day? If I have to have something ready for a meeting in the afternoon, it makes sense to prepare for that before I work on a long-term project. Asking myself this question helps me to focus. This is the question that enables me to plan dinner and my kids’ school and evening activities.
The second question is what can I do to make TOMORROW great? This question reminds me that the kids have activities to go to and I better put gas in the car, for example. It gets me to put my materials together for the presentation I am doing the next afternoon. But tomorrow doesn’t just refer to the next day. I look ahead to the next day and the next, then to next week, and next month. I might do something small like ordering a birthday card to be sent to a friend in advance of her birthday next month or as big as outlining a talk I will be giving in two months. You can have fun seeing how far ahead you can get. Of course, the demands of today will determine how much time you can spend on tomorrow.
The third TO is TOWARD. What can you do now that is working toward your goals and dreams? After all, I never have to work on my tennis serve or practice piano for today or tomorrow, but it is something I want to work toward. If all I do is just what needs to be done, I will miss the real joy in living. Working toward gives me the motivation to work on today and tomorrow’s more mundane tasks.
It’s tempting to seek all kinds of rules for using these guidelines, like assigning x number of hours to each category or being legalistic about when you can work on each area. You won’t get that from me! I wrote this post as part of TOWARD even though I still have things to do for TODAY and TOMORROW, but I will cycle back. Somehow I don’t think the world will end if I work out of order. Do you? Next time you have no idea what to do first, think in terms of TO and see if you have more clarity. Next time I will share the second principle I use to tame my time.
I was doing a Bible study on Christmas this morning that asked what was most exciting about the holiday to me. I am especially excited about decorating this year. I have had most of the same decorations for many years and I bought some new ones that I am eager to put up. I also love to shop online bargains and Christmas is a great time for that. I have most of my purchases made already, but now I am shopping for birthdays.
I also love planning our family’s Christmas card, hosting several parties, coordinating Christmas outfits, and great food. This year I am especially excited as our family looks forward to a once-in-a-lifetime trip we will take together this season. I have more reasons to be excited than I have time to write about!
As I continued with my Bible study, however, a question caused me to stop and think. I will leave you with the same question: how much of your excitement about Christmas has to do with Christ’s birth?
I got my Christmas present early and it’s an Eye Fi enabled camera. What is that and why should you care?
Right now if I took a picture while my camera is in range of my wireless home network, the photo would be saved automatically to my computer’s external hard drive and simultaneously saved online to Picasa Web Albums. If I were away from home while taking pictures, this same automatic backup would occur when I turned on my camera in a wifi hotspot or when I returned home to my wireless network. With endless memory set up, you will never run out of room on your card. A percentage of the oldest, backed up pictures are automatically deleted to make room for more.
The advantages are many and include automatic backup of your photos, quick access to online photos for blogging, Facebook sharing and more, and no more deleting pictures from your memory card on the fly. The saving format is flexible, the online sites to back up to are numerous, and the number of cameras that accept Eye Fi cards cover the range of budgets. Best of all, the Eye Fi cards themselves won’t break most banks ranging from $40-$140 for two cards, depending on capacity. Some cards will do the same for video that they do for your photos.
Eye Fi won’t delete bad shots, order prints, or put scrapbooks together for you, but it can make your photographic life a lot easier.
I told my husband last night my ginormous task list for the week and I realized that I probably forgot some things. For that matter, I only gave him THIS week. But there are some real benefits to being too busy like I am now. I'm going to give you two of them. Why only two and not the traditional three? You know. 🙂
You're forced to reevaluate. From not being inclined to fritter away time, to recognizing that idle time drives your addictive behaviors, to being forced to say no, to planning and being more efficient, busy has its benefits. Like me, you've probably found you get a lot more done and are even a lot happier when you're busy than when you're not.
You realize you can't do it alone. There is no way I can do business as usual around here. I'm going to have to ask for help. Horrifying for me! 🙂 But very good for my family. And excellent for my faith. Like Martin Luther, I am so busy this week that I am really going to have to pray. John 5:3a says, "By myself I can do nothing…" And that's a good thing. It's not as much fun to do it alone.
If I weren't so busy, I would write I really great wrap-up for this post, but something's gotta go!
I was reading the GetOrganizedWizard blog and loved the post on what not to do. I decided not to let the opportunity to blog about it pass me by. I remember hearing an excellent sermon by Dr. S.M. Davis on the fact that God's commands on what not to do are much more important to us as believers than what to do. But no worries. I don't intend to give you a list of God's no-no's. Instead, I'd like to share with you what I've learned not to do given my personality, weaknesses, and circumstances. I'd love to read your list, too!
Buy dryclean only clothes (I rarely make it to the cleaners)
Keep clothing that needs to be repaired (Even with the supplies I need, it's easier to buy new)
Have a rummage sale (I only had to do this once to determine I'd rather give everything away)
Garden or work in the yard (No matter how guilty other women who love it have made me feel, it's just not for me)
Wash my car (I leave my car outside and it rains often enough)
Get manicures (I wish I had great nails, but alas)
Wear perfume (It's expensive and I get compliments on the smell of my hairspray anyway)
Watch live TV, including the news (I just don't have the time and it usually depresses me anyway)
Use a paper calendar (I need the constant alerts via my phone)
Play online games (I don't need another addiction!)
Iron (unless absolutely necessary)
Go to meetings that aren't streamlined (just can't take the time)
Buy my boys dress shoes (they hate them)
Submit scrapbooking pages online (too much hassle & pressure)
Regularly use hand sanitizer (and I'm healthy anyway)
Get flu shots (personal decision which everyone is free to make)
Regularly spend time with people who make me feel lousy (this is a newer one!)
Miss the opportunity to give a compliment or tell someone I love them
In the spirit of my last not to-do, I'd like to say how much I appreciate the time you take to read this blog.
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
