The writer, Annie Dillard, said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” We live in an era where there are countless ways to spend, invest, or squander time. All of us have experienced the satisfaction of giving our all and coming to the end of a workday knowing we put in a full day’s work. On the other hand, all of us have squandered time we wish we could get back. If you struggle with time management, you’re not alone. Even Moses prayed, “Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts” (Psa. 90:17).
Time is a precious commodity because it’s limited, and none of us really know how much time we have left. Time management is such a big deal that a company called 4K Weeks has designed a poster called “My Life in Weeks.” When you order the poster, you provide your birth date and the company prints a poster with the weeks filled in that you have already lived. Assuming an average life span, the remaining weeks are left empty, and at the end of each remaining week, you fill another one in. It’s a visible reminder that our time here on earth is limited, and we need to be intentional about how we spend our time.
Just before going to the cross, Jesus reflected on how He’d spent His time. In the High Priestly prayer, Jesus prayed to the Father, saying: I have glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4). As Jesus contemplated his time on earth, He could say with confidence that He had done what the Father called Him to do. Eventually, all of us will face a similar scenario, so how can we live in a way that makes the best use of our time?
1). Identify your priorities. Zig Ziglar used to say, “If you don’t have a target, you’ll hit it every time.” Without goals, you’ll tend to coast from day to day and week to week. Sure, you’ll get a few things done, but they may or may not be things that are ultimately important to you. Identifying your priorities and setting goals is the key to living with intentionality. Without goals, people tend to coast.
2). Calendar your priorities. You’ve got 168 hours each week, and many of those hours are probably spoken for by work and other responsibilities. So you’ll need to get creative to block off time for your goals, and calendaring is a critical step. Why? If a goal or priority doesn’t make it to your calendar there’s a good chance it will never get done. For instance, if your goal is to write a book, but you never block off any writing time, the book will never get written. If your relationship with God is a priority, then you’ll need to calendar time to read Scripture, pray, and worship at your local church. In busier seasons, it might mean getting up early, staying late, or slipping some time on your lunch hour.
3). Take Inventory. What worked well in previous seasons of life may not be as efficient in the current one. Be sure to take time each week and take inventory of how well you spent your time over the previous week. If something keeps slipping through the cracks, you can tweak your schedule and try other options. On any given week, you’ll likely always have a handful of things you didn’t get to, and that’s OK. The goal is progress—not perfection.
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