What is one clear sign that my last week was relatively hectic? The fact I have not updated this blog since this time last Sunday! Just as I expected, last week proved to be rather difficult in terms of fitting everything in. I did manage to get everything done AND I would say the week went very well, but I was exhausted come Saturday.
One of the big things that my bible college education taught me was self preservation. They were very big on not just filling my head with knowledge but building me as a person, helping to teach me good characteristics and also teach me good self care. I know, from this training, that last week is ok as a once off every now and then…but it cannot become my regular rhythm, as I discussed last week.
One of the best self care principles that I have in place is that I regularly meet up with a mentor. This is something I did in the last week and, as usual, has proven to be very beneficial. Though a lot of our meeting was spent catching up as we have not met over the summer, the last 15 minutes basically made the meeting the most worthwhile thing I did all week because in that 15 minutes we discussed time management and in particular we discussed a system that my mentor uses to help him keep on top of all the ‘tasks’ that are in his life AND, more importantly, make sure he is using his time doing the things that are most important, that he is best equipped to do. ‘To do lists’ can grow very easily and without some sort of structure in place you can quickly find your time disappearing, and you can also find yourself spending a lot of time on tasks that are probably not as important as others.
One of the main systems my mentor uses is a website called ‘Remember The Milk’. I’ve provided a screen shot of my set up to the right. It won’t mean much to people who haven’t used the system, but it is definitely helping me keep on top of things.
One of the key things I have decided to do is, as much as possible, make my Sunday Afternoons a ‘organise my week’ time. This will ebb and flow because I know there will be times I have things on during Sunday afternoons, but in general it will be a good time to do this. As I have church Sunday morning and then The Hub on Sunday nights, I find it works best to consider Sunday a ‘work day’ because I don’t tend to get to ‘rest’ in the afternoon, which means I have often wasted that time. This way I can use my Sunday afternoons productively and get myself set up to use my week times as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Now, a quick aside to end this entry. To some people, the words ‘efficient’ and ‘effective’ cause red flags to go up all over the place. Isn’t ministry about relationship? Isn’t ministry about building the Kingdom of God? Yes, absolutely! However I am someone who BEST is able to do these things from within a structure. I like to put structures in place BECAUSE it is very easy to move away from a structure, where required (well, personal structures that I have set up) but I have found it doesn’t tend to work the other way, adding structure ‘on the fly’ doesn’t work for me. I feel most stressed and most out of my depth when I KNOW I have a lot on, or at least ‘feel’ like I do. If I put a structure like I have suggested in place, I tend to find the stress levels decrease and I actually find MORE time to be relational and more time to sow into building the Kingdom of God. It is just how I work best, and I want to give my best to God!
So onto another week.
