time-management-clockI’ve written a handful of posts this week about the influence Jim Wideman has had on my life. I got to spend a lot of time with him this year in Infuse and I’ve been sharing some of the big things I’ve learned. So here’s number two:

There’s plenty of time to do just about everything I want to do.

It sounds like a dream come true, doesn’t it. One thing I’ve said often (and something I hear people say all the time) is, “I wish there were just a few more hours in the day.” It just seems like we can’t get it all done. There are a lot of things I’d like to do, I just don’t have time for all of it.

Brother Jim is a master at time management. His new book will help anyone who wants to be a better manager of their time. I’m absolutely amazed at everything Jim can get done. He’s the Next Generation Pastor at a HUGE and rapidly growing church, he’s been putting out his “theClub” audio lessons out every month for years, he’s got probably 30-40 people he’s mentoring in infuse right now, he writes a feature article for K Magazine every issue, there’s no telling how many boards he sits on, he just cranked out two new books with others int he works (so I hear), he’s particular about spending quantity time with his wife and daughters and he makes time for working out and his hobbies. That’s down right ridiculous. We just thought we were busy. You’d think that someone with that kind of schedule would be running ragged, but every time I see Jim, he seems cool as a cucumber and happy as can be. What’s the secret? He’s the master of his calendar.

One thing he says over and over and over is to journal the things we are doing and identify time wasters and learn to eliminate them. He’s a huge advocate of using a calendar and schedule out your day. Plan out your day before it happens and at the end, review how it went.

I can honestly say that I’m not the master of time management to any degree, but I’ve come a long way. In addition to the great wisdom Jim has taught me, I also had this message reinforced from a different source and perspective. In a small group I was in, I did an exercise that helped me identify some of the deepest desires of my heart, the things that truly bring me life. The biggest take-away was that four of the six great desires of my hear were not being done. Why? No time for them. Sad. So, I’ve been trying to actually schedule time in my day/week/month for the things that are most important to me. I don’t believe burnout is because we work too hard, it’s that we’re working too hard on things that we’re not passionate about.