Having a Plan for Spending Time
Budgeted Time – Part 2
In everything we do there are time markers that have been set. There are times marked out for work. Times marked out for grade school. Time marked for retirement. Time marked for a license. Time marked for child birth. Time marked for owning a home. In life on Earth, everything we do is marked off in measurements of time. Understanding that we have time set aside to get things done is one thing, but to apply this concept to one’s life holistically is another. In a conversation with a close friend once, his experience with using a holistic approach to time management or marking off times proved to be a game changer. He didn’t know this prior but to live by a calendar means to live by a plan for your time. Therefore, you stop failing at how you use your time. In other words, you create a budget for your time.
What’s interesting is this. In the opening chapters of the Bible, God shows us how it’s done. He labeled each day for the type of work that must get done. He also designed one of his time designations as a day to take a break from the laborious work done on the other days. Taking note of this example led us to develop our own process for budgeting time and in this section we will walk you through how to live by such a budget.
God’s System for Getting Things Done
There is a well known productivity tool called GTD, Getting Things Done. The goal of this tool is obvious, to help others get more done in a measurement of time than one naturally or normally would. BTW – that’s called being uncommon with what one does with time. I once made this statement to a guy I mentor. “An average person runs out of time. Are you average?” You see, an uncommon person knows what to do with the time allotted.
In thinking only about the concept of getting done what we wish to get done, I decided to look to the Bible. How does God get done what He wishes to get done? In other words what’s God’s GTD System? What’s the best system for getting everything done I need to get done?
What’s God’s GTD System?
God had a system for getting things done which uses time. If God has a system to get His work done within a measurement of time, then so should we. God planned out His time for what must be done. He defined what He needed to get done.
In the opening scheme of the Bible, it reveals that God was in the world-creating-business. It’s said that in the beginning of time as we know it, the supreme being better known as God created Heaven and Earth. No mystery there right? However, most missed the part that lays out His management of time to get it all done. It says that God budgeted His time for creating the Heavens and Earth like this.
Day 1 – He created day and night. Time markers.
Day 2 – He separated space from the sky and the sky from water.
Day 3 – He created vegetation.
Day 4 – He added a system to produce distinctions between day, night, seasons, and even years.
Day 5 – He created self-reproducing living beings for the sea and skies.
Day 6 – He created self-reproducing living beings for the land which included mankind.
Day 7 – He designated this day as a day to rest from the activities done in the previous six days.
It’s interesting that on day seven, God planned to have everything completed to get to the place where He could rest. Isn’t it interesting that God waited until the seventh day? He’s God He could have rested day one or in the middle of His week. He instead waited until His work was done to rest. He had His week planned out so that He’d end in success and rest. When you learn to map out your time, then you too will find success and rest at the end of your work.
Your Calendar is Like a Map
I often refer to my calendar, which we will get into later, as my calendar map. It’s my map that directs me in what’s happening with my life based on the time marked out. It was God’s GTD system that stirred up something in me to begin living by this idea that my calendar is like a map. In fact, I awaken each day with no guesswork to what this day has in store; it’s been mapped out. To offer some practical advice, using ideas from both Jim Rohn and Myles Munroe, the idea is this.
Don’t start anything until it’s finished.
Don’t start your day until you have it finished.
Don’t start your month until you have it finished.
Don’t start your year until you have it finished.
Don’t begin the next decade until you have it finished.
Like God, have it all mapped out so that you find yourself at the destination you have predetermined.
If you’re interested in creating worlds, your world, like God, then you’ll have to master this concept of budgeting your time. What will you do tomorrow? Before you do, get it finished. That’s called planning for it. If you want a specific outcome, then make a plan that yields such an outcome. Don’t miss out on the life you desire because you didn’t sit down and create a plan for it.
Question: what have you failed to create in your world because you never had a plan of getting it done?
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