How many times have you said “there just aren’t enough hours in the day”? What would happen if you had less time rather than more? I just dropped my daughter off at the airport; she is traveling to New Zealand. She was telling me because of her flight schedule she would not have a Thursday this week. It got me to thinking about how I would have to adjust my schedule if I didn’t have a Thursday. As I put my mind in gear, I could mentally shift things around on my calendar, delegate tasks, and get it all done. It’s all about priorities.
If you didn’t have a Thursday, you wouldn’t have a choice. It would force you to work on living more by your priorities. Why not live every week like you have no Thursday. Prioritize in such a way that you are doing the things that only you can do. Delegate where possible, drop things that you are doing so that you could live without it and get it done!
Determining Your Priorities
While I’m not going to give you a list of priorities for your life, I do want to give you a starting point that will help you focus or realign your priorities on your Life Palette. Paul shows you where to begin when he says, “This is the secret: Christ lives in you…” (Colossians 1:27) That’s the basis for a great life composition. The next step is to spend time prayerfully considering what priorities God would have you set. James 1:5 says, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” God wants to instruct you in your priorities. He is the ultimate source of guidance and He has revealed Himself clearly through His Word. Confirm what you sense through prayer by comparing it with the Bible. He will never go against Scripture.
Get Wise Counsel
You should also seek wise counsel from others as you seek His priorities for your Life Palette, but be warned: wise counsel only comes from wise people. It’s dangerous to seek the counsel of someone who will just agree with you. Often the best advice is contrary to your own desires.
Drill Down To A Few
Finally, ask God to help you drill down your priorities to only a few. We live in a day and time where we celebrate multitasking and think we can do it all. I find it interesting that the person who is usually trying to do way too much is usually the one trying to convince me they’re great at multitasking. Typically, we are not as good at it as we think we are and the results prove it. We end up being mediocre at many things. As my dad use to say, “Jack of all trades, master of none.”
(This blog is adapted from my book Life Palette: God created a masterpiece…and it’s you!)
Feedback:
What priorities do you need to work on today? What can you delegate or simply not do to get time back for the more important things in your life? Leave me your comments and questions below.