You Have Plenty of Time

Lately I’ve been writing a lot here about time management. Maybe because I’m so terrible at it. After a very slow workweek and more than enough time to work on some writing projects, connect with my Scentsy customers, as well as my usual summer gardening and putting up all the peaches my trees have produced this year, I still managed to waste much of my week. My peaches are still on the trees & I didn’t complete a single writing project.

I’ve also been convicted to amp up my Bible reading and study. I love words and writing & am seeking a way to implement those loves into my Bible study, but I haven’t done any of that either. The answer came to me today as I was driving to church. I don’t know if it was the Lord speaking or my own reminder that you make time for whatever is important to you. (Haven’t I said that already in another post?)

“You have plenty of time to do everything I’ve given you to do.”

If I’m not completing all the chores on my list, it’s either because I’ve given myself too much else to do that isn’t really necessary. Or, I’m wasting too much time doing absolutely nothing.

Women, and men too, maybe, often say yes to requests when we need the nerve to say, “No, I can’t.” We shouldn’t feel compelled to babysit every time someone asks unless we have an ironclad excuse. We don’t have to agree to clean the church on our one free weekend. Or help our sister move. Or mow the neighbor’s grass. Or make brownies for our nephew’s baseball team fundraiser because his mother’s been sick and it’s her turn and she hates to let everyone down…

None of these things are wrong. In fact, they are admirable and we could probably be more giving and charitable with our time and resources. That said, there are also times we need to say no. Just plain no without feeling guilty or caving at the last minute. As women, we hate to let anyone down so we agree to help out just this once. Then we’re stressed and overwhelmed and stretched too thin, and we lash out when Hubby simply asks, “What’s for dinner?”

Or maybe that’s just me.

Today, I really believe the Lord was reminding I have plenty of time to do the things He’s given me to do. Before I jump in with a “Yes.” to every request for my time, I need to check with Him first. Life isn’t predictable and we can’t schedule every moment. Things come up, and friends need our help. But He’s given me a story to write. He’s given me grandbabies to spoil. A yard to mow. Dogs to walk. A husband to love. Peaches to pick. Books to read. Neighbors to visit. Cool breezes to caress my cheek.

Heavenly Father, help me, this day, to prioritize. Not to waste a moment. Teach me to steward my time the same as I do every other gift you’ve freely given. Not to squander time on self-pity or anger or laziness or petty grievances or unfair judgments of others. Help me to love as You love and serve those You’ve put in my path to serve. Remind me not to take on more than You would have me to do. And to do all I do with love & worship for Your glory.

Big changes require little steps

“That’s what it takes to get what you want. Not big scary leaps once a year. It takes small, but irritating moves every single day.”
― Mel Robbins, Stop Saying You're Fine: Discover a More Powerful You

Who among us isn’t always looking for shortcuts. We want a faster, easier, simpler, more efficient way to do everything—whether getting to work or fixing dinner or paying our bills online. We want to save money, time, energy & effort. Anything that promises to help us reach our goals faster and easier, we’re all over it.

There’s no magic pill for success. Regardless of how hard you work or how lofty your goals or how much stands in the way of achieving them, the most likely obstacle to keep you from reaching them is YOU.

I have a friend who has been trying to lose weight and get into shape for as long as I’ve known her. She has tried every diet plan and pill you can imagine. She isn’t the only one. More money is spent on losing weight every year than nearly anything else. Like much of the rest of the world, my friend has spent the last twenty years in search of that one diet, that one discovery that will expose what has kept her from losing weight and keeping it off. There isn’t one. It isn’t her meal plan or eating schedule or exercise routine or lack of support from family. She is the only one standing in her way. The key to weight loss success—as well as the key to every other kind of success—is to keep doing little things every day and for the rest of her life. Get off the couch and move. Push away from the table before her belly is full. Eat more lean green foods than processed food. And so on and so on.

Writing that won’t sell diet books. It’s depressing. No one wants to hear it. We want an earth-shaking thing that will create all the changes we’re looking for in one fell swoop. That big thing doesn’t exist. Just little things we do over and over to get what we want. We are the only ones in the way of achieving our dreams. Until we learn to stop doing the little things that sabotage our progress, like sleeping in, wasting time on FaceBook, avoiding a part of the job we dread, or giving into distractions, we’ll never get what we want.

If you’re seriously looking to make a change in your life, start implementing little positive habits into your day. Make time for them. Do them regularly and religiously and stick with them even when you aren’t seeing results.

Remember potty training? Argh! Who wants to remember that? If your child was like mine it didn’t happen overnight. It was weeks, and maybe months, of tears and frustration—mostly on my part—and countless mad dashes to the bathroom and the little potty before you finally got it through the baby’s head this was the way it was supposed to work.

Like me, you probably got plenty of well-intentioned advice about how to make the process go smoother. Basically, though, the outcome wasn’t up to you. It was up to the little guy on the seat of honor staring up at you. We kept doing the same little things over and over—watching for subtle clues that somebody had to go, running up and down the hall with a squirming toddler, praising and clapping when things went well, and cleaning up messes when they didn’t. It wasn’t rocket science, and there was no rushing the process no matter how much we wanted to. Just repeating the same task over and over until potty independence was achieved.

Any goal worth achieving works the same way. We’ll get more advice than we want. Some will be good. Much will be a waste of time. But it all goes back to who’s in charge. YOU. Others can help and offer advice, but we’re the one standing in our own way. Cheering ourselves on when things go well and cleaning up messes when they don’t.

Live a life of passion

It’s been said if you want to be happy for a year, win the Lottery. If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make a living doing something you love.

All this talk about living the dream and making a living doing what you love has made me think of my son’s story. I thought I would share it here and maybe encourage you to go after your dreams, no matter how far out of reach they may seem.

When my son was in preschool, he wanted to be a professional wrestler like nearly every other preschooler. As he got older his aspirations changed to professional ballplayer—either football or baseball, depending on which season we were in. Sadly, the poor thing took his athletic abilities after his mother and only made the team because our local school was so small, they didn’t cut anyone. If you showed up in cleats, you were on the team.

It wasn’t until high school when a friend of mine asked him to provide color commentary for broadcasts of our county schools' ballgames that he found his passion. For the first time, he was able to combine his brains with his love for sports. He thought, “I’ve got to figure out a way to do this for a living.”

Everyone knows it's highly unlikely to get a paying job doing something like that. ESPN wasn’t hiring precocious kids who loved ball.

He took his scholarships and enrolled in a traditional college. It didn’t take long, though, for him to realize this was not the path he wanted to take. Against everyone’s advice, he quit school and entered the Ohio School of Broadcasting, a non-accredited school that meant he lost all his scholarship money.

As his mother, I worried and listened to all my friends tell me he was making a huge mistake and I needed to step in and make him see the light, and did I want him living in my basement the rest of his life. I held my breath and prayed he was doing the right thing.

He soon got an internship for a local talk radio station. That eventually led to hosting a show on a local country music station where I only heard his voice during 10-second promo spots between programming. The job paid minimum wage so he cleaned floors at Kroger’s, worked the front desk at a discount motel chain, and worked a short time at an Amazon distribution center just to pay the rent while pursuing his dream.

Fast forward five years. Those little spots on the radio, working for peanuts and experience, led to a producer’s job in a major market. Now he interviews celebrities, athletes, and politicians for a living. He’s paid to attend sporting events and concerts. Last month his station even gave away tickets to attend a major sporting event with him as a prize to a lucky caller.

Whatever your dreams, there are ways to make them come true. Spoiler: It will take a ton of hard work and personal sacrifice. You will endure abuse and ridicule from friends and family who think you are wasting your time or making a huge mistake. The only question to ask yourself is: How bad do you want it?

Only you know the answer.

Seize the Day

Know the true value of time; snatch, seize and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness...never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. - Lord Chesterfield

I have a friend who says he’s always wanted to write a book. Actually, just about every person I meet tells me this. Then they say they would, but they are too busy. They offer to tell me their idea and let me write it. Okay, that’s not going to happen. I have enough of my own ideas, thank you very much.

Even though my friend insists he doesn't have time to write, he apparently enjoys discussing his ideas with me. He is a busy man. He has a family and a full-time job and property that needs maintained. But he also watches sports on television every weekend. He is nearly addicted to computer games and loves surfing the Net for news coverage.

All of us—no matter how busy we are—find time for what’s important to us. If it matters enough, we'll carve the time from somewhere in our schedules. Writing is hard. It’s lonely and usually more work than it’s worth. It's easier and a lot more fun to sit around and talk about the art of writing and discuss plotlines and characters than to actually fasten our butts to the chair and put words on the page. We put it off. We say; “Someday”.

The problem is, most of us do not put enough value on our time. Ask any successful person. It’s our most valuable commodity. Think back a few years to what you knew you should do and really meant to get around to. Were you thinking about contributing more money to your 401K? Or contributing any money to a 401K? What if you had started ten years ago? Or twenty? Just think how sweet your portfolio would look today.

Did you entertain notions of beginning an exercise plan at the first of the year? Maybe you didn’t, thinking you’d start after the weather got warm enough to get outside to exercise. Now it’s nearly June, and you’re no closer to your fitness goals than you were last June. Did you dream of starting a home-based business? You knew the steps you needed to take, but it was so daunting and overwhelming, you never got around to it.

Have you put off cultivating relationships with loved ones? Maybe there is something standing between you and a family member. A past hurt or wrong that left you both bitter and disillusioned. Time is passing and you want to make amends, but you don’t know how. Or you don’t want to make the first move.

The older I get—and, boy, have I gotten older in the last few years—the more I realize time is so so short. It is truly precious. We must seize every moment and hang on. All too soon, we’ll be looking back, wondering why we aren’t closer to our goals. Closer to what truly matters. We’ll wish we had acted sooner. Saved more money. Asked forgiveness. Offered it when no one asked. Written that book. Planted a tree outside the kitchen window. Fallen in love. Inspired someone.

Make each day count. Stop wasting time & seize each day you’re given.

Focus on One

I don't know about you, but I always have a hundred things to do. It is so easy to get overwhelmed by a To-Do list that never seems to get done. This morning I read an article on marketing. (Subscribe to Randy's ezine & you'll find tons of great marketing info to benefit any biz.) My takeaway on a very informative read was: Focus on doing one thing really well before moving on to something else.

Whether starting a new business or building a brand, or a platform to showcase that brand, or even beginning an exercise regimen, it's easy to get freaked out by all the details necessary to become successful. The never ending list of chores can be so daunting we quit before we ever get out of the gate. We look at someone else who is already wildly successful at what we want, and we think we have to do everything exactly the way she does. If not, we'll never break out of the masses, and we're doomed to failure, so what's the point of trying anyway...

I often think of an old adage: If you chase two rabbits, they both get away.



Instead of staring at 20 tasks guaranteed to make you a millionaire by next Tuesday, choose one. Yes, one. Isn't that a relief! Focus your energy. Choose the task you can do really well, and then do that thing the best you can. After--and only after--you become adept at that one thing, then you can move onto something else.

We don't have to be great at everything to start. We just have to be willing to strive for greatness.