What is Occupying All of Your Time?

Each week it seems as though I am rushing to finish writing in my book, one of the blogs I contribute to, and my own blog. Things just seem to consume my time and I have a difficult time getting back on track. I am a list-maker, so it's not necessarily a matter of flying through the day wondering if I'm forgetting to do something. I check things off (eventually!), but it's those things that aren't on my daily list that suddenly come up and of course have to be completed...or so I view them that way.

Often have I come across a friend on Facebook requesting prayer or another friend flooding her Facebook page with really inspiring and encouraging Scriptures. I want to share those posts or comment to the friend with a prayer request that "I'm praying for you." But before I know it, I've been sucking my time needed to complete my list by being on Facebook. I don't want to do that! As a Facebook administrator, I have to throttle back my own personal Facebook time in order to complete my daily list. The problem for me is that I also want to spend "time" with my Facebook and social media friends. So who do we balance that?

Here are some ideas:

Plan your day the night before. Make a plan for when you will be online, writing, reading, meetings, visiting others, watching television, etc. Make a point of planning what your day will look like.
Start your day in the Word. The Scripture tells us that if we seek God first, everything else will fall into place. There are several online devotionals that you can subscribe to including those on the popular Bible apps. Our church implemented "One Book, One Church" to focus the whole church on reading a particular book of the Bible each month, then we are all reading the same thing and can discuss what the Lord is saying to us at our weekly home groups.
Make work hours for yourself. This is time that is dedicated to whatever your job might be in the home or in your home-based business. That time is reserved (for me as a Facebook administrator) for updating client Facebook pages, creating or scheduling posts, and running analytics for the page. It is not time to visit my own Facebook page or to reply to friends who send me a Facebook message. I know it's difficult to separate the two jobs, but it is essential if you want to learn to balance it all.
Schedule time for family and friends. We need to make sure that we are showing our friends and family that we do value them and that dedicating time in our day for them is important. The Word says that "if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another..." (1 John 1:7)
Set a goal and focus on it. All of these ideas require a degree of discipline and that is really the key to it all. Focus on your daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals and longer term goals. We've talked about our vision boards in the past (and I might revisit that for our newer readers!), so ask yourself everyday and every week, "Is what I'm doing right now, today, something that is moving me closer to a goal on my vision board?" 

These are just a few ideas to help with focusing your day and creating habits of discipline that will allow you to work more efficiently throughout your day. We can teach ourselves to make the Lord the focus of our day, occupying more and more of our daily life so that we will be positioned to use our 24 hours in the most effective way.

Lyn~