..be transformed by the renewing of your mind

*Found this great site www.christnotes.org esp the 28/1/08 post on “Are you looking for answers in the wrong places.”

Click on WEEKLY WISDOM to get to the site.

Weekly Wisdom

Provided by Christ Notes Bible Search

 Stephen R. Covey– How to use Time wisely from www.bottomlinesecrets.com

he busier our lives become, the harder it is to complete everything we set out to accomplish each day. On the surface, it seems that what keeps us from being more productive is the lack of time. In reality, the problem isn’t our lack of time, but our lack of ability to manage it.

To successfully manage time, you must set priorities and distinguish which tasks are important and must be addressed immediately and which tasks can wait.

HOW TO DETERMINE IMPORTANCE

All activities can be divided into four categories, or quadrants. It’s best to sketch these quadrants on paper by drawing a box and dividing it into four parts. Each quadrant will contain different activities, depending on how you rank them.

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Quadrant I: Activities that are important and urgent. These must be given top priority. Examples: Crises and projects that have deadlines.

Quadrant II: Activities that are important but not urgent. These activities can be delayed at any given time, but deferring them indefinitely leads to problems. Examples: Building relationships, planning ahead, preparing for meetings and important occasions, developing and empowering others, and enjoying recreational activities that lead to self-renewal.

Quadrant III: Activities that appear to be urgent but that aren’t important. They land on your desk and interrupt projects you’re already working on or they are rushed in by a coworker or an assistant. As a result, these activities are often major time killers. Examples: Phone calls, some meetings, interruptions.

Quadrant IV: Activities that are neither urgent nor important. They essentially waste time, but we often indulge in them for escape. Examples: Trivia, gossip, mindless books and TV shows.

Avoid focusing exclusively on Quadrant I, which includes crisis-management activities that can lead to stress and burnout.

Spending too much time on Quadrant III and IV activities, which are not important, demonstrates irresponsibility.

The secret of using your time effectively is to pay careful attention to the activities in Quadrant II. While they are not urgent, they are important and greatly improve your productive capacity.

Spending time on important activities, such as planning, building relationships and preventive maintenance (including maintaining your own physical and spiritual health), reduces the number of crises you have to face and keeps your life on track and in balance.

One particularly important Quadrant II activity is thinking through your goals and identifying the principles of living that you value deeply. The insight gained from considering your long-term needs will make you more willing to say no when you are faced with a low-priority project and more able to say yes to an important task.

IDENTIFY WHAT IS IMPORTANT

We cannot identify what is truly important unless we step back and think at length about our daily routines. Only after considering what life is really all about will you be able to set priorities skillfully.

If you are not sure which roles and values are most important to you, take a few minutes to imagine your 80th birthday party. Visualize all the people close to you, your family, friends and business associates, as they pay tribute to you.

What would you like them to say about your achievements as a spouse, parent, neighbor, teacher and manager? Write down the comments you would like to hear. Use this exercise to prepare your personal mission statement, summarizing the values and lifetime goals to which you aspire. Now you are ready to plan your time by setting priorities in line with your personal mission in life.

PLANNING YOUR TIME

Your objective is to balance your activities so you can devote adequate time to advancing toward your personal goals in each of your roles.

Remember: Your aim is not to do things as quickly as possible. Instead, it is to make sure that you do the right things on time. Those are the tasks that will advance the goals you have set for yourself.

Your planning must allow you to consistently spend time on your most important needs and thus stop you from being diverted by less important things, no matter how urgent they seem.

Plan weekly. Scheduling day by day leads to a focus on urgency and a loss of perspective, so be careful to plan your activities on a weekly basis and concern yourself with people and relationships, not with schedules.

Review your mission statement. Before the week begins, ask yourself what is the most important thing you could do in the coming week for each of your roles in life. Before you put anything else in your schedule, set aside time for each of these activities.

Put first things first. Finding time in your schedule for the important things in life is like fitting odd-shaped rocks into a jar.

If you put in the large rocks first, the jar will hold quite a few of them and still have plenty of room for pebbles, sand and water. But if you start by putting in a lot of the smaller pebbles, there will be no room left for the large rocks.

Similarly, if you arrange your schedule to address the most important tasks first, you will find time for everything else. If you don’t do this, your day will be fully occupied with trivial matters before you get a chance to do the things that truly matter to you.

AND.

This below is some sort of a famous writing from Michael Lee.

When I was small, I have never considered the importance of time.
I would just laze around, watch TV, lie in bed, and play video
games.  As I grew older, I thought about the things that I have
achieved.  To my surprise, I haven’t accomplished a lot. 

I resolved to myself that I will do things that will contribute
to the benefit of mankind.  I studied very hard and learned a
lot of lessons from my experience.  I lack self-confidence
before, so I want to help other people overcome this predicament.

I became obssessed with self-improvement, so I started a
newsletter.  I’m also working on an ebook about persuasion as
I’m writing this.  I want to help anyone in need because it
feels so good to solve other people’s problems.

I urge you now to make the most use of your time.  It may be
joining a fundraising organization.  You may also learn new
skills or crafts.  Create a goal and go for it!

Don’t be a couch potato.  Don’t just sit around and be contented
with the monotonous patterns of your daily activities. 

Do something nice and give all your best to the fulfillment
of a worthwhile endeavor.  It will give you a very deep sense
of happiness and satisfaction.

Some people complain that they don’t have enough time to take
action on their goals.  They have to go to their 9 to 5 job,
then when they go home they feel so tired all they can think
about is watch TV, relax, and sleep.

I’m not saying that leisure is a no-no.  In fact, everyone should
take time out once in a while to recharge and revitalize their
energy.  The key is to have a balanced life.  Set aside a
fraction of your time to carry out your dreams and ambitions.
Reserve some time to establish healthy relationships.

Ok, I hear you.  You’re saying that you really just can’t budget
your time?

Don’t panic.  Here are some time management tips.

1) If possible, do more than one thing at the same time.
 
Exercise while watching your favorite TV show.  Listen to
educational tapes while waiting for the bus. 

Be forewarned! Never do this if it puts you at risk or in
danger; for example, don’t text while driving.

2) Don’t do something later if it can be done concurrently with
an activity at present.

If you’re going to the market to buy some eggs, think of the
other things that you have to purchase so that you don’t have
to return again.

If you have an appointment with the dentist today and you also
have to go to the bank (which is near the dentist’s clinic) at
any day, schedule the two activities on the same day.

3) Be organized in everything that you do.

Put labels on bottles.  Put similar files on one folder.  Make a
list of things you have to do for the day.

You can also use your mind to organize things you have to
remember.  Studies have shown that you could only retain
information that fit between 5 to 9 categories at a time. 
This is the 7+-2 rule of Neurolinguistic Programming.

If you have many things to do, try to group related things together.
You can combine activities such as reading books, listening to
educational tapes, and watching training videos into a category
such as “Education.”  Then you can group swimming, playing
basketball, and paying fees for the gym in a category called
“Fitness.”  Get the picture?

Time is one of our most valuable resources.  Once lost, it can
never be reclaimed.  We must use time wisely for our development
and advancement; so that when we are old, we can look back and
recollect the pleasant memories and deeds that we have achieved.
Time well spent is worth much more than gold.

Proverbs 1:7 

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
       but fools ^[a] despise wisdom and discipline.