Redeeming Your Time

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” 

– Ephesians 5:15-16 (NKJ) 

I love business. I love the work I get to do. For that, I know I am very fortunate. 

The thing that drives me nuts is how much I want to accomplish and how few hours there are in a day!

So, I’ve been very interested in the topic of time management for some time. My first deep study into time management was the book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. David Allen and his company are probably the most respected name in time management. The problem with his system is how hard it is to implement. 

There are entire websites, books, and businesses built on showing you how to get by with a partial implementation of Allen’s system. The problem with those solutions is a partial implementation gets you partial results. 

One of Allen’s taglines is “stress-free productivity.” To get there you’ve got to implement his full system. The part of the system that throws everyone off is the weekly review. We all scurry through our weeks working diligently to get the most important tasks done so we can have some time off with our friends and family. 

Allen’s system requires you to do a weekly review of all you’ve done, all you plan to do, and all the tasks that are on your plate. You are required to do this every week so you can plan out your next week. That makes sense, right? But in life, it is very difficult to do. 

The first productivity teacher I ran across who did not shortcut Allen’s system is Jordan Raynor. Jordan is a Christian author and entrepreneur who writes on business excellence. I found him through a study he wrote on business excellence for the YouVersion app and I’ve loved his work ever since. 

Jordan’s productivity book is called “Redeeming Your Time – 7 Biblical Principles for Being Purposeful, Present and Wildy Productive.” In the book, Jordan distills wisdom from David Allen and many others and puts it into a single, workable model to help you become more productive from an eternal viewpoint. 

Our days on this earth are few and they fly by really fast. I believe that is what Paul is telling us in his letter to the Ephesians. He is saying that we are surrounded by evil and distractions. For us to live a life that matters in eternity, we must be diligent about how we spend every minute on this earth. Did the things I did today line up with God’s will or mine? 

Implementing Jordan’s approach to time management is not easy either. But, I am slowly learning that good things are rarely easy. I went through a seven-week coaching workshop on the book before it was released. The workshop was a great experience and it helped me implement a lot of the practices, but I’m still not 100% there – and in this game, 90% implemented will not yield the results I am after. 

In this series, I will walk you through the book’s 7 principles in the hope that this will get us all a little closer to “stress-free productivity for the glory of God.” Here is an overview of the 7 Principles. 

1 – Start With the Word – If we are going to live a life that glorifies God, we must start each day getting our instructions from Him. 

2 – Let Your Yes Be Your Yes – It takes a really good system to make sure you don’t drop a ball and not follow through on a commitment. This chapter helps you create your system. 

3 – Dissent From The Kingdom of Noise – Distraction, noise – It can all keep us from our most important work. 

4 – Prioritize Your Yeses – Knowing what to say yes and no to starts with knowing why God put you on this earth. 

5 – Accept Your Unipresence – Focused, deep work is the only way to get the most important things done. 

6 – Embrace Productive Rest – Sleep, Sabbath, and Rest are all gifts from God that actually make us more productive. 

7 – Eliminate All Hurry – Busy is good. Hurried is not. This chapter helps you understand the difference between the two. 

I’m looking forward to walking you through this great book!

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