Take Ownership of Your Time

Part 2 Enrich The Quality of Your Life

Do you need more hours in your day to do everything you are hoping to do?

I recently read a blog that gave 7 strategies for the overscheduled, under-rested average American female. (Does that sound like you?) Evidently you can find 7 more hours in your day if you do these things:

• Handle things once (saves 15-20 minutes)
• Don’t listen to the news first thing in the morning (saves 30 minutes)
• Make good use of waiting time (saves 30 minutes)
• Be decisive and move on (saves up to 60 minutes)
• Lighten up on your cleaning standards (saves 30-45 minutes)
• Write it down (saves 60 minutes)
• Turn off technology during your high-energy time (saves 90 minutes)
• Monitor time-sapping addictions (saves 60 minutes)

I like that list and have put a few of those strategies into practice. How about you? Which ones are saving you hours in the day and which ones do you wish you could start implementing into your life?

Guess what? No one else is going to take responsibility of your time but you!

You get the same 24/7/52/365 that everyone else does. Remember, everything will get better when you start taking ownership of your hours, days, weeks, and years.

Everything gets better when you take ownership of your time!

What tends to get squeezed out of your life when you get busy? Is it spending time in God’s Word?

You may be just like I was - wanting to be in God's Word, but not making the commitment to daily sit quietly, open your Bible, meditate on God's Word, and listen to him speak. You quickly read through a devotional without really paying attention or are momentarily inspired by a snack-size Bible verse posted on social media, and then check Bible reading off your to-do list.

I see 3 of those strategies listed above, that offer you a quiet interruption from your crazy world to spend time with your Creator. You only need to implement ONE to change the course and health of the rest of your day!

1. Don’t listen to the news first thing in the morning.

Maybe it’s not the news. Instead, your morning routine may include checking email or glancing at Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Either way, your day is imprinted by technology and glowing screens.

We are shaped every day, whether we know it or not, by practices - rituals and liturgies that make us who we are. (Tish Harrison Warren)

You have a choice first thing in the morning – be shaped by the ritual of glowing screens or the delightful discipline of time in God’s Presence. It’s time to take ownership of your mornings!

2. Turn off technology during your high-energy time.

What times during the day do you find yourself thinking clearly, energized, and able to accomplish many things?

I encourage you to use your high energy times for the things that mean the most to you – your core values.

Core values are what is meaningful and important to you in life. There are a zillion core values, but a few examples are: creativity, loyalty, hard work, honesty, faith, generosity, adventure, and justice.

Can you list your top 4 values?

One of my core values is to always be learning and teachable. I live true to this value by scheduling plenty of time to:

• study God’s Word
• try something new
• take a class or workshop in a new interest area
• explore

None of us have unlimited energy, so we need to take ownership of our time and live according to our values.

3. Monitor time-sapping addictions.

Each one of us has at least one thing that captures and grabs our attention and steals our time.

An ABC news story published in February 2020 states:

The average American spends a staggering 11 hours, 54 minutes each day connected to some form of media - TV, smartphones, computers, radio, games, etc.

(And just to note – that article was written one month before the U.S. went into lockdown from Covid. Can you imagine how many more hours were spent as we all were stuck in our homes!)

I realize our heads are just beginning to come up out of the water of isolation, and I am wondering if what was our main-stay for entertainment during 2020 is now a time-sapping addiction.

Something to think about and something to take responsibility for. If you even just put down the glowing screens for 1 hour per day, just think of how you could enrich the quality of your life.

 Join the Rooted-Live Membership and Community - you will never regret the time you spend reading and meditating on God's Word!