Where is Your Time Going?

One of the top complains I hear is “I just don’t have the time to …” So how is it we all have the same 24 hours in a day, but Sally can manage to complete all of her tasks on her to-do list, while Susie barely finished item 3? Is Sally Superwoman? NO. Sally just knows how to manage her time better and you can, too.

1. For the next 5 days, document how you are spending your time from the time you get up until the time you go to bed. When you get up in the morning, write down how much time you spent sleeping.

Ex:

Time	Task
06:00	Got out of bed
06:30	Get kids ready for school
07:30	Eat Breakfast/Drop Kids Off/Drive to Work
09:30	Answer Phones
10:30	Make Sales Calls
11:45	Answer Phones
1:00	Lunch
1:30	Meeting
3:30	Coffee break – chat
4:00	Emails
5:00	Make Sales Calls
6:00	Drive Home
7:00	Dinner
7:30	Watched TV/Surfed Internet
11:00	Went to bed

2. At the end of five days calculate how much time you spend on each activity

Ex:

Activity	Hours spent
Sleep	47 hours
Get kids ready for school	5 hours
Eat Breakfast/Drop Kids Off/Drive to Work	10 hours
Answer Phones	14 hours
Make Sales Calls	9 hours
Lunch	2.5 hours
Coffee break – chat	2.5 hours
Meeting	4 hours
Emails	4 hours
Drive Home	6 hours
Dinner	2.5 hours
Watched TV/Surfed Internet	26 hours

This may be how a typical work week looks for you. Not every day will be the same, so your numbers may vary in each area.

What do you notice in this example? This person spends a lot of time surfing the internet and watching TV. He or she also spends a great deal of time on the road to and from work. Now what if this person were using half of that time watching TV focusing on other tasks such as exercising or working on a side business? So for the next step:

3. Make a list of other activities you could be doing with your time:

Ex:

Alternative Activity	Why? Benefit?
Gym/Workout	Lose weight, have more energy
Read Bible	Spiritual Development
Journal	Outlet for expressing feelings
Take wife on a date	Nurture marital relationship
Language Class	Learn new language, increase marketability
Gardening	Have fresh vegetables
Start a part time business	Earn extra money!

Now doesn’t it feel good to know that you have the time to do the things you want to do? Now take action and get going.

Resurrection Day

Have you ever seen The Passion of the Christ? I remember when this movie first came out critics complained that it didn't show the love of Christ. They missed the point. The fact that Jesus endured betrayal, abandonment, false testimony, an illegal trial, insults, scourging, degradation, and was crucified just to give mankind the opportunity to be reconciled to God speaks volumes. That's the point of Easter. Jesus paid the price, a high price, so that you and I can be forgiven for our sins. It's a free gift. No questions asked, no strings attached. God has extended the olive branch. All you have to do is take it.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Count Your Blessings

A great way to boost your confidence is to keep a blessings diary.

It’s always a good idea to remind yourself just how blessed you really are and what you have to be thankful for and pleased about in your life right now.

A useful tool in keeping track of your blessings is with a blessings diary.

Either buy yourself a notebook or a diary and once a week for the next month, jot down your answers to the following questions.

No excuses! If you have been managing your time effectively, then you can schedule a time to get this done

Take just 10 minutes per week, sit down and jot down your thoughts to:

1.     What have I got to be grateful for in my life right now?

2.     What am I happy about in my life right now?

3.     Why am I happy about these things?

4.     What did I accomplish last week?

5.     What am I excited about in my life right now?

6.     Who do I love and appreciate in my life? Who do I like hanging around? Why?

7.     Who loves and appreciates me for what I am?

Answer these questions at the start of each week and it will set you up for success.

Having a particularly bad day? Answer them again for a boost and to remind yourself that you are truly blessed. 

Excuses, Excuses

I hate excuses. I despise them with a passion. Every time I hear an excuse, it’s like listening to nails across a chalkboard. (I’m dating myself.) So, I am dedicating this post to various quotes about excuses. Take one. Memorize it. Internalize it. Every time you feel yourself giving an excuse, remember one of the quotes and find a solution instead.

"Excuses are tools of the incompetent, and those who specialize in them seldom go far."

An excuse is worse than a lie, for an excuse is a lie, guarded. Alexander Pope

Don't make excuses, make good. Elbert Hubbard

Every vice has its excuse ready. Publilius Syrus

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. Benjamin Franklin

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you, never excuse yourself. Henry Ward Beecher

If you don't want to do something, one excuse is as good as another. Yiddish Proverb

Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible. Francois De La Rochefoucauld

The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or coming back with excuses. Napoleon Hill

There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results. Art Turock

We are all manufacturers. Making good, making trouble, or making excuses. H. V. Adolt

There aren't nearly enough crutches in the world for all the lame excuses. Marcus Stroup

Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure. Don Wilder

Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts. Edward R. Murrow

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one. George Washington

People with integrity do what they say they are going to do. Others have excuses. Laura Schlessinger

For many people, an excuse is better than an achievement because an achievement, no matter how great, leaves you having to prove yourself again in the future; but an excuse can last for life. Eric Hoffer

 “Man gives every reason for his conduct save one, every excuse for his crimes save one, every plea for his safety save one; and that one is his cowardice” George Bernard Shaw

I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse. Florence Nightingale

  

Excuses are tools of the incompetent used to build monuments to nothing. For those who specialize in them shall never be good at anything else."

Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses. George Washington Carver

  

Bad excuses are worse than none. Thomas Fuller

Never ruin an apology with an excuse. Kimberly Johnson

“Love will find a way. Indifference will find an excuse.”

“Bad things are always going to happen in life. People will hurt you. But you can't use that as an excuse to fail or to hurt someone back. You'll only hurt yourself.”

“Pessimism is an excuse for not trying and a guarantee to a personal failure.” Bill Clinton

“Destiny: A tyrant's authority for crime and a fool's excuse for failure.” Ambrose Bierce

We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse. Rudyard Kipling

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

20 Things To Do This Weekend

It's the first weekend of spring. So here are 20 things you can do this weekend by yourself or with the family to create new memories, relax, or rejuvenate for the next week.

1. Go to church
2. Read a new book
3. Go to the movies
4. Visit the farmer's market
5. Go fishing
6. Get a massage
7. Go on a date
8. De-clutter your closet
9. Have a picnic
10. Clean out the garage
11. Go on a Scavenger Hunt
12. Visit a nature trail
13. Volunteer at a homeless shelter
14. Go to grandma's house
15. Put together a scrapbook
16. Visit a spa
17. Complete a jigsaw puzzle
18. Play dress up
19. Go to the beach
20. Barbecue 

You only get this weekend once. Don't waste it sitting at home watching TV.

Mind Mapping

A great way to flesh out an idea is to brainstorm. Since humans are visual beings, an excellent tool to get the juices flowing is to use a mind map. You start with a central idea or concept, and you start branching off from the main idea. A free online tool that I like to use for mind mapping is bubbl.us.

Here is a tutorial on how to use bubbl.us. And did I mention it's free?

Thinking Errors

Just so you know, I have experience working with sex offenders. One of the first things that offenders work on when they come into treatment is thinking errors. Just to be clear, everyone has thinking errors. But when taken to the extreme, they lead to problematic behaviors. Today’s post will be focusing on some of the most common thinking errors that stop people from reaching their full potential:

1.  Victim Stance - The person using this thinking error views himself as the victim in all situations and feels others should feel sorry for him. He feels he should not be held responsible for his actions because it’s the other person’s fault that he failed. Ex – It’s her fault that I got arrested. I didn’t hurt her that bad.
2. Uniqueness – The person using this thinking error doesn’t believe the rules apply to him. He feels that he is special and therefore should be treating differently than everyone else. Ex – The person who fails to show for jury duty when summoned
3. Slacking – The person using this thinking error does just enough to get by and nothing more. Ex –The kid who has the ability to make straight A’s, but brings home C’s and D’s. The person who quits his high paying job and takes a job below his skill set to decrease alimony and/or child support payments
4. Lying – The person using this thinking error either makes entirely false statements, tells half-truths, or engages in actions that don’t match his words. He is usually doing this to escape responsibility or to protect his ego. Ex – The dad who says “I’m coming to your play tonight.” and doesn’t show up.
5. Pride – The person using this thinking error has a highly idealistic assessment of oneself. He believes that he is superior to others and believes that he has gotten where he is without any help from others. Ex – The entrepreneur who tries to do it all on his own
6. Perfectionism – The person using this thinking error believes everything and everyone must be perfect. He holds everyone to an impossible standard, yet does not apply this standard to himself. He avoids tasks because they may not turn out “perfectly.” Ex – The wanna be real estate investor who refuses to pull the trigger because all the stars aren’t perfectly aligned.
7. I Can’t – The person who uses this thinking error really means “I won’t.” He has the ability to use his potential and perform tasks, but refuses. Ex – The person who claims he can’t find a job, but spends all day on the internet and watching TV.
8. Deferment – The person who uses this thinking error puts everything off until tomorrow. He believes things will be easier in the future rather than living in the present.  Ex – “I’ll go back to school soon.”
9. Entitlement – The person who uses this thinking error believe everything is owed to him and everyone serves at his pleasure. Rather than being responsible and earning his own way, he would rather take from others. Ex – The adult who is still living at home with mom and dad and expects his parents to pay all of his bills, while contributing nothing to the household.
10. Rationalization – The person who uses this thinking error has a reason for everything. He refuses to acknowledge that he is in his situation or has experienced failures due to his own decision making. Ex – “I got fired because the boss didn’t like me.”

This is by no means all the thinking errors that hinder our progress. But if you are honest enough to admit that some of these apply to you, start making changes today.

How to Find Your Spiritual Gifts

I Corinthians 12:4-6
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 

Every Christian has a spiritual gift according to the Bible to be used for the glory of God and the building of the Church. However, not everyone knows what his or gift may be.

To help with identifying your particular gift, a helpful tool may be a spiritual gifts inventory or test. The key is to be prayerful and answer honestly each question. Usually, you are asked to rate a task on a scale of 1-5. For example, you may be asked if you enjoy preaching. It's ok if you give it a 1 if you really dislike it. Nobody is judging you. Preaching isn't for everyone. Not everyone is called to be a preacher, teacher, or missionary. There are those who are called to be prayer warriors, discerners, and givers. All Christians are apart of the body of Christ and serve a special purpose. Once you find your purpose, fulfill your role with joy and know that God has called you for a reason. Here are some tests to get you started:

Spiritual Gifts Inventory - Free

Spiritual Gifts Assessment - Free from UMC

Spiritual Gifts Test - Created by Elmer Towns

Gifted 2 Serve - Free

Spiritual Gifts Discovery Tool - Free

Mintools - Free

Spiritual Gifts - Free test for adults and youth

Image courtesy of smarnad at FreeDigitalPhotos.net