Something that's been on my mind lately as I've been walking through life is the amount of multitasking that's required to successfully juggle all my responsibilities. But it's also come to my attention that I do a fair amount of unnecessary multitasking (do I REALLY need to check my email on my phone while I'm sitting in the drive thru?), and as a result, all the tasks I am doing in a given moment suffer (oops, didn't realize the car in front of me was out of the drive thru because I was looking at my phone!).
Performing more than one task at a time, while easier for most women that it is men, is not the optimum way to achieve excellence (see yesterday's post). If I want to do my best at a task, then it must have my full attention.
Perhaps the best example of unnecessary multitasking happens when I'm supposed to be listening to others. I can't tell you how many times people come into my office, or my children come to me, or my husband calls me, and I do not stop what I'm doing to give them my full attention. Refusing to give them my attention has several consequences, including not being able to remember later exactly what they said and making them feel that they do not deserve priority over other tasks.
Paul tells us to redeem the time. And I want to make the most of the time I'm given, but how can I do that when I try to fit too many things into a single moment?
So, my quest for the day has been to try to unitask as much as possible. My ground rules are that listening to music or the radio while doing other things is still allowable, and, of course, tending to children in the middle of tasks is obviously required to be allowed. But other than that, each task should stand alone.
It's been really hard, and I've already fallen off the wagon twice (how can I stay caught up with my Facebook friend's statuses if I don't read FB while I'm walking or sitting at red lights?!), but I'm determined to try to do better.
What do you think? Could you become a unitasker? Or do you disagree that unitasking is the best way to redeem the time?
Friday, July 24, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Excellence
Excellence...
Sometimes when you're just trying to keep your head above water it's hard to think about striving for excellence.
But for the most part, excepting certain life events that excuses us from reality for a few hours, days, or months, we should try to meet the highest standard we can, especially as children of God who are encouraged in His Word to do all that we do as if we're doing it for Him.
It's easy to coast along, and do the bare minimum to accomplish what you must. I've done this in every area of my life at one time or another (and occasionally in all areas at once): do what you have to just to keep the kids alive, fed, clothed, and reasonably clean; do what you have to just to make it to work, put in your 8 hours, and go home; do what you have to just to keep your marriage intact.
After a while, though, it gets old because the results aren't what you really want out of life. You know things could be better if you just reached a little higher. It's not that you have to try to be perfect -- that's not possible even if you tried.
But excellence is possible. It requires more effort, more concentration, less multi-tasking, and less selfish indulgences, and, I might add, a good nights sleep. After all, who can be excellent when they're exhausted?!
My goal is to get to the end of my life and not have to ask how things would have been different if I had given it my all. And one way to give it my all is to strive to be excellent in every area that's important to me. This may mean I need to pare down my life so that I trim away what's not important so I can concentrate on what is.
What's most important to you in life? And how can you strive toward excellence in those areas?
Sometimes when you're just trying to keep your head above water it's hard to think about striving for excellence.
But for the most part, excepting certain life events that excuses us from reality for a few hours, days, or months, we should try to meet the highest standard we can, especially as children of God who are encouraged in His Word to do all that we do as if we're doing it for Him.
It's easy to coast along, and do the bare minimum to accomplish what you must. I've done this in every area of my life at one time or another (and occasionally in all areas at once): do what you have to just to keep the kids alive, fed, clothed, and reasonably clean; do what you have to just to make it to work, put in your 8 hours, and go home; do what you have to just to keep your marriage intact.
After a while, though, it gets old because the results aren't what you really want out of life. You know things could be better if you just reached a little higher. It's not that you have to try to be perfect -- that's not possible even if you tried.
But excellence is possible. It requires more effort, more concentration, less multi-tasking, and less selfish indulgences, and, I might add, a good nights sleep. After all, who can be excellent when they're exhausted?!
My goal is to get to the end of my life and not have to ask how things would have been different if I had given it my all. And one way to give it my all is to strive to be excellent in every area that's important to me. This may mean I need to pare down my life so that I trim away what's not important so I can concentrate on what is.
What's most important to you in life? And how can you strive toward excellence in those areas?
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Leave It There
Take it to the Cross and leave it there
He gained power over death, hell and the grave;
He can handle your problem.
He has riches untold and owns the cattle of a thousand hills;
He can supply your need.
Take it to the Cross and leave it there.
When your tempted to pick it up again,
Raise your face to see
the One who suffered for you
and know that He knows what you feel.
Bow your knee before Him
for He is worthy.
He is the King, the Ruler over all.
He reigns supreme in those who choose Him.
Your burden is too heavy,
If you try alone to bear it you will fail.
You weren't made to walk alone.
Take it to the Cross and leave it there.
He gained power over death, hell and the grave;
He can handle your problem.
He has riches untold and owns the cattle of a thousand hills;
He can supply your need.
Take it to the Cross and leave it there.
When your tempted to pick it up again,
Raise your face to see
the One who suffered for you
and know that He knows what you feel.
Bow your knee before Him
for He is worthy.
He is the King, the Ruler over all.
He reigns supreme in those who choose Him.
Your burden is too heavy,
If you try alone to bear it you will fail.
You weren't made to walk alone.
Take it to the Cross and leave it there.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Simple Living
Do a Google search on "simple living" and you'll be amazed at how many links pop up. It's become a movement among us, this concept of living with less.
But you know what? God doesn't care how much you have or don't have, as long as you don't place a higher premium on your things than on Him.
So many of us get our identity completely wrapped up in temporal things, but He wants us to have our identity in Him. That was the point He made to the rich young ruler, when Jesus told him he had to sell everything he had to follow Him. For that young man, his identity was in his riches. It was in his clothes. It was in what others thought of him because of his possessions. It was in how his possessions made him feel.
Not only was it about identity, but for this young man, Jesus knew that his possessions would always be a distraction. Much like Jesus' teaching to lop off your arm if it is what causes you to sin, in the same way Jesus told this young man to get rid of his possessions because for this particular man, it would require simple living for him to be able to serve Jesus.
But God doesn't require of all of us that we sell our possessions to follow Him. On the other hand, if that statement makes you feel relieved, then that's likely a signal that you should stop to examine what it is that you are so glad that He isn't asking you to give up. It just might point you to something that needs to be submitted to Him.
It's not that He wants to take your precious possessions away from you, it's that He wants you to let it go so that He can be free to either make it grow into something better, or to replace it with something more wonderful. And that doesn't necessarily mean that if you let your big screen TV go He'll give you an even bigger big screen TV. His blessings aren't always material, and your material goods may be replaced with non-temporal things. But if you're submitted to Him, those blessings will make you happier than anything material ever could.
Imagine being the woman Elijah went to seeking food during a severe drought. She and her son were down to their last bit of oil and flour, and Elijah came and told her to make him some food. It may seem a small thing to give a small bit of oil and flour, but in reality, by giving her oil and flour, she was surrendering her life and her son's life in order to feed the prophet. It was the last of her food, the last of her sustenance. Yet she gave. And she was rewarded with a miracle, and was provided oil and flour througout the entire time that drought was on the land.
So, to summarize, it's not that He commands us to live simply or to live with few material goods. Rather, He asks that we not allow our possessions to become so important to us that we become unwilling to do as He requests. He asks us to be willing to trade the temporal for the eternal. He asks to be number one in our lives.
Is that where He is in your life? What things are more important than Him to you?
But you know what? God doesn't care how much you have or don't have, as long as you don't place a higher premium on your things than on Him.
So many of us get our identity completely wrapped up in temporal things, but He wants us to have our identity in Him. That was the point He made to the rich young ruler, when Jesus told him he had to sell everything he had to follow Him. For that young man, his identity was in his riches. It was in his clothes. It was in what others thought of him because of his possessions. It was in how his possessions made him feel.
Not only was it about identity, but for this young man, Jesus knew that his possessions would always be a distraction. Much like Jesus' teaching to lop off your arm if it is what causes you to sin, in the same way Jesus told this young man to get rid of his possessions because for this particular man, it would require simple living for him to be able to serve Jesus.
But God doesn't require of all of us that we sell our possessions to follow Him. On the other hand, if that statement makes you feel relieved, then that's likely a signal that you should stop to examine what it is that you are so glad that He isn't asking you to give up. It just might point you to something that needs to be submitted to Him.
It's not that He wants to take your precious possessions away from you, it's that He wants you to let it go so that He can be free to either make it grow into something better, or to replace it with something more wonderful. And that doesn't necessarily mean that if you let your big screen TV go He'll give you an even bigger big screen TV. His blessings aren't always material, and your material goods may be replaced with non-temporal things. But if you're submitted to Him, those blessings will make you happier than anything material ever could.
Imagine being the woman Elijah went to seeking food during a severe drought. She and her son were down to their last bit of oil and flour, and Elijah came and told her to make him some food. It may seem a small thing to give a small bit of oil and flour, but in reality, by giving her oil and flour, she was surrendering her life and her son's life in order to feed the prophet. It was the last of her food, the last of her sustenance. Yet she gave. And she was rewarded with a miracle, and was provided oil and flour througout the entire time that drought was on the land.
So, to summarize, it's not that He commands us to live simply or to live with few material goods. Rather, He asks that we not allow our possessions to become so important to us that we become unwilling to do as He requests. He asks us to be willing to trade the temporal for the eternal. He asks to be number one in our lives.
Is that where He is in your life? What things are more important than Him to you?
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