Making the Most of Your Time

As a Life Coach, the number one topic I’m requested to coach on is time management. Often it comes in the form of this question: How do I find more time in my week? My short answer is: You can’t. When it comes to time, the Lord shows no favorites. He gives us all the same amount of time each week, 168 hours. No one gets an extra hour and no one gets shorted an hour. We all receive the same 168 hours. With this fact in mind; here’s a superior question: How can I better use my 168 hours?
The answer to this question lies in another question. Who’s the owner of your time? The secret of good time management is being a good steward. Stewardship is the ability to properly manage something entrusted to you by its owner. As a Christ-follower, everything we possess belongs to the Lord, including our time. This is why the Apostle Paul would write in Ephesians 5:15-16, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time...” Paul understood he didn’t own time but was required to be a good steward of time and make the most of it.
Here are three ways to make the most of time.

1. Make Jesus the Lord of your Time
   Jesus’ Great Commandment is to first love the Lord God; then to love our neighbor. Based on this decree from the Lord, our first priority is to God; our second priority is to family, friends and others.
2. Work Hard Every Day to Seize Time
   When money is limited, we budget money. When time is limited, we should budget time. Start with discovering where the time goes; keep an account of the next 168 hours. Then create a weekly Killer Calendar of how you would ideally like to spend the next 168 hours. Here are some items to include: God time, private time, family time, ministry time, work time, fun time and rest time. Finally, plan your week and then work your plan. Live by your Killer Calendar.
3. Be Aware of the Four Laws of Unseized Time
   Here are those four laws:

Unseized time flows toward my weakness
Unseized time tends to be controlled by dominant people in my life
Unseized time surrenders to the urgent rather than the important
Unseized time gets invested in things that gain public acclamations

Mastering these laws will best position you to seize the time.
If we truly desire to make the most of our time, then our highest goal should be to fulfill Ephesians 5:17, “Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to do.”
Excerpts:

Stewardship is the ability to properly manage something entrusted to you by its owner.
Plan your week and then work your plan.