November 13th - What's important now?

The story...

I was to be a busy: Dad, Husband, Boss, Subordinate, Peer, Son, Brother, Coach, Volunteer, Friend, Head-of-the-Household and Good Man.  Everything didn't get done and I needed a new plan and perspective.  What did I do first?  Did I work on a chunk toward my most important long term goal or did I complete a simple, less-important, task to quickly remove one from the long to-do list?  I was enrolled in an Engineering Management course that introduced me to the "Eisenhower Matrix."  It's a diagram that helped me bring order to this "time management" dilemma - it was also easy to share and explain.

The Eisenhower Matrix

I listed my top priorities and related tasks on my white board - visible to both me and others.  When I needed a break, I completed a few urgent non-important tasks from my in-box.  On Saturday mornings, I threw away a weeks worth of unimportant tasks from the bottom of my in-box - eventually those requesting them gave up or did 'em themselves.

An unexpected outcome, of my behavior change, was that other people took notice and set similar priorities.  The important was getting the attention and results improved.  Those generating unimportant tasks either eliminated the tasks or accepted the authority and responsibility for getting them done themselves.  Culture was changing and some of it began with me.  I remain thankful for the help of those who came before me and taught be a better way.

The most important priority, within the only church in town, will be walking rightly with God (Micah 6:8).  Other activities will have lesser importance.  People will focus on the main thing and not major on the minor things that often results in wandering self-focused lives.

Just for today...

"...things that are urgent are rarely important, and the things that are important are rarely urgent . . . If I imagine I am in a dark room and that God is my only source of light, then my best hope for navigating around the furniture will be to bring that source of light with me."  Courage for Today (p. 318)

If you work on your mind with your mind, how can you avoid confusion?

"Change mind's way; Can I do? - Me change me?; You change you?"
"True self's stubborn; Given to pretend - God redeems man; Thru mighty hand."    Am I a Poet?