Create Account / Log In

Prioritize Your Life for Success

Today, it is hard to open an e-mail newsletter, a website, or an offline magazine and not see someone talking up the importance of time management.

The time management gurus are going out of their way to teach us how to set priorities in our work week, how to organize those priorities, and then finally stick to our priorities to get more done. I applaud their efforts.

Yet in all of the dozens of articles that I have read that speak of the importance and power of priorities in our work day, I have yet to see one person apply this principle to our lives outside of our jobs.

Let me show you how this is important. There are in fact 168 hours in a week. Of those 168 hours, we spend about 40 of them working, and we spend about 4 hours a week in transit to and from our jobs. As a result, we are spending just over one quarter of our lives taking care of business.

We spend approximately another 56 hours each week sleeping and another 7 hours grooming ourselves each week. Add to this the 7 hours we spend eating, and we are left with 54 hours in our week that no one is talking about.

I find it truly startling that people fill volumes talking about how to manage just over 25% of our week, and completely ignore another 33% of our week that is left to our free time pursuits.

Most times when I count down these numbers for people, they are dumbfounded to realize that they have more free time available to them than they spend actually working! Work seems such a prevalent portion of our lives that we fail to realize that we have lives beyond work.

So let me ask you a question. One third of your life is devoted to non-work related activities. What priorities have you set for yourself during these 54 non-work hours available each week? Okay, now let me take that same question one step further. Are you acting on these priorities each day? If I asked your children what priorities you have set for your own life, how would THEY respond?

So many people recognize a need to set priorities on the job. Yet most of these same people fail to place priorities on their lives. Why do people recognize the need for one and not the other? Some would say that the problem is rooted in not having God in their lives. But, even that falls far short of the truth.

Even Christians fall into this same rut. That seems to cancel out the argument about a lack of God in our lives.

The only argument that bears out in fact is that we pay more attention to giving our priorities lip service, than we do to finding the strength, determination, and integrity toward defining and then honoring any real priorities in our lives.

The Christian knows to place his priorities in the order of God, spouse, family, job and then finally hobbies. Yet human nature guides him down the road that lays waste to any priority he may set for himself while in church on Sunday mornings. Most of the other religions of the world teach these same principles as well, and still people of all faiths stumble down this same road without fail.

Priorities, like God, require a commitment in our lives. We must commit ourselves to establishing our priorities and then to meeting them one at a time. God, of course, should be the number one commitment you make to yourself. As through God, you will find the strength and fortitude to establish and meet each of your other priorities in life; priorities of spouse, family, and job, each in their proper order.

Romans 12:2 NIV

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

It is not enough to sit in church on Sunday mornings and pledge to make God the priority in your life. You must go to the further extreme. You must make a commitment in your life to make God the number one priority in your life. And then you must follow through on that commitment. Then and only then, will you find the abilities within yourself to reach beyond what you ever thought you were capable of doing, to commit yourself to setting priorities in your life, even outside of the work place, and to follow the commitment to your priorities with the fulfillment of your goals.

If you do not have God in your life, I encourage you to meet Him so that you to may experience the joy and fulfillment of the renewing of your mind, as so many of us have experienced. If God is only in your life on Sunday mornings, I encourage you to reach into your heart, past the lip service that you are offering, and finally make the commitment to put God as the top priority in your life.

In conclusion, I applaud each of you who make the commitment to manage your time and priorities in the work place. It is my hope that this article has opened your eyes to the part of your life that is bigger than work, the 33% of your life that is spent doing non-work related activities. Spend them well.

About The Author

Jan Wallen is the owner of http://www.StraightPaths.com/ a site dedicated to helping Christian business people conduct their businesses based on Christian principles. Her free bi-monthly newsletter, the Straight Paths Ezine, is filled with sensible, practical advice to help you in the work place. Subscriptions are available by visiting her website or you may send a blank e-mail to straightpaths@aweber.com

Time management critical to excel Economic Times, India - 19 hours ago If you examine the matter closely, time and timing is everything. If you want tell somebody something that in your opinion is critical, it is better to say ...

Bible Wesleyan Church hosts time management seminar Tri County Leader, TX - Sep 4, 2008 The Bible Wesleyan Church at 104 Hagan Rd. in Whitehouse will be the location for a time management seminar by Rick Grubbs. Since 1984 Rick Grubbs has been ...

Part-Time Management Accountant Third Sector (registration), UK - Sep 4, 2008 As our name suggests, the Leadership Centre for Local Government has the mission of creating thriving and prosperous communities – and you’ll play a very ...

FriendFeed is not killing blogging [Time Management 101] The Inquisitr, Australia - Sep 3, 2008 The real issue identified here is one of time management. How do you best divide your time across various platforms in an age where there is so much going ...

Termi8r's Week and Thoughts About Time Management PokerStrategy.com, UK - Sep 3, 2008 Nevertheless, he made some important steps, such as having a time management, to become a better poker player. by Termi8r This week has been a rather quiet ...

Time-Management Tips for Mobile Professionals PC World - Aug 27, 2008 As a topic, time management is about as exciting as watching flies buzz around a no-pest strip. But would you be interested in learning about time ...

Team well-versed in time management Boston Globe, United States - Aug 24, 2008 By Christopher L. Gasper FOXBOROUGH - The schedule makers did the Patriots no favors this preseason, giving them three games in an 11-day span. ...

No clowning around with time management Calgary Herald,  Canada - Aug 25, 2008 Many students resist when they first hear their parents tell them to "get a job." But it doesn't take long for them to value working as a way to gain ...

Learning time management a must for Hawks Gazette Online, IA - Aug 27, 2008 Time management is the key for these student-athletes. Between the books and football, there's little time for anything else. It's easy to slip up, ...

Time Management Tips: 5 Tips For Making Time Work Better For You 3x24 - Your Newspaper and News Magazine, Germany - Aug 26, 2008 by Wendy Hearn In today’s hectic world it is easy to lose track of things if you do not have some kind of time management strategy in place. ...