As written and presented by Mary Whelchel

PROGRAM D-6082

More and more I realize that time is my most valuable asset. If I waste it, it can never be recovered. If I use it wisely, God will be pleased and honored. I will be accountable for my use of the time God gives me.

Let me suggest a starting place for time management. First, sit down and make a list of the long-term things you want to do, both job related and personal. Most of us have dreams and plans of things we're going to do 'when we have time,' but somehow a lot of those things never happen because we keep running out of time. And often they are the really important things that should be done. If you don't plan to put them into your daily schedule, they'll never happen.

So list all those things you want to do. Perhaps it's 'take a course in writing skills,' or 'rearrange the filing system to be more efficient,' or 'take a Bible correspondence course.' Once you've listed those long-term goals, prioritize them, and set a deadline for each one. Be realistic about those deadlines, but you need to put some time frames in place.

Now, make a second list-your to-do list of things that are on the schedule for today. I strongly encourage you to work with a list each day. You don't have to spend lots of time making the list-a very few minutes should do it-but it is very helpful in keeping you on track through the day.

Now, in order to get those long-term goals accomplished, you have to put parts of them on the daily to-do list, or they'll never get done. So, each day try to do at least one small part of a long-term goal. Maybe you can only devote fifteen minutes to it, but if you keep on, you'll start to chip away at those long-term goals you never seem to get around to doing.

Remember to include on your list things like 'Write a note to Barbara to encourage her.' 'Send a card to Jane for her birthday.' 'Call Sue and invite her to church.' If you don't, those important little things will frequently get lost in the shuffle.

I believe much of our frustration comes from poor use of our time. It causes confusion, it makes us feel like failures because things don't get done, and it adds much stress to our lives. God will honor us as we strive to 'make good use of our time.'

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