Youth ministry and time management part

So How Do We Do It? – An Example 1 Year Plan.
These are all helpful principles but they leave a basic question lingering: how do I actually flippin do it! They say it generally takes about three weeks to learn a new habit and about a year to take on a new lifestyle. So using that logic here is a year plan that I’ve done and some example goals and habits thrown in for you to replace.

First break the year up into 4, 3 month sections.

• 3 month Section One is context habits.
• 3 month Section Two is value habits.
• 3 month Section Three is work habits.
• 3 month Section Four is assessment habits.

(Obvious note – these are not all the thing needed to retain a healthy balanced life! They are just a sample of some of the things you could do in a year to dramatically help time-management skills. Obvious omissions include quiet times, space to reflect on the Glory of God, & general dependence on Him. There’s a reason we live 70 years! 20 years opening the box, 20 years reading the instructions, 20 years figuring out how the parts go together, and 10 trying it all again!)

(Slightly less obvious note – it helps spending some time prior to this taking some personality tests, keeping a motivation journal etc. just to give you stuff to work on in your intro weeks – that’s week 1 of every section.)

(Final note – unless you’re a bit of an anti-social loner like me, I bet it helps to have an accountability partner or mentor to do this alongside.)

(Another final note – life doesn’t stop. You’re working on bits of it at a time but you also need to hold in tension your job, family, diet etc. too! Don’t devalue your usual priorities because you’re particularly working on some. How do you do that? Haven’t a clue! Pray maybe?)

Section 1. Context habits:
This is eating, sleeping, socializing, energizing, and simply ‘being’ properly – like a baby learning motor skills. 🙂

1. Spend the first week identifying 4 new habits to learn over the next 3 months.
2. Learn new habit 1 over three weeks, like get up between 7 and 9am each morning.
3. By the beginning of week 3 start habit 2, like go to bed between 11 and midnight each night. Continue these two habits together.
4. By the beginning of week three of habit 2 (week 5 for habit 1) start on habit 3, which might be having a full main meal most days a week at roughly the same time.
5. In the same pattern kick in habit 4 which could be breakfast + shower.

Three months over and you’ve got a basic sleeping/eating/hygiene pattern (50% battle over!) This might seems like a no-brainer, but I promise that without a firm regularity in this stuff you will not be able to learn any difficult new work-life style habits.

Section 2. Value habits:
This is making space for things (non-work related) that are particularly important to you, and bring you joy/energy in your life.

1. Spend your intro week identifying 4 main values and habits that you will work on over the next 3 months.
2. Habit 1 (same as pattern from previous 3 months. I.e. 3 weeks to learn, start habit 2 on 3rd week etc.) – could be figure out a regular date night with your spouse.
3. Habit 2 – if you’re an extrovert, figure out a regular space in your day/week to socialise (pub? mates? lunch?), introvert – find down time and space (I tend to need this daily & put it in my ‘dead space’ time).
4. Habit 3 – hobby time. Find space weekly/daily to work on a hobby. Practicing guitar works for me, or rock climbing. It doesn’t have to be the same thing each time but make space for it to be habitual.
5. Habit 4 – Another idea here is ‘keep in touch’ habits. I have lots of American friends & family which I’m rubbish at keeping in touch with. A weekly hour of communication time helps that.

Btw. You should also be keeping all your section 1 habits going too! But hey, they’re getting funner aren’t they?

Section 3. Work habits.
These are simple things that make your work time more structured and prepared.

1. Intro week – figure out both the things you’re always late with, have the most difficulty with as they will form the basis of your habits.
2. Habit 1 – maybe something like arrive 15 minutes early for everything! (great feeling, fixes lots of problems from developing, and builds basic relationships with other early birds)
3. Habit 2 – perhaps start preparing all talks, Bible studies, messages in advance by at least 5 days. Always be that far ahead – you’ll thank me in a year when people are commenting how much clearer you’re getting!
4. Habit 3 – start regular affirmation habits (like thank you emails to leaders, we missed you cards to missing students, and we love you posit-notes on the heads of regulars)
5. Habit 4 – Admin! Make a definite time whether its 1 day a week, or 30minutes every morning 5 days a week etc. just to do Admin – i.e. diary, to-do lists, priority tables, emails, letters, rotas etc. ‘At’ll tell dem monkies!

Hopefully you’re finding units fitting into place now. You’ve built a context of health & wellbeing, built around that with people you love and energy you need, and have placed around those small work habits that make you feel more in control.

Section 4. Assessment habits.
Ways into keeping a check on your time management development and improving on it

1. Intro week – look back on all the habits you’ve learned, write them all down and smile
2. Habit 1 – Start start time-sheeting – thats a SIMPLE day to day (prolly workdays only) table of how you spent your day. This is a spreadsheet, not a journal.
3. Habit 2 – Work on a SWOT at a leisurely pace, looking at the Strengths and Weaknesses of your newly developed time/life management skills; then the opportunities that have opened up with your new skills/time, then the threats that have gotten in the way/might get in the way solidifying these new habits.
4. Take genuine time & space to thank God and dedicate the year you’ve had to Him. Ask Him to own it, protect it, hold it, and rightly take credit for it! 😉
5. Take a holiday. Chill, relax, & do stupid things. Start brainstorming your next year personal development plan!

…. bring on year two.

Last Word
So some of thoughts on time management, and an example 1 year plan. Time management is not a rule-of-thumb easy fix – anything make makes you think it is is deluded. If you want to improve you better bootstrap up and settle in for the long haul.

If you get to the end of year 1 you should have be on the first steps to a balanced life of health, values, work, and time-management.

Have fun you personal-productivity and self-betterment enthusiasts!