 Is it possible to gain time? I believe it is. Here's how: By investing time. We use time to make time. For example, reading this blog is a time investment, but you will gain time in the future by applying these principles. Let’s consider another example of investing. What do the rich do with their money? They invest. They invest in assets, not liabilities. Assets are things that either gain in value or produce passive income. Money that is invested multiplies and brings back many times as much. Investing makes money work for you by earning more money. As we saw in the last blog, just as money is a commodity, so is time. Time is a finite resource. No person on the planet has more minutes in the day, yet some people seem to have more time than others. Why? Some people seem to accomplish more. Why? Some people have an unhurried life. Why? Because they don't simply spend time, they invest it. They invest in time assets. Time assets are things that have a greater ROI (Return On Investment). There is an upfront cost of an investment of time, but then you gain time in the long haul. This is because time investments work for you, even when you are not working. You can do more in less time. Even more amazing, it is like compounded gains when investing money. Compounded gains are when the money you earn in interest or capital gains also begins earning money. You can also have compounded gains with time investments. Learning how to stack time assets gives you compounded returns. (More on this later) Lest we think this sounds unspiritual, consider Jesus’ parable of the talents. What does the master say to those who invested and doubled what they were entrusted with? “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21). What about the servant who simply saved his talent and didn't invest? "You wicked and slothful servant! . . . you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest” (Matthew 25:26-27). God wants us to invest what He has entrusted us with. What are the talents God has entrusted us with? Our gifts and abilities, energy, time, and finances. Time is part of what God has entrusted us with. If we don't invest our time, it is like burying it in the dirt! It squanders the gift of time. We are responsible for wisely investing our time. A “well done” awaits if we live godly and wisely invest what God has entrusted to us. Are you wisely investing your time and resources? Are you on track for a “well done”? If no (or you’re not sure), what could you change tomorrow to begin wisely investing what God has entrusted to you? Ephesians 5:16 tells us to make “the best use of the time”. Here are 9 ways you can invest your time for Kingdom purposes. 1. Invest in Automating Learning the principle of automation has changed my life. It is now a filter that I run everything through. It allows me to see possibilities that I never saw before. ASK YOURSELF: “What app or program can simplify or eliminate a task?” If a task repeats regularly, can it be automated? Automation is like hiring a free (or cheap) assistant who works for you 24/7. Automation is a time investment. You must put in some time upfront, but you get more time back later. The first time I intentionally automated something was in South Africa when I was in charge of figuring out employee's wages at our AIDS hospice care home. At first, I did it manually which took a few hours each month. Reading the book The Four Hour Work challenged me to think differently (yes I still work at least 40 hours a week, I just accomplish more). The next month I took some extra time and learned how to create a spreadsheet with formulas and then made one. From then on, all I had to do was type in the number of hours from the employee schedule, and it was done! I was hooked on automation. Here is why automation is amazing: Let’s say you normally spend 4 hours a month on something. One month you invest 8 hours to research and set up an automated program (like I did with a spreadsheet). Your new time to maintain: 5 minutes a month! For an investment of an extra 4 hours, you save 3 hours and 55 minutes a month, 47 hours a year. That’s over a 40-hour workweek every year! In a decade, you gain almost 3 months of work! Stacking Automation What gets even cooler is stacking automation. This is like compounded gains. Let’s say you automate one thing the first month which takes a day to set up. The next month you use your extra 3 hours and 55 minutes to invest in another automation. If the second automation frees up another 2 hours a month, the third month you have 5 hours and 55 minutes free to invest in another. You get the idea. Stacking time investments compounds your gains. With money, you can take the money you earn and reinvest that money. Then, you are earning money on the interest or passive income you made. When you keep investing your gains, you get compounded gains. Over time, the payback is huge. You can do the same thing with your time! Looking at the list below, don’t get overwhelmed. Start with one investment. Use the time you gain from that investment to make another investment. Use the time gained from those two investments to invest in another. Investing time in automation gains you time in the future. How to begin automating:
Examples of Automating: Here are some examples to get your creative juices flowing. Some of them you might already doing. There are endless possibilities. Spreadsheets Add in the formulas once so you don't have to do figures each month. If you are like me, I can't remember the formulas. Thankfully, there are tutorials and videos on how to do anything. Just Google "how do I _____" and you are on your way. Bill Payments and Investments Automate all the bills you can to pay each month. For your investments, schedule them to automatically transfer and then invest in the accounts you want. Doing these alone could save you 1-2 hours a month. (For active investors, use an app like Think or Swim to set automated alerts to buy & sell stocks so you don’t have to watch the stock market.) Scheduling Apps The app OnceHub has changed my life. I used to spend so much time on back-and-forth emails to set up meetings. I would have to figure out which time zone the person was in, and which one I was in and then send a list of times I was free. What got crazy was when I needed to schedule 4 or even 8 meetings. The times I sent one person were being taken by another person. Crazy. A scheduling app changes all that. It took me about a day to set up and get going (I also researched other ones so that took some time). But once it was set up, it syncs with my calendar. Every month it takes me 3 minutes to change my availability for when I am traveling. If I add an event to my calendar, it automatically removes it from my available times on the scheduling app. Practically how this works is this: when I need to schedule meetings, I just send out a link. People scheduling to meet get more options and can choose what works best for them. I get back hours every month that were wasted on email. It is a win-win. I can get on a flight and by the time I land, have 5 meetings booked and on my calendar. And, the app automatically sends reminders before the meeting. You set the rules for buffer time and when people can book. No back-and-forth emails setting up a time to meet allows me to focus on more important things like actually meeting with people, not email. Not only does this save time, but even more importantly it saves you mental energy. (More on Energy Management in a future blog.) Other good scheduling apps: Calendly. Both Calendly and OnceHub have free versions to use. Schedule Send Do you have emails that need regularly sent? Do you send out emails, but need to send a reminder a few weeks later? Do it all at once. Use the Schedule Send feature in Outlook or Gmail. If it is a regular email, set up multiple emails and schedule all of them for the year. If you are sending out an initial email but need a follow-up, create and schedule the follow up when you do the first email. This will free up time later and keep it off your brain and to-do list. Tip: Include yourself as a BCC as a fail-safe and to remind yourself of what you sent to others. Templates Is there a common email you write on the same topic? Don’t just write it every time! If it is a common question, invest time in automating it for the future. For me, a common email is when someone is interested in coming to serve as a missionary. Take the work you did on your best email, and save it in an email folder as a template. Next time you need to write the email, copy and paste it. Then just tweak it to personalize it. Since it has my saved signature on the bottom which includes a link to schedule a time to meet, there won’t be back-and-forth emails. Total time for new emails 1-2 minutes. Email Filters Create a rule or filter for unwanted emails. For things like coupons that you might need but don’t need to see every day, create the rule or filter to send it to your junk or a separate folder. For emails you never want to see, create a rule/filter to delete them. Then they never take up more of your time, brain space, or energy to decide what to do with it. Living Documents Whenever you need to share information, host a conference or event, or create some guidelines for others to follow, use a living document. Here’s why: as soon as you send out that awesome PDF that you worked to perfect, you will get an email 5 minutes later pointing out a mistake or asking a question that you hadn’t thought to include. Over the next 48 hours, you will have to either A. send out 5 new PDF revisions to answer every question or B. send out multiple emails with new information. Very soon people’s inboxes are flooded and all the information is spread through multiple emails. It’s a mess. Living documents change all that. Some examples of living documents are a Google Doc or a free Google site. A living document allows you to change the content as new information becomes available or to state things more clearly. Whenever someone asks a question, 1. answer their question and then 2. update the website or Google Doc. This saves time answering future questions! How much time gets sucked into your email black hole? Using living documents makes your time answering questions an investment to save future time. Simply share the link to the Google website or Google doc, then people always have the most up-to-date information. Google Docs or Google Forms for signups Don’t bury yourself in an email avalanche of your own making. If you need people to sign up for something, use a Google Doc or Google Forms. This puts all the information in a document or spreadsheet automatically and doesn’t flood your inbox. They only take a minute to create, but they will give you back so much more time. Automatic Replies These are great for travel and vacations because it saves you from checking your mail. This puts the responsibility on the other person to reach out if it is something urgent. When I am traveling, I will often get a WhatsApp that says, "I just sent an email to you. Could you check it when you get a chance?" These are very helpful because I can respond to that email without going through my entire inbox when I should be investing time with people. For my vacation autoresponder, I have only gotten 2 calls in 10 years. The best thing about autoresponders is that it takes the burden off of you to feel like you need to check your email. You can be fully present where you need to be...even if that is by yourself. Here are my autorespond messages. Feel free to borrow them or tweak them for yourself. Work Travel: Thanks for your email! I am currently traveling for meetings until ____(date)___ and will respond to your message as soon as I am able to. If this is urgent and you need a response before then, please WhatsApp me at: ________ Thanks! Vacation: Thanks for your message! I am on vacation and not checking email until ____(date)___ . If this is urgent or an emergency and requires a response before then, you can WhatsApp or SMS me at _________. Workflows If you have a workflow that you regularly do, chances are there is a way to automate it. On Macs you can use the Automator program to do repetitive tasks. Just notice the things you regularly do and either create or use one of the pre-made workflows. This saves you time each time it is run. If you want to get more involved and use programs and apps on different platforms, the programs IFTTT (If This Then That) or Zapier can set up workflows that save you a lot of time. Another way to do this is for things you regularly type. You can make keyboard shortcuts that turn a few letters into a sentence, or create entirely new commands. Learn more. When you start your computer, do you need to open or close a lot of programs? Changing the startup programs automates that process so you don't have to. Google "how to change startup programs" to find out how. Dual Monitors or One Big Monitor My fellow missionary Joel recently recommended dual monitors to me because it saves tons of time switching back and forth between programs. Even one large monitor is better than a laptop screen (some computers don't support dual screens without extra hardware). On my laptop screen I can only fit two programs on the screen at a time (and they are very small). I was CONSTANTLY changing back and forth between programs before getting a bigger monitor. My friend says dual monitors saves him at least 10 minutes a day. What is 10 minutes a day in the grand scheme of things? 10 minutes a day = 50 minutes a week, 3 hours and 20 minutes a month, 40 hours a year, 10 weeks in a decade! Small things add up. My son-in-law Connor recommended that if you get a monitor 27" or larger, it helps to get at least a resolution of 1440p (QHD). I took his advice and am thankful I did! These are just a few of the options out there. There are countless ways that you can automate. We even do this around the home. Washing machines. Dryers. Dishwashers. Now there are even robot vacuums and lawnmowers. Do what works for you. Remember, don’t get overwhelmed. Choose one thing at a time to automate, then use the time gained to invest in another. Automation is a simple principle but has a compounding effect. It can change your life. 2. Invest in Delegating Consider Jethro’s advice to Moses: “What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. . . look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you” (Exodus 18:17-18, 21-22). ASK YOURSELF: Who is gifted to do this that I could involve? Who can I coach through the process if they are willing but need help? Jethro challenged Moses to delegate because it is essential to longevity and success in leadership. We can’t be everything, do everything, or know everything. If we try, we will burn ourselves out and have developed no one to take our place. It is easy to think, “It is faster to just do it myself”. But we forget that we will have to do it again next time. And the next time. Delegation is an investment. It takes time and planning, but once it is delegated and the person knows how to do it, it frees up more time that can be used for other things. The importance of delegation hit home to me as we were planning our first Western Europe Regional Conference. There were just too many tasks for me to do everything. Even if I could have done them, the quality wouldn't have been the best. Also, many of the things were outside my gifting. So those things drained me and zapped my energy. Here are 5 steps to delegate well:
When I began doing this, my stress went down and people thrived because they were using their strengths. As leaders, don’t see delegation as dumping the stuff you don’t want to do on someone else. Delegation is an opportunity to fit people’s strengths with an opportunity. To do this, you must think through what needs to be done and you must get to know your team members’ strengths. If you want to learn more about delegation, HERE is a compilation of a few resources that have been helpful to me. Not only does delegation multiply your time, it also multiplies your impact. In the words of Ronald Reagan: “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit.” According to John C. Maxwell, author of Developing the Leaders Around You, “If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate.” Do more through delegation. 3. Invest in Learning Erasmus said: “When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.” The gift that most changed my life was a Kindle. It made the wisdom of the ages available anywhere in the world. And with many libraries using the Libby app, you can even check out Kindle books for free so you don’t have to go without food like Erasmus did. Now you can even read on your phone. ASK: Am I investing my time in learning knowledge and skills? When you learn, you invest in yourself. Much like investing money allows the value of your money to grow over time, giving you compounded gains, you can invest your time to get compounded gains. Invest in learning. Don’t think you have time for reading or learning? Learning a little each day yields long-term benefits. This world is rapidly changing. Learning keeps us agile to changes but deeply rooted in truth. Just 15 minutes a day would allow you to finish a book every 2 weeks, 26 books a year, 260 books in a decade. You get compounded gains on your gains as your learning builds on past learning. Want more time to read? Listen to audiobooks when you drive, exercise, travel, or do household chores. Don't fill up every spare second with learning, you need time to simply think and be in quiet, but utilize the time you have with books and podcasts. Get a library card and check out their audiobooks for free…or see if they are on Youtube. We have more knowledge at our fingertips than ever before in the history of the world. Use it to learn! Want to learn how to learn better? Check out this book summary of “Love is the Killer App”. 4. Invest in Thinking Am I setting aside focused time to think? Think. Have self-imposed, isolation. Times of deep thought and planning will enable us to be more and do more. We will never rise above our levels of deep thought. If all we do is react, we won’t have time to truly act. Investing focused time thinking is essential in identifying problems and solutions. Here are some questions that help me to think deeply. Problem Solving: When taking time to think and solve problems, there are 2 solutions you should try to find.
Patterns or Systems Thinking For Planning: What is the ONE decision that makes ONE THOUSAND decisions? Are there similar decisions that you regularly make? Figure out the core, foundational issue. Instead of making one-time decisions thousands of times, make a foundational decision so you don’t exhaust yourself by asking the same questions again and again. “An essential intent is one decision that settles one thousand later decisions. It’s like deciding you’re going to become a doctor instead of a lawyer. One strategic choice eliminates a universe of other options and maps a course for the next five, ten, or even twenty years of your life. Once the big decision is made, all subsequent decisions come into better focus.” - Greg McKoewn, Essentialism Making big decisions takes time, but it is an investment that yields big results! 5. Invest in Checklists ASK YOURSELF: Can I create a system or checklist to simplify similar future decisions? Whenever you are doing a task, write the key steps or variables for decisions. Then next time it takes less time and mental energy. Here is an example: Every time we return to the States for furlough, there is a huge list of things that we need to do to prepare. Instead of making a list each time, I put the list in Microsoft To Do and check off each item as I go. Then, when I am all done, I go in and have it show the completed items and UNCHECK them. Presto. The checklist is recreated for next time. Not creating lists wastes time and energy. It’s like carrying a huge rock up ten flights of stairs every time you need to do a task when there is a perfectly good elevator. If you don’t know what needs to go on the checklist, whenever you do something the first time, write down the steps as you do them. Then, save it and label it well enough you can find it again. Next time you won’t waste time and energy thinking through things…and you won’t worry that you forgot something. When you have saved checklists, anytime you think of a way to improve how something is done, add it to the list. You probably have different tasks that you regularly do every month or every couple of years. Making checklists ensures that you can go through transitions and changes with less stress. For us, we travel regularly. Sometimes it is around Europe to visit missionaries, sometimes back to the USA for conferences or reporting to churches. There is a lot of planning that goes into these travels. Having lists helps me not worry that I have forgotten something. I have a basic paper packing list in my suitcase so I can pack the night before I travel without stress. I know I won't forget anything. Checklists help me focus on people and not be stressed. Some of my checklists are mental checklists. For example, when going through airport security I always make sure everything from my pockets and watch goes INTO a bag. Nothing goes loose in a bin. I systematically go through that mental list every time. Sure, it takes 5 more seconds than throwing it all in the security bin, but what’s 5 seconds compared to a lost phone and wallet? (I know someone it has happened to and it is easy to do.) Checklists are a way to plan ahead so that when things are busy or stressful, we can rely on the checklist. Why do pilots have checklists? Because when we are in a stressful situation, we forget things. We aren’t thinking clearly. When you are traveling, interviewing someone, or going to the grocery store with kids… make a checklist and use it. With your spouse, share your lists so you can work on them together. Stop carrying the rock up the stairs…use the elevator. Use checklists. 6. Invest in Health ASK YOURSELF: Am I investing in my health today so I can gain time in the future? God is sovereign over all things, including our health. He could take health away in the blink of an eye, but we are responsible for doing what is wise and best. He has given each of us a body to steward in the best way we can. We will have to give an account of how we used our talents...which includes how we take care of our bodies. I want to do everything I can to live healthily so that I can serve the Lord as long as possible. I want to finish well. I want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.” If the Lord wills, I want to keep ministering in some way long past normal retirement age. If my body is going to last that long, I need to make adjustments now to do so. I want to be faithful to do my part and to remove things that sabotage my health. Exercise and eating right takes time, but it is an investment. If you exercise and eat well, it can add years to your life and your productivity. You can only go as long as your body holds out! Read more on health. 7. Invest in Creating Reproducible Work ASK YOURSELF: Am I making everything reproducible? Build to share. Whenever you are working on projects, try to make it reproducible. This allows other people to benefit from it. When we invest our time in this way, it makes our work expand its reach and impact beyond ourselves. Build things to share so it's easy for others to use them. This multiplies your impact and allows you to finish one thing and invest in something else. This gives you the benefit of compounded gains in your life and for someone else. You allow your work to save others time so they can invest in something else. This really hit home for me when we were starting our care home in South Africa. Another care home gave us their entire operations manual in digital format. All I had to do was tweak it to what we needed. Their generosity saved me two months of work and I never forgot it. Whenever I work on something, I try to make it good enough that someone else could pick it up and use it also. Building to share multiples your impact . . . and everyone else's! Little things, done regularly, make great things. Make your work reproducible so it can be shared and multiply your impact. 8. Invest in Relationships I put this near the end, not because it is less important, but because I want it to be on your mind as you invest your time. Many people who accomplish much in work or ministry forget this important truth: At the end of your ministry or job, what you have left is your relationships with family and friends. If you haven’t regularly invested in those relationships over the years, that account will be empty. If everything is a withdrawal from your relationship accounts, you will wake up one day to an empty account, an empty marriage, or distant kids or family. ASK YOURSELF: Am I making regular deposits in my relationships with my spouse, kids, and family? Daily deposits build, but we have to plan for them. These are the relationships that aren’t sending you an email to say “Let’s play a game” or “Let’s hang out”. You must take initiative, you must own the responsibility. One of the best ways to do this is to be intentional with your relationships. Something that has helped me figure out what is most important is to ask myself: "In 5 years, what would I look back and regret not doing in this season of life?" An example of this was during our two older daughters’ senior years, I asked myself that question and then intentionally added into the calendar extra dates, trips, and memorable family times. Pretending you are looking back on a time/season of life helps to filter what is most important. You don't want to look back and say: "I wish I would have _____". Be intentional. Invest in your relationships. 9. Invest in Gospel Conversations All of the other things mentioned above help us gain time so that we can invest it for Kingdom purposes. This investment doesn't gain you time, but is a way to re-invest your time in others. Planting gospel seeds and having gospel conversations with people is a process, not an event. It takes time to invest in the relationships and in the conversations to encourage people to consider their need for the gospel. It also takes time to show the love of Christ to them! To have the opportunity to share our hope in the gospel, we need to be intentionally building relationships with unbelievers. We need to reach people where they are. The vast majority of people in post-Christian Europe (and, similarly, more and more in the US) are not going to come to church to hear the gospel. We need to go to them. This takes time. When Jesus returned to heaven, He left us with a task. Make disciples. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). Let's be wise with investing our time, but also make sure we are investing in people! Read more about Starting Gospel Conversations. We only have so much time, but investing our time helps us maximize it. The next few blogs will cover more practical ways to maximize your time by:
Don't bury your time like the unwise servant. Invest it. Today, start finding ways to invest your time. Benefit from the compounded gains so you can maximize your time and your life to count for eternity! Serving Together, Kyle What about you? How do YOU invest time or automate? Comment below. More to follow..This blog is part of a series that will unpack how to work smarter and do more in your work or ministry. It will help you be more effective and efficient in life and leadership PREVIOUS POSTS IN SERIES: Don't miss new posts! Signup below. |
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Great blog on reinvesting the precious time that God has given to us. Thanks Kyle
Great blog post with lots of helpful information! I use the free app Trello to make and save lists, to do’s, recipes, etc. It has different boards so I can separate recipes, work, travel, etc. Many businesses use it to collaborate and keep track of who is doing each step of the project. Takes a little initial set up but has saved me tons of time in the long run.
Great suggestion! I know a few other people that use Trello and they also really enjoy it. Thanks for sharing!
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