What are you good at?
I mean, really good at? What are your gifts? God has gifted everyone differently. "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” (Romans 12:6-8). Having a gift is one thing, using it is another. Using your gifting maximizes your God-given potential. This applies whether we are using our spiritual gifts or natural abilities. Proverbs 18:16 says: “A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before the great.” We are each gifted in some areas but not in others. Because of this, not every use of your time is equal in value. Some uses of your time are more valuable because they produce greater results. An example of this is the 80/20 rule (or the Pareto principle). It states that approximately 80% of results come from 20% of actions. This means that some things you spend time on have a bigger impact than other things. The 80/20 rule helps determine where you can focus your efforts to maximize your outcomes. While the 80/20 rule isn’t a Biblical principle, it holds true very often. I believe a key reason why some of our actions produce greater results is because of gifting. When we use our gifts, we are far more productive with our time. Some things you do could easily be done by others. However, there are other things that only you can do. What are the things that only you can do? It may be a certain part of your ministry that can’t be delegated. It may be something that you are uniquely gifted and qualified to do. Once you answer the question, the next question you must ask yourself is this: How can I do MORE of my gifting? We all have things that we need to do outside of our gifting. There are parts of life and our job or ministry that we may not enjoy. However, if we can find time to regularly use our gifting just a little more, it can be very fulfilling. Here are a few ways to Save Time and Plan Time for the goal of using your gifting more: SAVING TIME 1. Outsourcing (aka buying time) I used to think that if I could do something, I should. For example, if I could change the oil in my car by myself, I should. If I could print, fold, and staple a massive pile of conference materials, I should. However, this thinking assumes that money is always more valuable than time. Everything we do uses a valuable, non-renewable resource: time. Is your time or money more valuable? Sometimes, the best thing we can do is outsource a task. Outsourcing buys time. It trades money for time. For example, as I write this blog, my car is at the mechanic. If I were personally servicing my car, I wouldn’t be writing. I would be working on my car today…and tomorrow (let’s be honest, it takes twice as long as a mechanic). While there are many things I could do, in each situation I must evaluate whether time or money is more valuable. Obviously, we must use wisdom. I don’t have unlimited funds so I must be wise with what God has given, but our time is also part of what God has given us. We must be wise stewards of both time and money. There’s not a clear-cut formula for this. Everyone must be wise with their time and money…so I don’t want to judge how others do this. Many times doing things ourselves enables us to save money, so don’t hear me saying you should outsource everything! I am not advocating eating out constantly or being flippant with our money. I am advocating for evaluating the value of our time and money. (An ironic side note: if we eat fast food regularly, in the long run we may actually lose time because we are more likely to die earlier from bad health. Fast is not always better.) To help you evaluate when to outsource, ask: What is it that I alone can do? Identifying what you alone can do helps to:
We must evaluate if we have the funds and if it is a wise use of funds. If God has supplied the funds, and we don’t have enough time to focus on our gifting (what we alone can do), what could be outsourced? If we are unable to do something that we alone can do because we are doing something that could be outsourced, is that task a wise use of our time? Outsourcing is very similar to automation because it looks for creative ways to accomplish tasks. Automation looks to machines and computers. Outsourcing looks to people or companies. Just as we are gifted in some areas but not other areas, so are other people and companies. It’s ok to hire people/companies to do things they are gifted at so we can have more time and energy to do what no one else can do. We can’t excel at everything. Let other people use their gifts so you can focus more on yours. What is it that you alone can do? Focus on those areas. 2. Time-Saving Devices & Tools This is a little different than devices or programs that fully automate something, but there are some similarities. My wife is always on the lookout for kitchen gadgets to save her time in the kitchen. Her favorite is the Instant Pot which gets used up to 3-4 times a day and saves a ton of time. A couple of other favorites are using a boil-over spill stopper so she doesn’t have to watch pots (or clean up spills) and using her Apple watch timer so she can leave the kitchen when things are in the oven. You probably already regularly use some time-saving devices and tools. To identify new areas where something may help, regularly ask yourself: Is there a smarter way to do this? It may be something as simple as checking Waze or Google Maps to see if there is a traffic accident before you leave on a trip or drive across town. This 5-second practice alone saves me tons of time in traffic! Working smarter in areas that you regularly do will save you the most time because you get compounded gains. 3. Save Future Time Think about what will waste time in the future and eliminate it now. Computer/phone tasks: What things do you regularly do, but can never remember how to do it from memory? Save the instructions in an obvious place. For computer things that take time to find the right instructions, bookmark the page and label it so you can easily find it. Tasks you will do again: I could never remember which way to put paper in my printer for two-sided printing…so I taped a small note to the printer with clear instructions. No more incorrect copies! If you are doing something that you will do again and you need to find instructions, take an additional 10 seconds to save them in a way that can be easily used in the future. This will save you time and frustration in the future. I will often save instructions either in my contacts or OneNote with a few keywords included so it is easy to find when searching. Finding Passwords: Save your passwords in a password saver so you don’t have to waste time finding them. Finding Recipes: My wife uses the app Recipe Keeper to easily access all her recipes in one place wherever we are in the world. Scheduling Meetings: A huge time waster is back-and-forth emails setting up meetings. If you only have a few meetings, no big deal. But if you have multiple meetings, people, and time zones…you will waste a lot of time. A simple practice is to schedule your next meeting at the close of each meeting. This eliminates wasted time. If you know you are going to meet again, set it up. This way, everyone can open their calendar and give input. A couple of minutes at the close of the meeting saves countless emails. 4. Single-Task, Don’t Multi-Task Multi-tasking is like having 17 programs running on a computer and constantly switching between them. Each program uses some of our limited memory and we waste time switching between programs. What’s even more important is that our brain really only focuses well on one task at a time. We may get away with combining tasks if one is a mindless task that can be done on autopilot, but tasks that require focus don’t work well to multi-task. I realize that there are times that require us to multi-task (a new mom probably isn’t able to single-task very often). However, if we have the choice to multi-task or single-task, choose single-tasking! No matter what stage of life you are in, you will have to fight to single-task. With everything battling for your attention, you will have to prioritize and plan to single-task. The battle is worth it. Single-tasking saves you time. This is because you aren’t switching back and forth in your mind between tasks. Every time you switch tasks, it takes your brain time to refocus. We may not realize it, but consider the difference between what you can accomplish when you are truly focused vs. when you are bouncing between tasks. Defrag your brain. Just as older computers need to be defragged to work optimally, our brain needs to defrag from all the clutter. Am I creating brain space by single-tasking instead of multi-tasking? Close some mental tabs. Get stuff out of your brain. Put it on paper or in an app. Multi-tasking makes us lose time because our brains aren’t functioning at full capacity. We may get a lot of things done, but not what we are capable of if we focused on each task. When we are distracted we make mistakes and end up doing things again. As the adage goes: “Haste makes waste.” The Navy Seals have a great saying: “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” Slowing down to focus saves time! Single-task, don’t multi-task. To truly maximize Single-Tasking, we need to plan. PLANNING TIME 5. Batch Similar Tasks Batching tasks takes Single-Tasking to new heights. By grouping similar tasks, it saves time switching between tasks. It also saves mental energy which prevents decision fatigue. To batch tasks ask: How can I organize my day/week to have focused blocks of time so my brain doesn’t have to multitask? Many things can be batched. Here are a few:
For tasks that are going to take some time, put a block of time on your calendar. This practice will help to ensure you have enough mental energy to complete important tasks. Doing things in blocks of time allows you to give your full attention and energy to each task. Giving your full attention to tasks allows you to be more effective at what you do. If you give things a long enough time block to finish a task, it not only removes it from your to-do list, it removes it from your brain. Your email is a great place to start with batching. Batching Email: One way I try to batch tasks is a block of time for email twice a day. I often do it at 11 am and 4 pm. This also allows me blocks of time to focus on projects in the morning and meetings in the afternoon. Here are some batching tips to tame the email monster:
An overflowing inbox is like a cluttered workspace…you will always feel overwhelmed until you get it organized. At the same time, don’t be rigid about keeping “inbox 0” every day. Batching emails helps you to not be overwhelmed and stay on top of what needs to be done. 6. Organize Leadership is built on trust. If we don't keep our word, it erodes trust. One of the simplest ways to build trust is to do what we say we will do. Keep your word. The first thing I had to do as a leader was to get organized so I could handle a bigger load. If I didn’t do this I was going to frustrate those I led and fail as a leader, father, or husband. In leadership and life, there are a few glass ceilings. Glass ceilings are invisible barriers that mark the top of your potential. Your ability to organize your life is like a glass ceiling. You will only rise as far as you can organize your life and responsibilities. If you regularly fail to keep your word or overbook your schedule, people will stop trusting you. They won’t turn to you if you are not dependable. If you keep hitting the ceiling, don't complain that life is too busy. Get organized. Expand your capacity. To get organized, figure out:
Personally, I use Apple Calendar, OneNote for notes, Microsoft ToDo for tasks, and the app Alarmed for reminders that I can’t afford to miss. Find what works for you and faithfully use it. Using tools like these helps get things off your brain so you can stop thinking about them. This lets you enjoy life and it also expands your capacity. If you are unreliable, you won't be given more opportunities because no one will trust you with them. Get organized! Some great additional resources on getting organized are:
Do you have a reliable system for your schedule and reminders? Would others say you are dependable and keep your word? (If you are not sure, ask your coworkers, team, or spouse.) Why is saving and planning time important? The Apostle Paul told Timothy, “do not neglect the gift you have” (1 Timothy 4:14). Later he reminded Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God” (2 Timothy 1:6). If God took the time to give you a unique gift, don’t you think you should take the time to make it a priority? There are also things in your job or ministry that only you can do. Are you making time for them? Using your gifting doesn’t happen by accident. Doing what only you can do isn’t easy. It will be a battle to make the time. It will take focus and effort. But it is worth it. Save Time and Plan Time to prioritize your gifting and what only you can do. Serving Together, Kyle What about you? How do YOU save or plan time? Comment below.
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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
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