Category: Time Management

Consider: “Crazy Busy”

Published on by Kim1 Comment

Kevin DeYoung has written a “(mercifully) short” book on busyness and its effect on our hearts. It is full of questions to consider about our theology of time and self and how that theology shows up in our schedules. Here are two excerpts for you to enjoy, which will perhaps whet your appetite:

“As Christians, especially, we ought to know better because we understand deep down that the problem is not just with our schedules or with the world’s complexity—something is not right with us. The chaos is at least partly self-created. The disorder of daily life is a product of disorder in the innermost places of the heart. Things are not the way they ought to be because we are not the way we are supposed to be.”

“Busyness, as I’ve been diagnosing it, is as much a mind-set and a heart sickness as it is a failure in time management. It’s possible to live your days in a flurry of hard work, serving, and bearing burdens, and to do so with the right character and a right dependence on God so that it doesn’t feel crazy busy. By the same token, it’s possible to feel amazingly stressed and frenzied while actually accomplishing very little. The antidote to busyness of soul is not sloth and indifference. The antidote is rest, rhythm, death to pride, acceptance of our own finitude, and trust in the providence of God.”

These books are set here as possibilities for you to explore. Posts and links are not blanket endorsements or paid publicity.

Refresh: My Planner

Published on by Kim

In my role as time management coach, people occasionally ask what my planner looks like. Since we’ve been looking at various planner options lately, today we’ll look at mine once again. Please keep in mind that what works for me may not be the best tool for you. So take a peek and use what you can.

My planner is paper. This was a change a few years ago when my days became more mobile. A binder, that is small enough to hold easily, can come with me from place to place and be where I need it. In addition to the calendar, it also holds coupons and shopping lists. I’m not a huge fan of paper in general, so having every bit of paper I need in one place is helpful. I buy a new insert each fall for the next year, but everything else stays in the pockets and binder.

  • Note: Because I’m not a paper-keeper, I do throw away each page after I go through that week. The only pages in my binder are the ones I need for planning forward.

The calendar is a week per spread. This is the right balance for my days — enough room to write various appointments and details but still small enough to see the whole week at once. A monthly option isn’t quite enough room, and a page per day leaves too much empty space unfilled.

The days contain appointments and tasks. One side of the sheet is marked hourly, so I can put appointments and commitments at the right times. The other side is for a to-do list, so I can keep track of tasks for each day and the week. Having them side-by-side is important for my success. Both parts work together to map out the day.

The pages are plain. Color-coding can be useful, but I don’t get enough benefit from it. I use whatever pen is handy (one on my desk or the one I keep in the planner loop) to write what is needed. It just needs to be legible until it’s past or crossed off.

It’s simple, but it works.