How to have success in God’s work?

Question:

How to divide and manage my time in order to accomplish everything well, not detrimental to my health nor my family’s, being involved in many different ministries.

Save time daily for planning

The wise Solomon said the following:

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. (Proverbs 21:5)

The most important thing you need to do is to set time aside to plan the work for the whole day. If you read carefully the proverb from the Scriptures, you will notice that it doesn’t contrast the hard-working and the lazy, but the hard-working and the one that works hastily. Thus, both work. One works after he has made his plan, the other works without planning, therefore he works hastily, in a hurry, always being under the pressure of urgency. Save enough time every day for thinking the work ahead and make the plan how to bring these things to accomplishment.

Start with the evaluation of your activities

If you say you are involved in many ministries, maybe it is not needed for you to be involved in all of them. Make a list with these ministries, see how much each of them require of you, which are the results in making disciples of Christ, and if it is needed, retire from certain ones in order to be able to concentrate on the efficient ones and the ones that suit your spiritual gifts.

Plan your things in order of priority. Choose to do the most important things first- the spiritual ones. Set time aside for studying the Holy Scriptures and for praying. Martin Luther said one day that he had so much to accomplish that the first 4 hours he was going to spend praying. Jesus said:

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)

If you give priority to the spiritual things, God will give you wisdom how to plan all the others, in order to manage and accomplish them at their best.

Start with the most important tasks

These aren’t always the most pleasant ones. The majority of people start their daily activity with the most pleasant and easy things and don’t even get to the most important ones, which have priority. Don’t do that, instead, start with the things you give the most priority to and the most important ones, even if these are the hardest ones. This way you’ll manage to do the rest quickly and easily. And if you didn’t manage them, you surely can do them the next day, as you’ve managed the most important ones.

Don’t do more things at once

The transition from one task to another will only consume your time and stress you, and you will manage little to do. That’s why, concentrate on one thing and do it till its finish, and then go on to the next task. I know that for women, especially for the ones with children, it is not always possible, but try to concentrate on one or less tasks.

Share your work with the others

When in the morning you plan your work for the day, see which are the activities you should share with the other members of your family, with your disciples or with people that serve together with you for the Gospel. When we all work according to our capacities, talents and our spiritual gifts we all are happy, we bring joy to each other and we manage to do a lot more. So, see which tasks you can delegate to the others and do so. But, be sure you teach the ones you delegate your work to and help them to accomplish the work. And if they don’t manage to accomplish it to your expectations, this means you did not explain well and you need to explain it once again, patiently, and repair what needs to be done or improved.

Be ready to remove some tasks

There are some things you thought you will do, but other tasks got in your way and you realised that the ones you planned before aren’t so important. Be ready to transfer them to another day or even remove them totaly if you don’t see them as necessary anymore.

Remove the trifles (unimportant things)

In the second Epistle to the Thessalonians, on the subject of living disorderly, Paul states the following:

For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. (2 Thessalonians 3:11)

Check if there aren’t things that can be assigned to the category of “trifles” and which impede your working on something useful or make your life undisciplined. Check well. For a considerable number of people these are social networks, virtual games and so on. Check well your activities and if there are such things, remove them, for they can not be assigned to the work category nor to the resting category, bur are none other than trifles.