What would you do with an extra hour this week?

What would you do with an extra hour today?  

That’s a question that should captivate every pastor and worship leader.  

If you could wave a magic wand and get all of the items on your list done giving you an extra hour to invest however you like… what would you do with it?

OK – back to reality and let’s be honest… most pastors and worship leaders find their lives and their ministries stretched with more than can possibly be accomplished in a week (much less a day).  With the demands of work during the day, and then rehearsals, meetings and your kid’s basketball practice at night, we face our everyday lives with very little margin.  (And if something new gets added or goes wrong… well, we know where that lands us.)

But “what if…?”  What if you could get everything done in less time and discover you have an extra hour in your day?

That’s exactly what good time management principles allow you to do.  And since God doesn’t issue magic wands along with your call to ministry, it’s up to you and I to discover and implement these principles to help us make the most of the time we have – for God’s kingdom, our families and our ministries.

Psalm 90:12 tells us . . . “Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom.”

Over the course of the next 3 weeks I want to share with you 3 Time Management Principles that can radically change the trajectory of your week, and that could literally give you an extra hour every day. (Oh, by the way… an extra hour a day multiplied across a year will give you an extra 15.2 days in 2014… sound good to you?).

So, let’s cut to the chase with the first principle.

Time Management Principle #1:  LIVE OFF-PEAK

I can’t tell you what a difference this little time management principle has made in my life since I learned it from my Lead Pastor several years ago.  Living Off-Peak simply means that while the rest of the world is doing one thing, I’m doing something else.

For example, over lunch almost everyone is going to the bank or the post office.  If you go when everyone else goes, then what should be a simple 15 minute errand could easily turn into a 45 minute waste of time.

Here are some other ways that you could implement this simple strategy:

  – Don’t commute during rush-hour.  Leave early to go to work, and stay a little later to miss the rush.  You not only save the wasted time sitting in traffic, but you also get some uninterrupted work time before everyone else arrives (more on this next week)

  – Get the first doctor / dentist appointment of the morning. Ever notice how the waiting room is never full at 8am?

  – Go to lunch early or late.  Just don’t go at lunchtime.

  – Go on vacation with your family at off-peak times.  You will save money and time!

Here’s what you will find… when you start practicing this principle, you will soon begin to see ways to live Off-Peak in other areas of your life as well.  

As I close, let me leave you with a quote that I first heard in 2007, and that has been a constant time management encouragement to me ever since:

I will do the most important thing possible at every given moment.

What is the most important thing possible?  Well – it depends.  At 5:30am it’s your devotions.  At 8:30am it’s probably that big project you have on your list for this week. It could be date night with your spouse, quality time with your kids, or reading an article like this.  

What matters is knowing what’s important, and making the right investment at the right time.  Otherwise your life becomes filled with missed opportunities and wasted time.

I hate missed opportunities, and I don’t want you to miss opportunities in your ministry or your personal life either.  And that’s why I’d like to invite you to join me next Wednesday, February 5 for a 60-minute Leadership and Briefing Call where I will help you outline your calendar for 2014 so that you make the most of the time you have this year.

It’s going to be a powerful call where I’ll walk you through:

    •    What should be FIRST on your calendar (hint: it’s not what you think)
    •    What should NOT be on your calendar
    •    Key dates to pray and prepare for
    •    What you should be doing every day, every week, every month and every year to develop a healthy and growing ministry and personal life
    •    And much more!

This special Leadership and Briefing Call is at the heart of my BRAND NEW Worship Leader Gold Network and is just one of over 16 EXCLUSIVE benefits for those who are part of this first-of-its kind monthly subscription network for Worship Leaders.

I’ve put all the details in the PS below, but if you would like to be part of this passionate group of worship leaders who are committed to a healthy balance between ministry and personal life, then become a member of Worship Leader Gold today by visiting www.WorshipLeaderGold.com.

I hope you will join this new network, and then join me for this special Leadership Briefing Call next Wednesday, February 5.  Oh… and if you can’t make the call next Wednesday, I’ll post the recording (along with over $813.20 in FREE bonus resources) in your personalized Worship Leader Gold website “hub” for you to listen to whenever you like.

Your partner in ministry,

PS – The next Leadership Briefing Call is next Wednesday, February 5, and there’s still time for you to join the new Worship Leader Gold Network and be a part of the LIVE Call (or listen to the replay later if you can’t make it).

Worship Leader Gold is designed to help you break through the busyness of ministry, and not just survive, but develop the necessary habits to thrive in ministry, your personal life and family life as well.