Video Transcript: Time Management

Alright, Henry, we're back. We're back time management time management. Oh no, I bet you  couldn't wait when you saw this. On the syllabus, as you were looking at what was coming,  you saw time management, and you said that everyone around you, I can't wait till we get  into time management. Time management is a difficult subject for all of us because we  actually have to be self aware of the seconds. You know, I once heard that there's time and  money, are your too big resources. But unquestionably time is more important than money.  But you can use your time to get more money. But you can't use money to get more time. Just some people like to delay that the Fountain of Youth pay a lot of money live longer, we see a  lot of people trying to but in the end of the day, time is time. Yeah, you know, my grandfather  lived to 100. And that day eventually came and eventually died. So you could live 200 years,  and eventually you're going to get to the end of that time. Managing your time is really about  making sure that you don't squander, right, the time that you have this, your steward of the  time, that you actually use, the time that you have to do the things that you feel that you're  called to do or that you feel you want to do, rather than letting everyone else around, you  take all of your time. Most people I think, get to the end of the end of their life, and they go  what happened, I never really tried to do the things that I thought maybe I wanted to do. I've  met many people who have been so angry at others, until they took responsibility. And what I  mean by that is, their time got driven by all kinds of forces. And then then they had stage one that came self aware that time is fleeting, Then in stage two, whose fault is it that I didn't do  the things they want? And then I've seen them blame others. And then stage three, I own the  yes or no of how I spend my time. So part of there really is a spiritual revelation, to figure out, does my time belong to me, am I a steward of my time, how important is time management.  And once that happens, time management becomes more empowering. In some ways, this is  maybe the most important lecture that you are ever going to hear a lecture. Let's look at a  verse of Scripture, Psalm 31:15, my times are in your hands, deliver me from my enemies,  from those who pursue me, hey, so I mean, this verse is talking about enemies, but in some  ways, people that want to steal your time, are your enemies. I like I've always liked this verse, we, back in the day, Henry, you remember when we, we moved to Chicago, we started our  own nonprofit. And we had an idea for a planner, we did. And we bought apple MacBooks. So  we sat down, and we found a printer, and he printed out these little journals. And we put this  verse in that journal, my times are in your hands. And what we realized was, you know, these  day timers are these things where you keep track of your schedules, and you put your to do  list, you know, today, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. And break, you know, as we  were doing that, remember, we had our walk with God, we had our our prayer sheets, would,  you know, on my prayer sheet, I would have my supplication, which is asking God to bless all  the things I'm going to do. So I'd write all these things down. And then when I came to the  office, I had my planner, right, and my to do list, and then I'm writing the same list. Right?  Now what what are we doing right? And so we decided to combine those things. You're  planning list your to do list is really your prayer list. Right? And one of the things one of the  phrases that we came up with is instead of putting God in your schedule to your schedule, like you know, you have a schedule, and you have all these lines and to do lists, and then you put  pray to God read Bible. So God is reduced to one or two lines in your schedule, your schedule, lay your schedule is the big thing. And we take God and we reduce him to one line, right? So  we thought, why don't we put God in there first, that this is God's page. And our lives get  squeezed into him because he's a bigger thing than our day. So we put little verses the day  and we called the to do list the prayer list. And in some ways you guys could do the same  thing. You can just get a notebook, write in the dates, you know, like the next 30 days, and  put, you know, September, one September, two sets of three, separate page. You can even  put a verse, If you want to what are your, let's say you're memorizing a verse, just put it for  every day for a week. And then when you get there, that verse is sitting there waiting for you, right? God is already there, and then make a to do list but put in parentheses, prayer lit, right. And so all of a sudden God is, you know, really, what is the day that you would want to do  today that you wouldn't want God to bless? Right? So instead of putting God in your schedule, you put your schedule into your relationship with God, right? I remember that phrase, right.  And so that notebook sort of represents not just your schedule, but it represents your 

connection to God, and really your connection to others. Right? That's powerful. All right. So  let's go to the next entry. The clear on your purpose. So that's part of, you know, time  management, a lot of times people think is just, you know, putting, you know, figuring out  how to use a journal and how to make to do lists, check things off, and so on and so forth. But before you even get to scheduling your day, you have to step way back and go, What is my  life? What do I want to do with my life. So be clear, first of all, on your purpose, this is one of  my favorite verses 13, verse 36. Now, when David had served God's purpose, purpose, in his  own generation, he fell asleep, he was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed. So  that last part is not that exciting. You're doing this study in the morning, this is not a real pick  me up verse. His body, decaying he's buried with his ancestors. But that first part when David had served God's purpose, in his own generation, and the way to make this verse apply to  you is instead of saying, David, just put your name in it. So if I were to do it, I would say when  Steve served God's purpose in his own generation, right? Okay. That's what I want to manage  in terms of time management, right? What is God's purpose? What is God's purpose for my  life? In my generation, we only have one time that we live, and you can complain about this  time, right? You can complain about your circumstances, and what's happened so far in your  life, you know, this thing happened, you were bored here, you didn't have the opportunity  you got in trouble you wasted all this time you wasted that time. Maybe you feel like you're  wasting your time right now, you know, what? You This is your time, this is your generation, it  doesn't matter what's going on, you don't get another time. So this is it. Right? So instead of,  you know, looking at all the negatives of the time that you have had, right, own this time, this is your time. This is your generation, God has put you here specifically, for a reason, find that  purpose. And that's step one. And that you're saying is foundational to time management.  Before you get into, what are you going to do each day? And what's your schedule and step  back and go? What do I really want to do? And so we're hoping that as you're thinking about  that, that, that maybe you want to be a leader, right? That maybe you want to make a  difference in the lives of people. That's what a leader is, right? The leader is not someone who sits high and has everyone, you know, bow down to them and think they're awesome, though, sometimes we do that. A leader is a leader because they help people. You know, I like Steve. I  like the surprising leaders of life. And I've seen 1000s people who were born on the wrong  side of the tracks. People who ended up in jail or prison, who God put a passion in their life,  and they have changed their environment, and they may have changed those in their  environment. I like those underdogs. I like seeing when someone owns their priorities, their  thoughts, their actions. I love that. So there's that story in the Bible of Joseph. Joseph was you  know, he had a dream he felt like God was going to do something with with him. And next  thing you know he's sold into slavery. He ends up in a prison. Yeah. Accused falsely accuse.  Yeah, he has no way of getting out. People are betraying him left, right and center. But what  does he do? He takes responsibility. He sees what he can do in the prison to make things  better. That's all. He just said, I'm here, I'm going to be God's servant in this place. And  because he was God's servant, and then nothing happened for years and years, and years,  nothing. Yeah. You know, he had somebody that was supposed to help me I think he did some  studying at CLI Ministries. Oh wait a minute, that before our time. Okay. Anyway. So he, he  had some of those supposed to help him because he helped them and they didn't. And you  know, but eventually God honored his just being faithful and trying to make a difference in the place where he was. And then he got ascended to the second most powerful person in Egypt.  It changed the course of God's people's direction. I mean, Joseph is one of the big pillars in  the Old Testament. Right? But he was wasting away in a prison with no way out. Right? Right.  So maybe you feel that way too be the underdog, you just have to find your purpose in the  moment that you're in your generation in your in your, in your place. Okay. Prioritize your life  goals. Life goals. Some of you are like, What do you mean life goals? Do I have life goals? A lot of I think a lot a lot of us just sort of our goals just happen on us. Like we're in school that we  get out or we need money. So you get a job. And also you meet someone, they we get  married, we have kids, we get we do all these things, we do all these things, because it was  just something that fell into our lap, or was the next thing. And what we're suggesting is that  you step back, maybe get out a piece of paper and just go right on the top, my life goals. 

Now, my guess is some of them are going to do that. They're gonna look at that piece of  paper. And they're going to be like that I have no idea. Right? Keep staring at that piece of  paper. because little by little by little, all of a sudden, maybe I get this, right. Or maybe I get  that. Or maybe, maybe I could be in ministry. Maybe I could be a leader. Maybe if you just  start thinking about areas of your life, life goals, in terms of family life goals in terms of  friendships, right life goals, in terms of the place where you're at right now? What could you  do right now? How long do you have in the prison? What thing could you do when you get  out? What would you like to do? If you could do anything? What would it be? What would it  be? I could never do that. Write it down? Just write it down. When you're when you're in the  brainstorming phase of trying to figure out what your life goals are, there's no wrong answer.  If you want to be the President of the United States then write it down, right? Why not? Right? Who knows? It happened to Joseph but here's something too that happens, in that curiosity.  Sometimes the voice of God speaks to you in a way you were surprised about. And next thing, you know, you've got a fire in your belly. And then opportunities start coming in for you. So  the reason I said now, you know, maybe try to spend some time thinking about life goals in  the broadest sense. Let's say you want to be a better father, right? Let's say you want to be a  better spouse. Let's say you want to be an entrepreneur, let's say you want to better walk  with God, you have all these life goals. And then within that, where does Christian Leaders  Institute? Where does this course of study that you're starting there? Where might that fit  with those life goals? So what you're saying is that when you start picking classes, you're  going to pick them out of your life goals, right? So even if you're not there yet, these are  topics that sort of prime the pump to take you to the next step. Even if it's only to study,  right? So if you want to be a better husband, or father, let's say, or mother, we have courses  on that. Yeah. If you want to start a business, we have entrepreneur classes that from A to Z  to show you exactly what you need to do, right? We have this thing called MinistryBiz where  it's a ministry and it's a business at the same time. And you know, when when you get out,  you're saying, you know, that's maybe something I want to do. So as you're thinking about all  the things you really want to do, then you can specifically start looking at Christian Leaders  Institute and all the different classes and all the different certificates and awards and start  thinking about how those things can help you. And even if you're one who's not going to get  out because you're a lifer, and you're still studying, there is goals you have, and we have  classes that will feed your service to those in your situation. So who knows what you're gonna die? No, I mean, you know, you can you have the rest of your life to figure this out. But why  not? Why your generation, this is your generation, this is your time and you can begrudge it,  you can be angry about it, or you can embrace it and grab hold of it and make something out  of it. So time management is an adventure. Not a burden, right? Alright, so break down your  CLI goals. So, Luke 14:28, for which of you desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down  and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it, okay, and then Proverbs six, go to  the end? Oh, sluggard. consider her ways and be wise. without having any chief officer or  ruler. She prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. Okay, so both of  these verses are really talking about how you're going to do something. There's some  planning, right? There's, there's sort of a breaking down of the goals. So I think a lot of people  have big broad goals, okay, I want to be a better father, right? And then nothing happens,  right? Because it's too vague. It's like, okay, so what are you going to do about it? You have to break it down into Well, step one, I'm going to this and step two, I'm going to do that if you're  building a house. Okay, I want to build a house. Okay. So where do you start? There's so many things to do, where do you even start, where you start by you need a piece of property, then  you need a foundation. And then you need to build on the foundation. And then you you  know, the architectural plans are there too. I mean, there's so many pieces, so many pieces,  all of these things. So, but most people stop with their time management with the broad  general goal, Well, I'm just gonna take classes at CLI. And then a month later, they're not  taking classes at CLI, right. So they don't know how it fits into their broader goals. They lose  motivation. They didn't know what classes to take, they didn't know what step to take, they  didn't follow like, you know, which we try to make it relatively easy for you so that you can  you know, step by step, you know, you lecture then the thing and then the, you do the quiz, 

and then you go to the next one, and it's all laid out there for you. But, you know, that's that's what it takes to advance. I met this one CLI student who just really born the wrong side of the  tracks went through incarceration. In in prison, he came to this place where either I am going  to get a calling or a vision or anything, or I'm just going to waste away. And a chaplain talked  

to him. And they started talking about what we're talking about today. And now today, he is  leading in prison ministry. And he has shared his story again and again. But it all came down  to giving the priority and focusing specifically on what He is called to do and what he will be  

called to do in the future. So we're going to try to help you break it down a little bit. Break  down your Christian Leaders Institute goal number one big picture. Why CLI? Why are you  doing this at all? Right? How did you come to this? That it was a friend, maybe somebody  

shared an opportunity you didn't have anything to do? So you did try to figure out why it is  that you want to even do this. That's step one. Okay, step two, why a particular class? Okay,  so this is the intro class, right? This helps you get going and helps you understand what the  whole thing is what's involved. We're trying to with some of these lectures, give you some  motivation. And, and to get you to dream and get you excited and enthusiastic and build you  up. But once you finish this, and so now, what are you going to do, right? So start thinking  about, you know, start going through all the different classes we have, how many classes?  Well, we have 100. I mean, and even as the person adjusts and develops, more classes will be added. So it's awesome, right? All right, option number three, when to start and when to  finish. Now we're getting specific, right? When do you start? A couple of things too simple like  to die? Why is this even in this presentation, like when to start pardoning, $like we start when  you start, right, and then when you finish is when you when you finish finish. So what what  the problem is people have no idea what then to plan for. Right? So if I just start, and then I, I  take a class, I do a thing, and I'll let you know I had a friend of mine do exactly this, he didn't  look at it, he didn't look ahead, he didn't see how many classes there were. And he was  supposed to have it done within a year. And all of a sudden, he's like in seven months. And  he's done three, and he's got nine to go. And he finally looked at it and said, Oh, there's 12. I  didn't know that. If he had looked at it, you would know it. And then you can plan accordingly.  So that's in a way number four, you can backtrack into the course if you back. If I'm going to  start, let's say, I'm going to start this class today. And I know there's 12 lessons. And I want to  finish in a month. Okay, so there's 30 days, and there's 10 sessions, I have to do a session  every three days. Right. So that's backtracking. So then you put that in your little connection  planner that you wrote out with the Bible verse and all of that, right. So now I pray about I  sort of have a plan, right, that I can follow. So most people don't do that. They just kind of,  well, I'll just watch whenever I watch. And then then why is this taking so long? Well, you  never really sat down and figured it out. Now, maybe you want to take two months. So now  it's one every six days. Or maybe we need to take three months. Now I want to read nine days or or it's one a week, it's going to take 10 weeks. But you you try to look at what you want to  accomplish. And then you backtrack the time that it's going to take. And now you have a plan  of study. Right? And you you know, you feel like maybe you went a little ahead. Hey, now I  feel good, because I'm a little ahead. Now I saw something and Professor Elzinga here just  recently where it illustrates it really well. Okay, so they purchased a property to renovate. And I have a son-in-law who does floors, tiles and all that. And so then, Professor Elzinga, Steve  says, Yeah, we're gonna go down and 10 days and then 10 days, we're gonna renovate this  whole house. Okay, so you pick a date, right? And then an end date? Okay. I looked at pictures of the house and I say. Yes, sure. Sure. Well, anyway, they had their schedule my son went  down there my son-in-law went down there and even testified to how everything was all  prioritize, this was this was this was this. And they got a house, a kitchen, renovated in 10  days. So but that took high level time management, right? Imagine, right? And a goal, see, we would, you know, here, I'm 64 years old, I'm getting up at 5:30 in the morning, every day  working until 10. Because your goal is because I can see what it's going to take to do this.  And there's no time to just mess around, we you know. So the point is, when you kind of have  an outline of things, and you have the specific goals, and it's all broken down into daily or  smaller chunks, it's very motivating. I actually, you know, it was a lot of work, but I sort of  enjoyed it because you feel like you're making something happen. And you're not just 

squandering the time that you have. I love that. Alright, number five, how much time is  needed. So again, in when to study, there was the last one. We'll come back to that one. So  once you have a beginning, and an end you know what you want to accomplish, you start  figuring out, it's really you're breaking down the big goal into smaller sections, right? And  then you kind of know how you're going to do it. And, you know, once you've done one lesson, you certainly know how long it takes. In the first lecture, you did. Okay, and it took so long. He took some notes. Maybe you watched it twice. Maybe that's what you want to do with all of  them. So you figure out how much time that was. And then you did the reading. How long did  that take? And then you put maybe your notes together and you sort of did a little studying  and then you took the quiz. Well, now you have sort of a benchmark. This is what each one is  sort of going to take give or take a few. Now you can sort of project into the future. How many courses can I do in a year? Right? Right. So we have some students who, you know, that they  often will bite off more than they sign up for, like five classes. Right? Right. And because they  have no clue, right, how long any of them take, right? So again, time management is sort of  having is realistic, you know, breaking down things into smaller pieces that you sort of know  you can do and really what it what it does, and I see video games, maybe some of you are  into video games, but video games do is they reward you often. Right? It used to be you  know, you went to school. And finally, at the end of the year, they say congratulations, is like  yeah, I got to work all year for one little pat on the back, right. Whereas what were trying to  do is break it down. So you get a little pat on the back every time you finish a lecture. Every  time you do a quiz. A quiz is like, Hey, good job, you listened? Well, you took great notes. And  you got 19 out of 20. Right, good job. And you're motivated to go to the next one. in many  ways when I've noticed when people do fail at Christian Leaders Institute it is because their  goals in their priorities are so expansive, five classes, and they eat a little bit here new and  you have an 180 days to complete it. And all of a sudden, you know, it's day 75, and  everything is all confused, and all sudden frustration sets in and they say nah I quit. That's  why we often recommend just do one class at a time. Stick to your schedule. get your habits  going. Get your goals clear. And when you face failure know what to do about failure. Right,  which is the last one, seven, have failure and set that plan. So when a plan for failure? Yes.  What are you going to do? If you fail? Many people say quit. I mean, really, I mean, don't does have a natural inclination we want to quit is a sort of eliminate that from our life. And say.  Well, we tried, we give up. I think, you know, we end up quitting, but we didn't plan on  quitting because we didn't plan on failure. Right? Right. We don't when we enter something,  we start something we never think we're gonna fail. No. So we're just going to tell you ahead  of time that you are, right. So knowing that, what will you do when you fail? Right? What  happens when you take a quiz and you get 10? out of 20? What are you gonna do? Quit. That  is what we're seeing, right? People just get so frustrated. And what we've done is in these  classes, we made it so that one of the quizzes in every single class that where you're allowed  to take a quiz once and all of those classes, we will throw out your lowest score, because we  want to aid you in not quitting and embrace failure. Did you know how many times did you fall before you learned how to walk? Right? How long does it take for you to learn how to put  sentences together? Right? Learn English, by the way, is one of the hardest languages in the  world to learn how you learn it. So it's not like you can't do things. But some of us are quicker, some of us are slower. Some of us it takes a little longer some of us fail more often before we  get there. Right? So what right? Is failure a journey of learning in your success? Or is failure  and event that holds you back? Right? So key steps in meeting goals. Number one, make sure that they're doable. doable? Take one class at a time, I recommend that one class at a time.  Get a feel before you maybe you're so brilliant. You could take five classes but you don't know that, yet. No, first start with one maybe it'll be doable to see how it goes. So people often  have lofty goals and then they never do a thing with right. It's better to get a sense of success that you can build on. Right? Rather than take too much. Fail. And then and then you're done.  okay, number two, measurable. So a lot of people have a goal. I'm want to be a better  husband. Okay. So how do you measure that? Oh, I don't know. I'm just gonna be a better  husband. And then a year later Are you a better husband? Who knows. What was the  measuring stick? So if you if I want to be a better husband. Okay, number one, I want to take 

a class on it. See that's measurable. Did you take the class? Yeah, we have a Thriving  Marriage class, Conversations class and all of these types of so you know, there's a specific  thing that you did that we can say, did you do it or didn't you do it? And then within that kind  of class, there'll be all kinds of suggestions of what you could do. Right? Did you take your  spouse on a date night, every week? Or didn't you see, if you don't have something  measurable, you just have this vague general idea of what you want to do. And then a year  later, nothing is changed in your life. If you want to you, you finally get out of incarceration,  you want to start your own business, guess what, there's steps, things that you must do or it's not going to happen. Right. One of the things that we found found in ministry, a lot of the  pastors struggle with people skills. And that's not taught in most seminaries. So what's  measurable? Well, we have our People Smart class that you can take, well, that's measurable. But even in the class it talks about, like specific skills that you can measure. So let's say  you're a talker, or you're someone who doesn't talk, well, you didn't even in your planner,  write down today, in when in the mess hall when I was eating, I did not interrupt one person.  And you measure down to maybe that's in your role. It's like, I will listen, for the next month in I won't talk very much. So you put that. So then when you come back in, say your prayers,  your and your little planner here, and then you go check the box. I did not interrupt anybody.  And I listened. In fact, and you can put how many times somebody says Are you okay, Henry,  you haven't talked very much. I'm okay. I'm just listening. And you get to write that down.  Even something like in the very behaviors, if you make it a score, or game? Yes, you can  measure that game, right. So pilot things are, are measurable and make it fun, say to do that  sports is that right. I mean, we measures baskets, we took the hoop away, we have people  dribbling around, but right, we put the basket there and we count them. It's measurable, it's  something that's doable, and it's something that's measurable, right. Number three,  accountable, doable, measurable, accountable. So a lot of times we have goals when I do  things, but we never tell anybody, and we never have someone accountable. And why don't  we tell someone? Because it will mean that we don't tell them because we don't want to dare  to say that because if we fail, then we have to say we fail, right? So we don't do anything,  right? So we don't want to tell anyone these, we don't want to be accountable. But the reality  is most everything that we succeed at is because someone held us accountable for it. Right?  There's that one passage of Philippians take note of those who live according to the pattern  we gave you, okay? In other words, even the apostle Paul sees that when someone's walking  in a pattern of with God, there's a take note, piece of that, right? In some ways, things like  church. A lot of times I hear this all the time, that people they like God, they like the Bible,  they just don't like the church. They don't like the church, because that's religion. Yeah. Like  God, but I don't like religion. But religion is just the Accountable piece has that back to earlier  lecture, we talk about a habit a little bit. Yes. So we don't always like the habit like say I want  to lose weight. And then I step on the scale the scale, is that accountable piece, and I don't  like the scale. Right? Right. I get a little angry at the scale. Yeah, I would rather not have to  step on the scale. But if I don't have a scale, guess what? I eat another donut. So that scale, is that thing that says, Do you seriously want to do this? Or don't you right? Is this one of your  goals? Or isn't this one of your goals? Right? And so number four steps to meeting goals.  Number four, scalable Proverbs 13:11 honest money dwindles away but whoever gathers  money little by little makes it grow. So what we mean by scalable is, it's it's a little by little  thing that that change growth. All these things, the good things in life come to us when they  come little by little by little. You don't lose 10 pounds. In a moment. You lose 10 pounds over a period of time. You don't learn the language in a moment, you learn a little by little by little,  you don't finish this class. And in a moment you do it lecture by lecture, reading by reading  course, by course, and all of a sudden, you become this different person. You know a lot of  ways, in Correspondence Education is challenging, but you need to be self aware, because a  typical college residential college you just show up, but not Christian Leaders Institute,  Christian Leaders Institute, you must prioritize, you must have goals, you must do it little by  little, or it will not be done, you have to manage your time, because there's no teacher  managing your time for you. And so in some ways it's really cool, because you can sort of own the whole thing, right? On the other hand, it's harder, it takes more responsibility on your 

part. But what we have seen is the people that do this, it's almost like a side skill that this is  helping you do, you're becoming a more responsible person. And in some ways, being more  responsible with your life is really a prior step to even learning. We've noticed that the  graduates of Christian Leaders Institute and College are self starters, because they face their  own personal setbacks that have held them back. And now they take initiative. And that  behavior of taking initiative changes everything sort of by not a horrible self starter, and that  when that guy out there are no horrible self starter. Right? So you have opportunity now, to  little by little change the narrative of your life, right? With God's help, right? I believe you can  do it. So right now you think you're not a self starter, and maybe you're not. But maybe by  the end of this class, you'll be more of a self starter. So time management. Go for it, and see  what God is going to do.