Video Transcript: Time Management
Again, my name is Steve Elzinga. This is the coaching class. And I want to talk about time management. This is one of those subjects that is sort of outside of coaching. It might be a skill that you have to take time to teach.
So if you have a client who's struggling with actually getting anything done, or the excuses are, “I just didn't have time this week,” or “these other things came up, and I had to do these things that were urgent,” and it's constantly the client is not getting to his action steps, not doing them, he might be struggling with the whole time management issue.
And so, to do a little timeout, you might suggest to your client, “It seems like you're having trouble getting things done and sticking with the plan. There might be a time management issue. Would you like me to take off my coaching hat and put on a teaching hat, and just teach you some of the basics of time management? That might help.”
If your client is open to that, then you would take a timeout and teach them some of the fundamentals.
Time Management as a Teachable Skill
There are whole courses you can take on time management — and I've taken some of those. What I got out of those courses were a lot of different things: how to set priorities, how to write a life vision, and all these big broad things that affect time management.
But a few practical little things made a huge difference in my ability to manage my own time. It wouldn’t take long to teach your clients some of these things.
Remember: coaching is about getting your client to some form of action.
Action is accomplished over time. So time is involved.
Time Is in God’s Hands
I took a secular time management class. They didn’t really deal with what time is. The impression I got was that time management is in your hands — that time is something you own.
From a biblical perspective, time is not something you own. It’s something God has allowed you to be a steward of. The body you have, the time you have — these are gifts God has given you for a period of time.
Psalm 31:15 — “My times are in Your hands.”
So how do you get a client to practically think this way?
The Christian Planner Story
Years ago, Henry Reyenga and I started our own company before working for the Bible League. We came up with a Christian planner for business people and Christian schools.
At the same time, Henry and I were starting a nonprofit to help people own their walk with God — prayer and Bible every day. We had prayer sheets and Bible readings.
I was doing my secular time management planner. I’d write all the things I wanted to do that day. Then I’d go to my prayer sheet and write my prayer needs.
After a couple of weeks, I realized: I’m writing the same things twice.
Why?
Because in my secular planner, I was treating time as mine. I had all these lines, and I decided what went on each line. And on one of those lines, I put “do devotions.”
I was reducing the infinite God to one line in my planner.
That seemed wrong.
God is bigger than one line. He’s on every line before I write anything.
So Henry and I came up with this phrase:
“Don’t fit God into your schedule. Fit your schedule into God.”
Your whole schedule — everything you want to do — fits into God’s planner.
So we made a devotional planner where the to-do list was also the prayer list.
Make Your To-Do List Your Prayer List
This helps your client remember:
everything is related to God
God is involved in all these things
they’re not making things happen on their own
They’re more likely to succeed with an awareness of God in the middle of it.
Prioritizing the To-Do List
Every day, a person should sit down and ask:
What am I going to do today?
What can I reasonably get done?
What should I get done?
Write everything down — wants, shoulds, expectations, undone tasks.
Most of us never get to everything. So where do you begin?
Step 1: Label each item A, B, or C
A — must do today
B — hope to do today
C — maybe someday
Step 2: Refine with 1, 2, 3
A1 — first thing
A2 — second
A3 — third
Then B1, B2, etc.
This removes stress. You don’t waste time deciding what to do next. You already decided.
Lessen the Weight of the To-Do List
Your to-do list is like carrying bricks. You carry them day after day.
Solution: Move tasks to a more reasonable date
If you won’t do it today, move it to the day you will do it. Then forget about it until that day.
This is revolutionary. It changed my whole way of thinking about time.
Check off completed tasks
It feels good. It motivates.
Dealing with Interruptions
Interruptions happen constantly.
1. Decide if you really need to deal with it now
Sometimes you don’t.
2. If not, move it to a more appropriate date
“Could we wait until next Tuesday?”
Then write it on next Tuesday and forget about it.
3. Use your planner to store future obligations
Example: someone calls about a retreat in September.
Write all details on today’s date
On September 7, write “Retreat — see April 3”
On August 14, write “Start planning retreat — see April 3”
Now you don’t think about it all summer.
Two things kill people on time:
Forgetting things
Worrying about things they don’t need to think about yet
This system fixes both.
Conclusion
There’s much more you can say about time management, but these basics can help your client. Take off the coaching hat briefly, teach a few things, then put the coaching hat back on.
We'll see you again next time.