Last week I introduced you to the 4 “R’s” of time management – Rest, Results, Response and Refocus. This week and the following three, I will dive a little deeper into each of the 4 “R’s,” beginning with Rest Time. 

Rest is one of the most coveted and seemingly unattainable uses of our time. Because of the pervasiveness of technology, today it requires real dedication and discipline to reserve a true day of rest. And by day of rest, I mean absolutely no work – no phone calls, no emails, no reading work-related journals and no quick check-in with the office. Based on this definition, I bet there are some of you that have never experienced a true day of rest. 

Feeling busy, buried and behind? No matter the size of your ministry or church, people will throw more stuff your way than you feel you can handle. Some of that stuff can be ignored and some delegated, but much of it needs to be juggled. Before you’re buried in dropped balls, get into the rhythm of rest, results, response and refocus.

For over 20+ years in ministry, I have exercised the practice of categorizing my time into each of the following four categories and then making time for each. The key is to plan my week in large chunks of time, full or half-day units. When I try to fit more than one “R” into one block of time, I experience frustration and defeat. My stress goes up and my productivity goes down.