Last week you identified your key roles and drew two pie charts, one representing how you currently allocate your time to those roles, and one showing how you would like to be stewarding your time in those roles.
This week I want to dig a little deeper into how you’re spending your time. One of my professors in college challenged us to account for every half hour for a whole week and measure how well we were redeeming the time. I started out the week determined not to “waste” any time, but by the end of the week I was feeling exhausted and anxious that I seemed to have run out of things to do.
When I turned in my assignment, my professor revealed that the exercise wasn’t intended to shame us, but to make us more aware of the time God had given us and how we were using it.
So, don’t make the same mistake I did with this week’s assignment. We don’t need to fill in every minute of our lives doing something “productive”. In fact, that’s a great way to miss out when the Holy Spirit moves in our lives in unexpected ways. Remember, the goal of redeeming our time is to work hard, play hard, and learn to recharge without the shame of a wasted life.
Now that we’ve got that covered, here’s what I want you to focus on for this week’s time audit: your electronics.
- Set up ways to track how you’re spending your time on both your phone and your computer this week. There are lots of both paid and free options out there. Here are the few I recommend:
- For your computer: RescueTime. It runs in the background and tracks the time you spend on various websites.
- For your Android phone: Social Fever. This app is free and will let you track how much time you spend across different apps on your phone.
- For your iPhone: iPhones have a built in time tracker. Just find “Screen Time” in your settings.
- Now, go about your week as you normally would. We want as accurate a report as possible so you can determine any adjustments you need to make.
- At the end of the week, take a look at how much time you spent on your devices and what apps you used the most. Compare the report to your ideal pie chart from last week. Then, ask yourself some hard questions (ie. Am I spending time on social media that I should be using to help around the house in my role as a husband and father? Am I spending time watching Netflix that I need to be using to study or get involved in my church?) Be honest with yourself.
- Now, set some time limits on the apps that are the biggest distractions from your goals. If you’re really serious, let a trusted friend set the override passwords for you.
Next week we’ll switch to offense and talk about other ways you can make sure you’re spending your time on the things that matter most to you.
Until then,
Karl
