The next chapter is Living Clockwise, the highlight of which to me was the author’s story about using Paper, Ruler, Pen, Colored Pencils to schedule college. I actually did this. My high school Physics teacher gave me a plan, and I used these tools to make sure I did not miss class nor opportunities to study simply by not planning. I can still envision going through the process each semester.

One of the many good quotes in this chapter follows:

Be faithful for the one short day, and long years and a long life take care of themselves, without the sense of their length or their work ever being a burden. Andrew Murray

This is so true and something I wish I could teach my kids now to follow throughout their lives. When I started out in business, I quickly got into what they call the “Tyranny of the Urgent” putting out fires as fast as I could until none were too big to wait until the next day. Steven Covey became famous for his delivery of time management and managing urgency. I read the book and really tried to apply as much as I could. Eventually I found I was not doing as well as I could, and now I know that I was not putting God first in these efforts.

Another statement from the author goes something like this:

Make sure these items are in place: What is important in life? Time for prayer, Bible study, reading, thinking, and soul refreshment; time with our spouse; time with our children and grandchildren; time to rest; time for working on those major projects that will establish our legacy.

This is similar to the concept of putting the big things in the jar first so they all fit. We can all understand the jar thing (especially if we see it in person), but sometimes we fail to understand how to work this in real life. This author tells us to use our calendar to block out time for these most important things and tells us we can make the big things fit if we put them in first.

Block “in” date nights, family times, trips, meals, getaways, vacations, exercise, meditation, and reading with your youngsters at bedtime.

But beyond the task master of a calendar, the chapter is trying to prevent Paralysis by Procrastination. A legacy is not something we build in an hour of our calendar nor a day of our life. They are built by the journey towards a goal, maybe a dilemma that is beyond a simple solution such as end poverty or end hunger or something similar that people seek to achieve.

The legacy or goal that takes time and planning can be achieved by setting the goal, determining intermediate steps to keep the project going, and taking each small individual step.

Ralph Waldo Emerson – Spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that follow it.

I feel that I am leaning on the book and not my own understanding, which would be great if it was the Bible or I was leading a class, but I’m trying to throw my two cents in to make the topic more personal in case anyone ever actually reads this.

The past week has been a blur as I have moved from one thing to the next to the next in a flurry of activity. In actuality, the stress I have felt is not due to trying to do too much, but to hoping for a good outcome for some potentially high impact opportunities.

I had established a routine of planning my day each morning after time reading and praying and asking God what is important today. I then took each activity one by one through the day and worked them one at a time until it was complete or time to do the next. I have been exhausted, frustrated, and all the typical things that come along from doing a whole lot in a short period of time, but I never felt overwhelmed like I used to.

Setting priorities and letting the calendar fill up is a great thing. I have learned that I can block out a little more time for the important things in the list above, but I have found that by being intentional, I have been more impactful in what I do.