The Work of Holy Week: Wednesday / The Impact of Time

Part III in a 5-part series connecting daily work with spirituality

Wednesday: "My time
is at hand..."
All of us know someone who is over committed
and whose life is stretched too thin.  The physical signs are all too
clear: fatigue, lack of energy, poor diet, and health complications.
On a social level too, there are some red flags that immediately catch
our attention: they may be snippy, overly negative, and quick to
dismiss new ideas.  Whatever the outward "symptom", an overly taxed
life is not something to which many of us aspire and yet can easily
find ourselves dabbling in.

We dabble in just one more
committee.  We dabble in another activity for our kids.  We dabble in
another weekend event that's 20 minutes away.  It's only 20 minutes, we
tell ourselves...  At the end of the day, a little dabbling here and
there can add up to too much stress and not enough calm.

On the flip-side, a balanced life is rooted in knowing what we're all about and then sticking to it.  One of the great gifts of GTD
is that you can take a break from the day whenever you want to,
precisely because you have a clear sense of what still needs to get
done and how you're planning to do it.  In the summer months, I will go
off campus for lunch and just park my car under a tree in a nearby
parking lot.  I eat a sandwich and enjoy my book on tape.  It's amazing
how 30 minutes away from work leaves me fired up to go back to work.

In
today's Gospel, Jesus' sense of time leaves an impact on those with
whom he "works".  He knows that his earthly days are numbered and has a
clear vision of how he'd like to use those hours and minutes.  Do you
have a strong direction for your day?  Is your agenda laid out and
timed accordingly? 

As Holy Week rolls on, take the time to
write down the things you'll need to get done.  Refer back to your
lists and be sure to include any ongoing projects that need attention.
My guess is that you'll find that, like Jesus, others will take your
lead and improve their own sense of time management.  Today is Wednesday of Holy Week.

The Work of Holy Week: Tuesday/Daily Speed

Part II in a 5-part series connecting daily work with spirituality

Tuesday: "What You Are Going to Do, Do It Quickly"

How quickly do you move through the day?  Are you a quick-and-easy or a slow-and-steady?  By breaking the day up into bite-sized parts, we can do some helpful eval:

• Early morning: is your routine so ingrained that you don't have to think about what you're doing?



• At work: think about how you move through the hall ways, through your agenda, and through your to-do list.



• Evening: do your rituals augment how you wind down and recharge?

Brian Tracy is a huge proponent of moving quickly throughout the day.  When at work, work.  When heading to a meeting, get there.  I'm often amazed at how blah so many folks are at work, moving around as if they might like to be somewhere else. 

Another way of thinking of speed at work is to figure out how much you make per hour.  Even if you are a salaried employee, figure out your per/hour fee.  As you move through the day, are you working at $25 or $50 or even $100 per hour quality work?

The Gospel reading today speaks of Christ's famous line, "What you are going to do, do it quickly."  Action is decisive and success is built on the shoulders of many small and courageous decisions.  As you work through the day, act quickly and with purpose.  Today is Tuesday of Holy Week.

The Work of Holy Week: Monday/Do Something Different Today

Part I in a 5-part series connecting daily work with spirituality

Monday: Do Something Different Today
Regulars
to The Daily Saint know that my "Work of Holy Week" series was popular
last year so this year we'll journey again through Holy Week, but with
a personal productivity spin to things. 

The Gospel reading today
speaks of a woman, Martha, who does something special for Jesus.  Not
without great sacrifice, she presents Christ with a costly gift.  As
with all things worth doing, she faces criticism and the rumor mill
starts churning.  Who is this woman?  Why would she spend her money on
such a gift?

What's also of interest here is that she breaks the
mold by doing something different.  Her actions are unexpected and
imply change in the statusquo , not something that entrenched folks are
casual about.  I'm guessing there are those that you work with who are
pretty hesitant to change- Lord knows I've got a few.

Martha
teaches us something important: personal productivity is actually
enhanced by breaking out of our comfort zones and routines.  There is
however a BUT here- the only way to break out is to have some kind of
infrastructure in place.  Routines, rituals, daily habits.  These are the backbone of true productivity masters.  It's the kind of stuff that David Allen talks about with regularity.

For the Road
As
you head through your day, remember Martha and do something different
today.  Run your meetings differently.  Take a new route home.  Call
someone who you've been thinking about.  Use your calendar with greater
precision.  Get out in the yard and enjoy Spring.  Say your prayers
with deeper energies.  This is Monday of Holy Week.