We all want to do better with our time. The secret of using time wisely is in the “perfect day.”
The Bible says, “This is the DAY that the Lord has made” (Ps. 118: 24). How should you arrange your day to feel more at ease and more productive at the same time? Design your “perfect day.”
Start with fellowship
I like to get up early enough to have fellowship with God and fellowship with my wife, Melanie. We drink coffee, read our Bibles, and interact on our purposes, our family, and our activities of the day.
If I get up before Melanie, I like to do what Jesus did and spend time alone with God. These two things (fellowship with God and your spouse if you are married) set the tone for your entire day.
Move to desire
Everyone needs goals. I try to have 10 goals that I am working toward all year. Each day, I do something small toward those goals: health, reading, writing, learning, etc.
I try to work on these goals in the morning hours up until lunch when I am the freshest. I don’t waste those best hours on interruptions: phone calls, texts, emails, surfing the Web, social media, etc. I want my mind to be focused and totally be concentrated on my greatest desires to be accomplished this year.
Get past distractions
Everybody has distractions they would rather not do but have to do. Call it the “Martha” side of life: meetings, calls, and a hundred other “pots boiling over.”
You have to do these things every day. Make sure they are confined to the part of the day that can run on “auto-pilot.” (By the way, don’t eat a “carb-heavy” lunch or you won’t have any brainpower to focus whatsoever on these small details you must work through!)
Time for delight
Now comes the best time of day: fun and family time. Close down your computer (that means to power it off!). You might even turn off your phone. Like Fred Flinstone, it’s “yabadabadoo time!”:
- Eat supper together. This may be the one meal your family can share together. Let each person tell what their day was like around the table.
- Have fun together. Movies, board games, music, and a host of other fun activities should characterize your evening. No work, no technology, FUN!
- Go to bed together. We like to start towards bed around 9:00. The kitchen closed, lights out. We may not go to sleep right then, but going to bed early ensures we will be up early enough to start over again..with fellowship.
I don’t know if this is your perfect day or not.
This is my perfect day, but yours may look totally different. The point is, plan your perfect day around the goals and priorities you want to accomplish this year.
If you can make a day work, you can change your life.
