2 or 3 Things

Through my former mentor, my present mentor and the excellent book Shopping for Time by the girls at GirlTalk I have been challenged to intentionally work through the habits I have and which habits I need to develop in order to pursue a passion for God and be more effective personally and in ministry.  It’s almost like new year’s resolutions except that I actually plan on working on them and keeping them!

One of the best pieces of advice in this process has come from the GirlTalk girls: only focus on 2 or 3 things at a time.  As I sit down and think through all that needs to change in my life it’s hard to narrow it down to just 2 things.  I look at a list and think, "But all of this needs to change…now!"  I implemented this advice for the first time this January.  I gave myself two things to focus on for three months: getting consistent with morning time in the Word and scheduling my week first thing each Tuesday.  Today I looked back to see how I’ve done.  The scheduling has been fully implemented and I love it.  I’ve also done fairly well at the morning devotions although that habit is a little harder to make static. 

It’s been a lot different than having a huge list of things to focus on all at the same time.  It’s been freeing.  If I think of something else I should be focussing on I can say, "I’ll focus on that next" rather than feeling like I need to add it to a list of shortcomings.  I’ve also found that focusing on scheduling has helped me in other areas.  One area where I struggle is keeping up communication (which is a vital part of what I do!).  I found that when I’ve had the phone calls I need to make and the e-mails I need to write in my schedule I am able to keep on top of that without actually focussing on communication.

While it may seem like wimping out to only focus on 2 or 3 things, in the long run I think more gets accomplished in the habit making process.

So what are my new focuses for the next three months?

Prayer: Both sentence prayers of commitment throughout the day and blocks of prayer time.

Physical Activity: Doing something active for at least 15 minutes a day each day, with Sunday as a ‘sabbath’. 

There you have it!  Feel free to check in on me and see how I’m doing!