driving“I have to be at Starbucks in five minutes!”

We’ve all looked up from our work and realized we were late for an appointment, and probably more of us than would want to admit routinely show up fifteen minutes late for scheduled meetings.  This creates a lot of stress for us, and, no matter how gracious the people we meet with are, inevitably they wonder what other promises we have a hard time keeping.

Schedule Driving Second

Remember the five steps:
Schedule:

  • Rest first
  • Driving second
  • Maintenance third
  • Due Dates fourth
  • “Important” things last

I suggest scheduling driving second because along with the time we set aside for rest it sets the “hard edges” of our day (Allen, Getting Things Done).  Stephen Covey uses the metaphor of filling a container with rocks, sand, and water.  Using the same amount of each, he tries to put them all in a container but can only get them all in when he puts them in rocks first, sand second, and water third.  In any other order, they do not fit.  This is, obviously, a metaphor for putting first things first, which is the title of one of Covey’s books.  I suggest we schedule rest and driving first because, as the hard edges of the day, they are the container we fill with our rocks, sand, and water.

Scheduling driving only takes a minute or so a day and has great benefits.  Here are some guidelines.

  • Always add five to ten minutes to your estimate to allow for “getting out the door” time.
  • Always allow a minimum of fifteen minutes to get anywhere.  This is true even if the coffee house you’re meeting your senior elder in is just around the block.  It’s better to be ten minutes early than five minutes late.  For driving, I always schedule in fifteen minute blocks.
  • If you’re going to be late for some reason, always call at the time that you were supposed to be there if not before.  Say, “I’m so sorry that I am running a few minutes late.  I expect to be there in ___ minutes.”

Often, I will set an alarm on my cell phone for about five minutes before I need to leave an appointment with someone.  I let them know up front that I’m doing it so that I can focus on them instead of being worried about the time.  Only do this if it’s really important to leave at a specific time.

An Example Schedule

Let’s walk through scheduling rest first and driving second.

You walk into your office at 8:00 am and look at your calendar.  You have three appointments:

11:30a – Lunch with a leader in your church
2:00p – Coffee with a new member
6:30p – Dinner at home

You don’t think that you will be going back to the office between lunch and coffee, so this is how (at the moment!) the day looks (this is a lot clearer and does not constitute a separate step if you are using a paper calendar or something like MS Outlook):

8:00-11:30a – Office
11:30-1:00p – Lunch
1:00-2:00p – Out of the Office
2:00-3:15p – Coffee
3:25-6:30 – Office
6:30p – Home for dinner

Schedule rest first.  It’s 8:00 now, and you work best in 90 minute blocks, so you begin to add rest to your schedule.

8:00-9:30 – Work in the office
9:30-9:45 – Rest
9:45-11:15 – Work
11:15-11:30 – Rest
11:30-1:00p – Lunch
1:00-2:00p – Out of the Office
2:00-3:15p – Coffee
3:15-4:45 – Work
4:45-5:00 – Rest
5:00-6:30 – Work
6:30p – Home for dinner

Schedule driving second.  It takes fifteen minutes to get to the diner for lunch, so we will schedule thirty – that will be plenty of time to get unplugged from what we are doing and arrive on time or early.  It is only five minutes from the diner to the coffee house, but allow for fifteen just in case you and your ministry leader take longer than expected.  Allow thirty minutes to get back to the office.  Finally, give yourself plenty of space to get home on time.  Notice how the driving times interact with the work and rest times.

8:00-9:30 – Work in the office
9:30-9:45 – Rest
9:45-11:00 – Work
11:00-11:30 – Drive/Rest
11:30-1:00p – Lunch
1:00-2:00p – Out of the Office (flexible time)
1:45-2:00 – Drive to the coffee house
2:00-3:15p – Coffee
3:15-3:45 – Drive/Work
3:45-4:45 – Work in the office
4:45-5:00 – Rest
5:00-5:45 – Work in the office (shut down for the day, if possible)
5:45-6:30 – Drive/Rest
6:30p – Home for dinner

If you have some Drive/Rest time, enjoy it.  Listen to the radio.  Sing, pray, whatever.  Try to relax a bit.  If you have some Drive/Work time, use it.  Return a phone call.  Drop something off at the Post Office.  Listen to an audio book you are using for continuing education.

Above all, to practice peace, let your staff and everyone else whom it may affect know when you are going to leave during the day.  Stick to it, if possible.  Keeping these little promises during the day goes a long way towards practicing the peace that you preach.