calendarThe Five Steps to a Peaceful Ministry Day are:

Schedule:

We are often in debt to our work, but scheduling maintenance third will go a long way to freeing us to focus on the ministry to which God has called us.  The next step is scheduling due dates.  When we get our upcoming due dates scheduled and out of our minds, we can focus better on the things that are actually in front of us.

Here’s one helpful way to think of due dates: due dates are those things that will take less than ten hours and need to get done by a certain date for a certain person.

Some due dates might include:

  • Preparing a talk for a special event
  • Pulling together your annual report
  • Etc.

It’s probably NOT a due date if:

  • It’s a recurring event that requires preparation, such as a staff meeting, bulletin, newsletter, or sermon.  All those things should be scheduled as maintenance.  For example, if your weekly newsletter article is due Wednesday, prep should probably be part of your maintenance on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (depending on how much time you normally spend on it).  If it’s maintenance, you shouldn’t have to think about it – it should just happen.  Always schedule recurring due dates as maintenance.
  • It’s a one-time event that will take more than 10 hours to prepare for.  Add items like these to maintenance as wellso that you can work on them for weeks in advance.  For example, if the annual meeting is coming up, and it looks like you’ll need to spend 15 hours putting together a good talk and presentation, schedule 1 hour a day in your maintenance for at least four weeks before the meeting.  You’ll wake up one day (probably early), and it will be done without you having had to worry about it.

Schedule Due Dates Fourth

Here are some basic tips for scheduling due dates fourth.

  • Always keep track of due dates on your calendar.  Mark them with a special color so that they stand out.
  • When possible, schedule due dates a day or two early. You’ll often forget about the actual due date and will actually get things back to people early, which is always a good thing for anyone trying to practice peace.
  • As much as possible, say no to out-of-the-blue due dates.  Resist dramatic “I-need-it-tomorrow” demands from your board or congregation and instead treat the issue as something to be dealt with over the next week or two.  That way, if a genuine crisis arises, you will have the ability to deal with it and then get back to a regular routine more easily.  When scheduling due dates fourth each day, look ahead two weeks and schedule time for the due date that is closest to you on your calendar.  If there is more than one, you can obviously schedule some time for each.

If you make the distinction between maintenance and due dates that I am suggesting, your calendar will suddenly be very due-date light.  You won’t have to worry about due dates because you’ll have so few, and you’ll have the ability to manage them with only a moderate amount of stress.

If you have any comments or question, please send me an email or write in the comments section!