This is a guest post from time management coach Elizabeth Saunders. In episode 37 of the BoldIdea podcast, Elizabeth talked about divine time managment.
In my new book, Divine Time Management: The Joy of Trusting God’s Loving Plans for You, I start by encouraging readers to put trust in God at the center of their time management. But what does that mean on a practical level, especially when we’re facing messy, difficult situations?
Here are three key scenarios where we can struggle without God but with God we can experience perfect peace:
Scenario 1: There’s More to Do Than I Can Get Done
Unhelpful mindset: It’s hopeless. I’m a failure. It’s all my fault. I need to feel guilty for the fact that I can’t keep up on everything perfectly. I need to push myself to work crazy hours in a desperate attempt to keep up.
Helpful mindset: I accept that I can’t get everything done. I can turn to God and rely on Him to lead and guide me. Each day, I will do what I can in the hours I have and trust that God will take care of the rest and work things out.
Scenario #2: I’m Afraid I Can’t Meet Standards
Unhelpful Mindset: My success or failure is based on how well I meet real or perceived earthly standards and by how happy I make the people around me. If they are happy and I meet their standards, I’m golden. If they’re not happy or I don’t meet their standards, I’m a loser.
Helpful Mindset: I need to always step back and evaluate whether or not external standards are truly my responsibility and if they’re realistic. I can do my best to meet the standards of the people around me. But ultimately I can evaluate my success by whether or not I was aligned with God and His plans and will for my life. If I did what God wanted and walked in love, that’s enough for Him.
Scenario #3: I’m Being Judged on Results I Can’t Control
Unhelpful Mindset: Even though I don’t have complete control over the results of what I do, such as in a sales or business development scenario, I take on full responsibility for them. I live in fear that I won’t get certain results. That leads me to try to control situations or people to make certain results happen.
Helpful Mindset: I focus on what I can do in any situation. I ask God to lead and guide my actions, and I consistently put effort in the direction of my goals. But I give all the responsibility for the results to God. I trust Him. I believe that He can and will provide the results that are needed. Even if certain worldly standards aren’t met, I can know that He can and will take care of me.
With divine time management, we don’t abdicate responsibility for good stewardship of our time. God does desire us to make wise decisions and to be diligent. But God doesn’t want us to take total responsibility for how everything goes in our life or what results we produce. Time and time again in the Bible, we see that God does the miraculous work when His people simply trust, obey, and follow Him.
God is still the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He wants you to experience the same freedom of trusting Him with your time instead of trying to manage it all on your own.
Elizabeth Grace Saunders is an internationally recognized expert on effective time management and the founder of Real Life E Time Coaching and Speaking. Her company partners with individuals on the journey from feeling guilty, overwhelmed and frustrated to feeling peaceful, confident and accomplished. Follow Elizabeth at her blog, on Facebook and on LinkedIn. Find her latest book, Divine Time Management: The Joy of Trusting God’s Loving Plans for You on Amazon.