Katheism

I was recently talking to a friend who felt like she was being pulled in several different directions, all of them away from her life priorities. For example, she strongly hoped to start a personal project that was close to her heart, but she was entangled in other commitments.  It wasn’t merely that she was busy; it was as if all unassigned free time were being usurped by everything else that demanded it — of course leaving little or nothing for what was most important to her.

Her situation reminded me that time is a precious resource that must be carefully guarded. Where are we investing our time? Are we using it to fulfill our own life mission, or squandering it on someone else’s? Do we impose on others in a way that carelessly tramples their time?

One of my favorite books is Gordon MacDonald’s Ordering Your Private World. In it he emphasizes the seriousness of budgeting one’s time for the sake of effective living. The following are four “laws” which he applies to all “unseized” time, that which has not been thoughtfully budgeted.

MacDonald’s Laws of Unseized Time

LAW #1: Unseized Time Flows Toward My Weaknesses

Because I had not adequately defined a sense of mission in the early days of my work, and because I had not been ruthless enough with my weaknesses, I found that I normally invested inordinately large amounts of time doing things I was not good at, while the tasks I should have been able to do with excellence and effectiveness were preempted.
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LAW #2: Unseized Time Comes Under the Influence of Dominant People in My World

A famous “spiritual law” states that “God loves you and has a plan for your life.” Men and women who do not have control of their time discover that the same can be said about dominating people.
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LAW #3: Unseized Time Surrenders to the Demands of All Emergencies

Charles Hummel in a small and classic booklet says it best we are governed by the tyranny of the urgent. Those of use with any sort of responsibility for leadership in vocation, in the home, or in our faith will find ourselves continually surrounded by events that cry out for immediate attention.
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LAW #4: Unseized Time Gets Invested in Things that Gain Public Acclamation

In other words, we are more likely to give our unbudgeted time to events that will bring the most immediate and greatest praise.

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Learn more about Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald