“Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life” (Ps 39:4).
David accomplished a great deal in his lifetime. However, he also understood life had an end to it, and he wanted to make the most of it. He learned to use his time wisely. And so should we.
Peter Drucker was a renowned management consultant to major corporations and authored many bestselling business books. He suggested three activities that might help busy executives better manage their time.
“First, do not start with the task. Start with your time. Determine where your time is going. Then, attempt to manage that time and cut back unproductive demands on your time. Consolidate your ‘discretionary’ time into the largest possible continuing time units.
Drucker refers to the second step as time management. After listing the activities to which we devote our time, he suggests that we ask three questions about each of these activities to help us minimize the amount of time we waste: “What would happen if this were not done at all?” And if the answer is, ‘Nothing would happen,’ then obviously the conclusion is to stop doing it. Next, which of the activities on my time log could be done by somebody else just as well, if not better? What do I do that wastes my time without contributing to my effectiveness?*
Drucker closes by saying ‘Know Thyself,’ this old prescription for wisdom is impossibly difficult for mortal men. But everyone can follow the injunction ‘Know Thy Time’ if you want to, and be well on the road toward contribution and effectiveness.”
Why not evaluate how you are spending your time and ask God how to better use your time?
*Adapted from Peter Drucker, The Effective Executive, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, NY 1994, 1995, and The Leadership Bible, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1998, p.653 study notes.
