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What’s in Your Backpack or Briefcase?

Decision Making

4 Sep

Fellow former procrastinators, you may have a backpack, briefcase or tote bag, but we’re all loading up for fall activities.  Our tendency to delay makes it easy to grab ‘n go.  Instead, let’s pause to deliberately make sure we have the vital things with us.

Grab your “toter” and dump it out before packing new things in.  Throw away old papers, gum, lifeless rubber bands, and pens that don’t write.  Turn that thing over and shake out the crud.  It’s important to take care of the crumbs – discard all we can and tend to things left undone.  No need to carry old leftovers around that weigh us down.

Now it’s time to pack.  There are three critical things we should carry in our bag – priorities, routine, and margin.

Priorities – We define priorities for the year to help us know what to take on.  (“Priorities and Activities” August 16, 2017).  Defining priorities also helps us know how to approach what we do take on.  (“Maximizing Activities” August 21, 2017)

What are your priorities?  Daily quiet time with the Lord?  Reading together as a family?  Prepare for a mission trip – learn a bit of another language, study a culture?  Take a project manager course?

Routines – These are the procedures we put in place to help us accomplish the most important things.  They are the bowling bumpers that help us avoid the gutter so our ball stays in the lane and we knock out the priority pins.  (“The Bumper Theme” January 9, 2017)

What routines will you establish?  Get up early to meet with God?  Scripture memory at lunch with the kids?  Professional reading Tuesday and Thursday evenings?  Third Mondays coffee with Susie?

Margin – This is how we guard against overload for ourselves and the family.  We build in extra time for accomplishing tasks and we safeguard time that is unplanned.  We set ourselves up to be calm and not rushed, to be rested, thoughtful, joyful.  (See the blog series on rest and margin beginning with “Plumb Tuckered out?” February 22. 2016)

Do you have the time space to worship God?  Get a full night’s rest?  Recognize and think through issues?  Enjoy what you’re doing?  Ponder ideas?  Just hang out?  Nurture or develop friendships?  Read?

There is overlap among these three things.  We might consciously make routine a priority so we don’t lose other priorities.  We build margin into routine.

When we dash around headed for the next commitment, it’s easy to come up shorthanded.  We scramble, searching for what we lack.  We scramble struggling to catch up from behind.  This is avoidable. We can be equipped to carry what God calls us to. If we think ahead, we can make sure we first have in our backpack or briefcase these three things:  priorities, routine, margin.

Don’t leave home – or stay home – without ‘em!

Have you packed priorities, routine, and margin in your backpack or briefcase this fall?

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1 Comment

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Comments

  1. Elena Schuenemeyer says

    September 4, 2017 at 9:45 am

    I loved this! Ken starts a new job tomorrow and today is the day we will go through the old briefcase contents! As we create a new normal, we will think through the priorities, routine and margin. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

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BETH STERNE
Welcome! It's great to have you here. I'm a follower of Christ and a learner of new ways. By His grace, I am gaining victory over procrastination. This is where I share struggles I face and lessons I'm learning. Join me and other sisters as we put off procrastination and put on peace.

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"Beth’s procrastination talk led me to understand procrastination as a heart issue in need of God’s restoration not just a change of my ways. Beth’s personal experiences helped me discover practical ways to attack my own procrastination. As a result I have become a more loving wife, mother and friend who is able to use the gifts God has given me more fully. I highly endorse this talk and would love to hear it again and again."

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Julia F.

"Beth’s procrastination talk led me to understand procrastination as a heart issue in need of God’s restoration not just a change of my ways. Beth’s personal experiences helped me discover practical ways to attack my own procrastination. As a result I have become a more loving wife, mother and friend who is able to use the gifts God has given me more fully. I highly endorse this talk and would love to hear it again and again."
https://putoffprocrastination.com/testimonials/julia-f/
“Beth’s presentation on procrastination was truly eye-opening. I knew I had a problem with procrastination, but never thought twice about how it impacted my relationships and showed God that I wasn’t onboard with His plan. I began to see each instance took away from being fruitful; I was living for myself! After this revelation, I have been working on procrastinating less. I can see places opening up in my life for more peaceful moments, more time with and for friends and family, and more time for God’s plan to unfold. It’s amazing to know there’s more to life for me than a life full of “should haves” as a result of procrastination.”

Carole S.

Beth Sterne - Put Off Procrastination
2018-08-16T14:42:59-04:00

Carole S.

“Beth’s presentation on procrastination was truly eye-opening. I knew I had a problem with procrastination, but never thought twice about how it impacted my relationships and showed God that I wasn’t onboard with His plan. I began to see each instance took away from being fruitful; I was living for myself! After this revelation, I have been working on procrastinating less. I can see places opening up in my life for more peaceful moments, more time with and for friends and family, and more time for God’s plan to unfold. It’s amazing to know there’s more to life for me than a life full of “should haves” as a result of procrastination.”
https://putoffprocrastination.com/testimonials/carole-s/
“After Beth came and shared about procrastination, many realized that it is possible through the Lord's power to stop putting off what God has called us to do. One mother finally started a blog and another posted a ladies; tea for her church months in advance so that ...she would not put off having it. Although I thought I was not someone who procrastinates, I realized I had some relationships that I needed to work on. Procrastination, I learned, is not just about getting things turned in on time, it's about listening to God and doing what He says to do when He tells you to and obeying God's Word.”

Rebecca F.

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2018-08-16T14:43:28-04:00

Rebecca F.

“After Beth came and shared about procrastination, many realized that it is possible through the Lord's power to stop putting off what God has called us to do. One mother finally started a blog and another posted a ladies; tea for her church months in advance so that ...she would not put off having it. Although I thought I was not someone who procrastinates, I realized I had some relationships that I needed to work on. Procrastination, I learned, is not just about getting things turned in on time, it's about listening to God and doing what He says to do when He tells you to and obeying God's Word.”
https://putoffprocrastination.com/testimonials/rebecca-f/
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Beth Sterne - Put Off Procrastination
Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise! It has
no commander, no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
Proverbs 6:6-8
... you have put off the old man with
his deeds, and have put on the new
man who is renewed in knowledge
according to the image of Him who
created him.
Colossians 3:9-10

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