My last post about this journey through this book had me saying that I choose to Focus.  Focus is my theme word for 2013.  Know what, though?  I am failing at this miserably.  Seriously.  I am so not focused.  Have you noticed an inconsistency in my getting these posts up?  No – even more brutally forth-coming – have you noticed an absense of ANY posts?  I’m not even able to focus on my blogging in general.  Yikes.  And, since I’m in confession mode as well – my home needs my attention, my kids need me to gently corral them back into submission, and even my virtual assistant work isn’t as “on” as it could be.  (hope my bosses aren’t reading this!) Sigh.

But, when I get really discouraged about life – I am grateful that my mind will wander back to the phrase that made me say “huh! well, that is true!”  Want to know what that phrase is?  It was just one line that Chip Ingram said in a Bible Study DVD program that me and some other mothers were going through together.  He said “Failure is never final with God.”  That lifted me up then, and it continues to lift me up over and over again to this day.  (Praise God for the little “hugs” He gives us – just to make sure we know He is there and that He cares!)

Still, I am floundering.  I am ‘failing’ by some people’s standards.  But, you know what?  I choose to not give up.  I choose to follow the convictions that the Lord is placing on my heart and continue to work toward improvement in all aspects of my life.  I may not be as far along as others that started to read through and implement this book and all of its wonderful suggestions, but I will continue to press on through it – with God’s help and grace.  Are you with me?

So, where were we?  In reading through Chapter 4 in iBloom’s “iChoose2 Love my Life” book, I was convicted by the topic.  Wouldn’t you know it?  This chapter focused on time management.  My “aha” moment?  When I read this “A trick to effective time management is to always overestimate how long the task will take until you can determine a realistic time frame.”  I think I have been operating my life under the exact opposite premise.  You know, thinking things like ‘it’ll only take me 10 minutes to get there’ – only to arrive 5 minutes late to the function.  Or ‘we can sleep until 8:30, since only 3 of the kids need showers in the morning’.  !!  Yes, I am quite good at convincing myself of these foolish notions.  (boy, I hope I’m not alone here).

One big blessing I have begun incorporating into my day is having a ‘stop’ time every day.  I find that ‘work’ is never done, and if you do not have a time when you just committ that you are finished for the day – you can work continually – and still not feel that everything is done.  As a mom, I have often felt guilty when my kids arrived home from school and I still had a couple of hours of things that I needed to do on my computer.  I have decided that, as a general rule, I will log off of the computer by 4 p.m. each day and focus on the more important priorities in my life …. my husband and my children.

I have to admit to you all, though, that the chapter suggests that we create a detailed schedule for ONE day and assign a task for each hour of the day, including sleep time – and to try to implement that schedule.  The perfectionist side of me balked even at the suggestion.  I knew I would not be able to actually follow a schedule to the ‘t’ – and that meant that I was setting myself to fail.  I don’t want to fail.  So, true to my old ways – I had convinced myself not to even try it.

Given that what I AM doing isn’t working for me, I am going to prayerful think over where I currently spend my time and then where I should be spending my time and I WILL give this challenge a chance.  Be sure to catch up with me on the next update – where I will share with you what my experience was like in heeding this advice.

What about you?  How do you manage your time?  I’d love to hear from you – leave me a comment below!

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