Are You Managing Your Life, or is Your Life Managing You?

Everyone is a manager. We manage our time, our finances, our children, our household, our health and our pleasures. Or do they manage us? If I had a dime for every time someone told me they had too much on their plate or that there wasn't enough time in the day to accomplish everything I would be able to retire by now. Well, at least I would have a bunch of dimes anyway.

The last time I read it, the bible instructed man to take dominion over everything, not for everything to control man. It is called management. The art of scheduling, coordinating and effectively accomplishing things that need to be done in order for things to run smooth.

How well do you manage your time? Do you never seem to have enough at the end of the day? Are you stressed and tired all the time? Do you never have time for you, your family or even God anymore? How about fun? When was the last time you did something just for the fun of it?

If your schedule is too full, you need to fire the person booking YOUR schedule. Oh Yeah! you can't; that is you. Well then you need to at least take control over your own schedule and stop over booking yourself. Listen, anyone can seem to be busy, but what good is life if you don't have time to enjoy it? What kind of parent will you be if you never have time to spend with the kids and do you really think your relationship with your spouse will last if you don't take the time to keep that fire burning?

The best way to get your time in order is to prioritize what you do in the importance it needs to be done and say NO to the things that don't fit. Put it on the calendar and if you must, find someone to help hold you accountable.

1.Schedule Time with God: This will prepare and equip you for the things the world will throw at you. Ignore this and you are setting yourself up for a bad day

2. Schedule time with your spouse if you are married. Get away a minimum of one evening a week and one weekend a quarter. This will help keep your marriage strong. If you skip this step, you may be scheduling an appointment with an attorney.

3. Schedule time with your children. Again, if they are that important to you, prove it. Love is time spent, not money spent and booking them for every after school activity is not healthy or spending time with them either, that is scheduling time for the coach and the dance teacher top spend with them; not you. Toss the tutu and YOU teach them something, like how to spend time with their parents. Skip this step and your time may be spent going to councilors or court appearances.

4. Schedule time with yourself. You need time to clear your mind and unwind. Pamper yourself, do something you enjoy. Take this time to analyze your life, dreams and goals. See if you are making progress and still headed in the right direction.

5. Schedule time to improve yourself. Learning, reading, listening to educational and motivational Cd's. If you are not learning, you are not growing. Not as a spouse, an employee, a parent, nor spiritually. If you don't grow, neither will your relationships with God, your family or your bank account.

6. Clean Your Plate. If you are like most people, you are saying; "Yeah right! I would need an extra 2 days in the week to do those things." WRONG! God gave everyone 24 hours in a day and that is enough time to do everything we need to do PLUS have time left over for our desires. Who said the kids had to be booked every evening of the week? Booking them for every extra activity doesn't make you a better parent. As a matter of fact, I know many instances where it hurts the children and their relationship with the parents. Who said you had to be at every function the church puts on? Who forced you to volunteer for so many things? Take some time to clean your plate. Resign from so many positions, Allow the kids some time to breath and if you have to work 60 hours a week just to survive, maybe you should liquidate some of the debt you have so you can actually enjoy life for a change.

Bottom line folks; If someone came in to look and see how you were managing your life, how would they rate you? Looking busy is one thing, but being successful is another and I don't just mean financially successful, I mean having an overall successful life. Look at how you manage your marriage, your relationship with your children, your health and yes your fun and relaxation. If something doesn't look successful, do something about it!