A garage door opener provided an epiphany on ministry stress. After using it for several years, the garage door opener I keep on my car visor had a dead battery. For some reason, no one could get it open to replace the battery. So for several weeks, I had to hop out of the car and punch in the code to put my car in the garage. No big deal, right?
However, when the battery was finally replaced, I realized how much extra, unnecessary stress that little new action had added to my day. The relief at being able to push the button was a bit shocking. I learned that while we are often aware of those monumental stressors in our lives, the tiny ones go unnoticed and can become a major source of our stress.
So what is that almost unnoticed stressor in ministry that is wearing us out? Remembering all of those thousands of things we need to do and feeling as if we don’t accomplish enough of them. While, there’s not much I can do about the number of items you need to get done (except encourage delegation to others who have gifts in those areas), there are a couple of quick fixes for the stress of remembering and focusing on all of those tasks.
First, you need to create the most thorough to do list of your life. Have a separate sheet of paper for each category or use an organizational app like Google Tasks. You need to download everything that is swirling around in your brain. For some of you that means to feel relief, you may even need to write down things like vacuum your home and answer emails. The more you can put down on “paper” the less the stress from the fear you may forget something.
Every morning look at all of your lists. Overwhelming, right? Decrease that stress by picking three things…just three things, you are absolutely committed to completing that day. For those large tasks, you will need to break them down into the small action steps needed to complete the task. Now, choose one to three of those to complete each day. If you run into an insurmountable obstacle for one of your three items at some point during the day, substitute it with something else from your list, so you can still complete three items. If you have someone or something you unexpectedly need to minister to that takes a large part of your day, substitute it out for one to three of the previously chosen items for the day.
Why three? Time management experts usually choose this seemingly random and small number. It allows for interruptions, but also gives you permission to decline those time wasters by informing people you have to get back to the things you must complete by the end of the day. It’s your own deadline creator.
A couple of things to remember. Update that huge list daily. Chances are you may have completed other items on the list that weren’t one of your big three for the day. You also need to add the new things that were added during the day or that stress from fear of forgetting will start to build again. Also, if you’re a fan of paper to do lists, you will have to re-write them whenever they get too messy to easily scan, otherwise you will avoid looking at the list and will forget something.
Try doing these two organizational every day. You may find your stress is greatly reduced and your productivity has actually increased.