Hard Work Beats Talent

Time Management Tip: Minimize Distractions

In the past ten days I have attended my church’s women’s conference, traveled to speak at the Declare Conference, helped with the book fair at my daughter’s school, took my husband to get out-patient eye surgery, attended a soccer game, spent far too much money at a local arcade, and did my very best to maintain the boundaries and balance of working at home and keeping up with this month-long writing challenge. I always think I’ll have plenty of time to work and write when I’m in airport or on planes, but do you know when I got the most work done? Sitting in the waiting room of the eye doctor. I had no wifi access to distract me with social media, so I pulled up a few Word documents I needed to work on and got it done. By the time my husband finished his quick surgery, I’d crossed several items off my to-do list.

While trying to write this post I spent a solid 20 minutes looking on the Target website for an outfit my daughter could wear to school that would work for both school photos AND gym class.

We often think that multi-tasking will help us accomplish more, when we’re actually far more effective when we take the time to minimilize our distractions and focus on just one thing at a time. Maybe you need to intentionally log out of social media, delete the apps from your phone, put your phone in another room, work somewhere without wifi, or set a timer to keep you focused on the ONE thing you need to do right now. When we spread ourselves too thin we don’t have the strength to do well the work God has called us to. 

Inspiration:  “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” Tim Notke

Resource (affiliate link): 5 Word Prayers by Lisa Whittle

I know, I know – this isn’t actually a time management resource. But I’m going to tell you that you need this book in order to start your day focused on the tasks God wants you to tackle. I don’t do well with long morning devotionals or Bible study – I get bored and distracted and usually end up feeling like I’m more of a failure at the end of it all when I’ve spent 30 minutes and just feel more burdened by what I didn’t get done. This book is changing all of that for me. Lisa focuses on a different five word prayer for 40 days, combined with a reading that truly takes less than 10 minutes. I’m only on day 4 and already love how it’s shaping my day and how I turn to God throughout my work hours.