Wednesday • September 08 • 2010

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Off the Clock

Charting How You Use Your Time

You know how when you're trying to lose weight, people recommend writing down everything you eat for a week? The thought there is that you eat way more than you realize and that awareness will help you cut back.

I have a similar recommendation when it comes to youth ministry. I'm a self-diagnosed workaholic. I always have been. I've gotten a lot better in the past year, but it's still something with which I struggle.

About a year ago I decided to chart my work throughout the week, sort of like writing down everything I eat. Everytime I took a phone call from a student at 11:00 at night, had a texting conversation, ran into a parent at the post office and talked to her for half an hour, had a student come in to the laundromat needing to talk while my clothes were in the dryer, worked on my teaching calendar in the middle of the night because I was "up anyway"...all of it.

Turns out I was working pretty much non-stop. Having that information on paper helped me to realize that I really did need to create some space in my life.

Now, being a person who likes things in writing, I try to block off empty space in my Google calendar. I block off evenings or whole days where I commit to not doing any youth ministry related tasks. I can't say I'm awesome at it yet, but I'm on the road to recovery, that's for sure.  When I feel like I'm slipping back into my old habits, I just chart my work again for a few days as a reminder.

So if you have a sinking suspicion that you're working way more than you realize, try writing down all of your youth ministry related tasks for a week. You might be shocked by how little time you spend "off the clock."

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