How To Manage Your Time This Summer

I don’t know about you but I often fool myself into thinking summer is a time when I get a break. In fact, I often believed that lie my first couple of years of ministry. Instead of feeling rested I was more stressed out hitting the fall.

The problem is that I wasn’t preparing. I would attend the camps that I had planned for the students, but that was it. The rest of the time I took it easy. While summer is a season where you can breathe it’s also an important season to:

FOCUS ON THE BIG PICTURE

I’m sure there are several items on your to-do lists, but don’t let them take over your summer. If you are only focused on the tasks in front of you, it will cause you to lose sight of your vision.

Take a professional day (Or better yet a week) to look at where God wants to lead you over the next year (Even two and five years). Set those goals and develop a strategic and tangible plan to get yourself there.

Share that plan with your team and you’ll find yourself focused on what’s most important. You’ll know what to say, “No” to and what deserves your resources.

INVEST IN NEW RELATIONSHIPS

People seem to have more flexibility in the summer. Take advantage of it by meeting them for coffee or a bite to eat. Grow your relationships so that when it comes time to:

• Ask them to serve in your ministry
• Financially support what you do
• Advocate on your behalf
• Inviting them to be a part of a leadership/accountability team

They are more inclined to say, “Yes.” They’ll see the investment that you’ve made in them and they will want to return the favor.

WORK ON YOUR WELL-BEING

How do you plan to grow this summer? This is the time to work on yourself by:

• Taking on a learning experience (i.e. conference or retreat)
• Putting together a summer reading list.
• Planning a real vacation where you rest and refuel.
• Setting a health-based goal like training for a marathon or lose 15 pounds.
• Incorporating some new prayer habits.

Take some attention off of the ministry so that you can spend time increasing your capacity and improving your well-being. When you work on yourself you’ll be less stressed for the fall and more focused on what needs to get done.

Don’t let the summer slip away. Take the opportunity to invest in what’s most important and not just what’s urgent. Yes, you might not accomplish everything on your to-do list, but what you do get done will take you to the next level.