Many in positions of Christian leadership do not have a typical 9-5 type job. Since their day is not structured for them, they need to structure it themselves. For many, this is not as easy as it sounds. Matt Perman’s article on the “Four Things You Need to Do Every Day” (Routines, Office tasks, Projects and People related activities) provides some helpful suggestions for doing this.
I introduced these four things in an earlier posting. In
this article, I want to discuss the first item: Daily Routines.
Daily workflow routines refers to those tasks we do each day, such as cleaning up our work space, planning our day, processing our e-mail, etc. Perman suggests we ought to 1) take these routines seriously and 2) spend an hour or less on doing them, in a batch, right at the start of the day. “They will only get in your way if you don’t nail them out immediately” he argues.
I have found Perman’s suggestion extremely helpful. I experimented with several approaches and finally settled on using a daily checklist covered with plastic. When I complete an item on this list, I simply cross it off with a dry erase felt marker. At the start of the next day, I erase the list and start over. If I don’t finish everything on the list in an hour, I simply leave it for the next day. Somehow the satisfaction of crossing things off the list helps motivate me.
As I began to implement this habit, I realized that in my own life I actually had three different sets of routines:
- Daily Spiritual disciplines related to my walk with God
- Daily household tasks
- Daily office tasks at the start of each day
Eventually I ended with three checklists of daily routines. Here is a photo of the daily routine checklists I’m currently using. A person needs to find what works best for him/her – this system is working great for me.
Practicing this habit has help me get these routines out of the way at the start of each day and freed me to concentrate my attention and energy on projects later in the day.
