Body by God

There is always enough time to get the important things done. The problem is never truly that there is not enough time; the problem is that there is not enough time management.

I have multiple areas of my life that I consider to be firmly planted in Time by God. It is critical to me that each of these areas be done well. In order to do this, I have to look at myself as almost having split personalities. I literally have seven lives:

All these lives help others and serve God, so each is worthy of being done with excellence. All my lives together make up my mission. I am passionate about each area and do not look at any area as work, but as loving, joyful, blessed service.

There is a saying: “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.” I have changed that to “If you want something done well, give it to a busy, successful person.” Busy, successful people have learned how to compartmentalize their time so they can get multiple things done better than many people can get one thing done.

It would be easy to look at my many lives and say I must be overworked and miserable. Not that I never am. Who isn’t overworked and miserable at some point in their lives? But it is not very often. Through proper compartmentalization and delegation, my life is actually fun and fairly easy to manage.

The important thing is to draw lines around each life. When you are driving, if there is a dotted yellow line, you can pass or cross over into the other lane. However, if there is a solid yellow line, you cannot pass and you cannot cross over. Others cannot pass or cross over either. I paint solid yellow lines around each of my lives and the Mission Work they contain. That way, other lives cannot pass or cross over, and I cannot pass or cross over into them.

For example, on Monday morning I have my Spiritual Life, my Author Life, and my Patient Care Life. In order for me to accomplish all three of these important lives successfully, I must create focused time for each one.

From 5:00 A.M. to 6:00 A.M. is my Spiritual Life. At that time I am nothing else. I draw a solid yellow line next to that life so I am not a doctor, author, or speaker. During this period of time, I am a student of the Bible and a prayer warrior and nothing else. No other life is allowed in at that time. I do not take calls, the kids aren’t up yet (hope-fully), and I do not look at any e-mail.

At 6:00 A.M., my Author Life starts. There is a solid yellow line between Spiritual Life and Author Life. Once it hits 6:00 A.M., Spiritual Life time cannot cross over, and Author Life time cannot cross back. (Although the time you spend on your spiritual life goes with you everywhere.) Author Life goes from 6:00 A.M. to 6:45 A.M. with total concentration on writing.

At 6:45 A.M. I become a doctor. There is another solid yellow line drawn between Author Life and Doctor Life. I drive to my office and see patients from 7:30 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. At 11:00 A.M., you guessed it, another solid yellow line is drawn and I begin another life. Sometimes it’s nap life—but it’s still scheduled. I learned that one in kindergarten.

Each day has Spiritual Life, Family Life, and Health Life. All my other lives are strategically placed throughout the week so all that needs to be accomplished is done well.

Obviously, it doesn’t always work out so perfectly. Sometimes a child wakes up during times designated for reading or an extremely urgent issue pops up that cannot be handled by the people to whom I have delegated authority. At those times, I have to practice flexibility. I do not want to become massively stressed when something or someone tries to get by me in the “no passing lane.”

If lives “cross over” into other lives, as they occasionally will, I try to remember the admonition “That’s life.” I work to get past the issues and try to get everyone and everything back in their lanes as quickly as possible before there is an accident!

Unfortunately, a few times a year there are some traumatic, stressful five-life pileups. But by getting back to proper compartmentalization through the painting of solid yellow lines and proper delegation, I usually manage to escape with only some minor damage.

BBG Owner’s Time Management Tip: Moment Management

At the age of fifty-two, my father died suddenly and without warning. The unexpected shock of his death and his early departure from the planet left me feeling bitter for a couple of years. What finally got me past the feeling that I had been shortchanged or somehow ripped off was looking back on my life and realizing that I’d had a lot of good “moments” with my dad over the time of his short life.

My father was your classic late-twentieth-century working dad. Even though he was gone before I got up for school and came home late for dinner every night, I always had tremendous respect and appreciation for him.

I respected how hard he worked, that he was great at his job, and that he had reached several positions of authority. I appreciated the fact that, although we were not rich, we never wanted for anything. When he walked in the door at the end of the day, my little brothers and I were not just happy to see him, we were jumping out of our skin, bouncing off of the walls.

As hard as my father worked, and as focused as he was, never for a second did I feel neglected. The reason I always felt loved and appreciated was that while most of his week was consumed by work, when we were together we had endless good “moments.”

I truly do not remember being without my dad, but I totally remember everything about being with my dad. The games, the catches, the wrestling matches, the car rides, vacations, movies, meals, lectures about life, and the time when I was in college and he drove four hours to surprise me at a bus station so I wouldn’t have to take the bus home, are all “moments” that are indelibly carved into my brain and my spirit forever.

The quality of your life is not measured by the amount of time you spend, it is measured by the amount of “moments” you have in it. You should have many “lives,” Business Life, Purpose Life, Spiritual Life, Student Life, Husband/Wife/Boy or Girlfriend Life, and Dad or Mom Life. The quality and effectiveness of these “lives” will be determined by the focus and energy you put into the “moments” within these “lives” rather than just the time you spend on them.

I don’t feel cheated out of time with my dad. The fact that he worked a lot or died too soon does not bother me. When I reflect back on my childhood and early adulthood, I thank God for the many incredible “moments” He allowed my dad and me to share before He took my dad home. I don’t blame Him; I’d want my dad home too!

Many of my lives have details I delegate to someone else. I don’t cut my grass, build my own deck, fix anything that breaks, order supplies at my office, do my own taxes, or change my own oil. The more world-zone activities and God-zone details I can pass on to someone else, the more time I have for my Mission Work.

Delegation also dramatically speeds up results. Not only am I more effective at the life I am living, but there are several other people helping me to move the other lives I have forward. So while I am being an author, a team of people are helping my lecture series grow and my clinic run smoothly.

All the people I delegate to have my schedule so they know when they can call me. People helping me with the details of my Author Life know to leave a message or email me when I am in my Doctor Life. We speak or meet at set times throughout the week that are designated Author Life times. The accountants and managers in charge of business issues send me daily and weekly reports and updates to keep me abreast of what is happening. I then read these items and/or meet with these people only during designated Business Life times weekly or monthly.

If someone helping me with my Lecturer Life tries to contact me when I am in my Family Life or someone from my Business Life tries to call me when I am in my Author Life, I let the voice mail get it or have someone take a message. I wait until I am back in my Lecturer Life or Business Life to return those calls or handle those issues.

When I first try to get people to start delegating, I usually run into two problems:

Many people have some control issues, but most people have huge control issues. At some point in your life, you are going to have to trust somebody if you are ever going to take some weight off your back, reduce your stress, and move forward. Issues dealing with money, family, and important areas of your home or business may be hard for you to “let go” of, but you must learn to delegate even the vital things. It may take considerable time and prayer to find the right type of person, but there are a lot of high-quality, trustworthy people who need good jobs and would love to help you achieve your mission.

Understanding cost versus investment is another major reason people refuse to delegate. I hear things like: “Why should I pay someone to mow my lawn (clean my house, paint my fence, do my taxes) when I can just do it myself?” This is called being “penny-wise and dollar-dumb.” You save pennies and cost yourself thousands. While you are busy picking up socks, trimming hedges, and putting Armor-All on your tires, you could be advancing your skills, growing your business, playing with your kids, or sup porting your religious organization. You can easily spend several hundred hours a year working on “stuff” and “details” that you could have paid only pennies to someone else to accomplish for you. You could have used all that time to exponentially explode your life and construct a future to be proud of.

There are plenty of neighbors’ kids who will cut your lawn for twenty dollars. If you cut your own lawn, you steal that kid’s twenty dollars. You also steal time away from God, your family, and yourself.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! (Eccl. 4:9–10)

When departmentalizing your life, you must create maximum-security, impenetrable barriers between lives.

When I am an author, I am focused on being an author and not a doctor. When I am a doctor, I am focused on being a doctor and not an author or a lecturer. When I am a family man, I am focused on being a family man and not an author, a doctor, or a lecturer. This guarantees not only living these lives, but living them with excellence.

The scheduling forms at the end of the chapter are a very generalized view of a typical day during the week doing what it takes to lead many lives with focus and excellence. In between some of these times are things like food, some enjoyable reading, movies, and some phone calls with close friends. While life should run by the hour, it would be tough and somewhat restrictive to have it run by the minute or the second.

The people I delegate to carry out many of the details, production, and promotion of my lives also have compartmentalized times for their work throughout the week that are blocked out with solid yellow lines.

At designated times throughout the day, week, or month, I meet or speak with the people I have delegated items to or read and answer their e-mails to me. These activities have solid yellow lines around them as well.

When planning your time, God is first, your family is second, and your mission is third.

Through compartmentalizing my life by painting solid yellow lines and delegating a tremendous amount of work, I have become very time efficient. I can live out my multiple lives with passion, excellence, and considerable productivity.

On the other hand, while I am very efficient with time, I am careful not to be efficient with God or people. As a husband, dad, doctor, and someone who is always seeking God, I have to constantly remind myself that God and other people come first. Particularly the people closest to me whom I have the opportunity and responsibility to help. Therefore, I can never become subdued into thinking I am too busy achieving to stop and show my love and appreciation to God and the people who need me.

God must be your first love. To show love for God, it is important to consider what He wants. I imagine God wants what most fathers would want. (Remember, this is your heavenly Father, so what He wants does not include more time fishing or lying on the couch watching football.) A father wants you to love Him, spend time with Him, and not get caught up in the bad things and useless distractions of the world. The Bible’s word on this topic states, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

Home Delegation

My wife, Dr. Sheri, runs a large chiropractic clinic, is a mom, and has a very active fitness and spiritual life. We delegate parenting and other family responsibilities to each other whenever possible so we can both get our “lives” accomplished.

When our schedules clash at times, we delegate and get a baby-sitter or a grandma to help. We do this even if it is just a half hour to let her get a workout in or to be there if my wife and I want to pray or go for a run together.

For the success of your family and to help find prosperity in all areas, be sure to delegate at home.

The Only Life I Always Lead (I Am Third)

1. God

2. Family

3. Me

That is why my Spiritual Life is always the first life I lead in the morning and Family Life is a daily priority.

The people I work with or deal with every day are not a means to an end. I do all that I can to lead and encourage them and not just get something from them.

You can be efficient and economical with time, but you must be helpful and effective with people. In every life you lead, God comes first, your family comes second, and you are third.