Day 23: The Importance of Organization

This weekend I was with a friend that I look up to and consider one of my mentors when it comes to business. He has 20 years on me but we engaged in some good conversation while fishing. We talked about working at home compared to going to an office. We both came to the conclusion that it takes a lot of will power to have a home office. This is where some pastors find themselves along with staff. My friend told me, “there is no way I could do it; I have to get away to work.” I went on to tell him that you have to be very disciplined whether you are full time or a part time at a church and working out of a home office. The reason for the discipline is that when you are at home you can become so preoccupied with other things. You can begin to get caught up with kids, house things, etc. These of course are not bad…you have to stay disciplined to get things done so you do not become a night before preparer. I much rather come to church on Sunday or Wednesday with nothing to do other than hang out with people.

I thought I would share what my week looks like and the importance of charting out a course for each week. On Mondays I do nothing…ABSOLUTELY nothing (at least I try to keep it that way). The reason for this as you can see from a previous post…if you don’t keep a day open for yourself you will go insane because theoretically a pastor has office hours, but it doesn’t seem to work out that way. Tuesdays I have staff meeting in the morning and then when my wife comes home from work I begin and wrap up my Wednesday night study. This is also the time I update the church podcast with the message from the Sunday before. This is also a time when I begin to work on my message for Sunday. On Wednesday’s after bible study I work for about 3-4 hours on my message along with power point, etc. This is also a time I examine issues going on in the church that need to be addressed. These issues can range from putting out fires, to working on fine-tuning the way things are done. Thursday is the day I do printing, sending out he e-newsletter and work on all things tech. From examining the website to working on things at the church, it all has to have attention paid to it. When Friday rolls around I wrap up my message and make sure everything is good to go for Sunday. Throughout the week there is always time for appointments, Facebooking, and meeting with people to just fellowship with.

Am I able to stick with this format every week? No. I can tell you already this week is going to be messed up due to things out of my control. This plan however is what I stick to 90% of the time because the one thing I do not want to become is someone so overwhelmed from procrastination that I have no time for the key thing and that is time with people and my family.