Finding Rhythm in Life and WorkSample

Prayer: Ask God to reveal Himself to you today.

Let Your Season Inform Your Rhythm

There is a seasonality to life and work that we must acknowledge if we want to establish a healthy rhythm. Pursuing balance isn’t just dividing all the parts of our lives equally. We have multiple roles, and they have to be held in the right tension. It is totally possible for one person to be a parent, child, neighbor, friend, manager, managed, student, and volunteer – all simultaneously.

As our roles and responsibilities grow and change, so must the allocation of our time: going from single to married, renter to homeowner, or maybe you start a family. Your time, energy, and attention need to flex. Then consider layering in all the changes you navigate at work. Now you are managing people, or you become a director, vice president of the company, or perhaps start your own business. All these transitions require us to re-prioritize for a season and adjust to a new reality.

• How would you describe your current season?

Once we pinpoint what season we are in, it is critical that you find a framework to help you prioritize what you give your time and energy to. It could be broad and expansive, like that of a long-time friend of Workmatters. His personal motto was, “I will be efficient with my tasks so I can be inefficient with my people,” meaning his diligence and discipline with tasks can bring freedom to spend time with people. Or it could be highly structured. President Eisenhower developed a system to prioritize tasks, and Steven Covey repackaged it. It is called the Eisenhower Matrix, the Time Management Matrix, or the Urgent-Important Matrix. (You can find it with a quick Google.) But the point is, choose a tool that will help you say a better ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the things that plead for your attention.

• What are the top four things that need your attention in this season?
• Now rank them 1-4.

Solomon said there was a time for every season. Paul used an agricultural analogy. Then he talked to Timothy about finishing a race. Not only do seasons change, but we change. So, to think we can live and work on autopilot for years is not a redemptive (or wise) way to steward our time. As a single, you may have to put guardrails on overworking because no one is there to help you regulate. As a parent of young children, you may have to hop back on for an hour or two after the kids go to bed. As you get older, you may need to shift more time into handing things off to others to finish well.

There is a lot at stake if we don’t find a rhythm in life and work. Our poor example will impact the people closest to us. We will become tired, fruitless, and far from the people God created us to be.

• What is one thing that I will do this week to honor the season I’m in?

Close in Prayer