On Sunday, I picked up “Tyranny of the Urgent,” a booklet by Charles E. Hummel that basically discusses time management in light of the life of Christ. The spirit of the book seems to be summed up in this statement,
An experienced factory manager once said to me, ‘You’re letting the urgent crowd out the important’.
He describes how many people in our world today seem to wish for longer days, wanting more time to meet all of life’s many and busying demands. Yet, he goes on to say that more time likely would not solve our problems.
When we stop long enough to think about it, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than a shortage of time; it is basically a problem of priorities…
He continues,
We live in constant tension between the urgent and the important. The problem is that many important tasks need not be done today, or even this week. Extra hours of prayer and Bible study, a visit to an elderly friend, reading an important book: these activities can usually wait a while longer. But often the urgent, though less important, tasks call for an immediate response—endless demands pressure every waking hour.
In college, I learned this lesson the hard way. I remember at the very beginning of freshman year, I was interviewing our campus minister for the school paper. I don’t remember what question I asked him, but I remember his response that haunted me throughout the rest of my time there.
You have to guard yourself against the temptation to become ‘sinfully busy’.
Sinfully busy. What does that mean?
Well, he went on to say that it meant having so many things to do that you can’t concentrate on what you are doing currently. You’re so busy that you’re always looking ahead, mentally engaged in the next task before actually finishing the one you’re on. This is making a grocery list at work, doing homework for one class in another, thinking about what to make for dinner while you’re talking to a friend. It’s losing that sense of presence to whatever is right in front of you.
For me, not only was I probably over-engaged in too many classes, activities, etc., but I didn’t know how to prioritize. Each day’s to-do list got so long, with demands stretching so far out in front of me that I had to be “on” every hour, hurrying and scurrying to try to get it all done. I did not yet understand the blessed art of prioritizing that could keep me afloat on the sea of constant demands that threatened to overtake me each day. To know what is most important…this is one of the most surefire ways to simplify life.
One of my friends told me in college that a counselor explained to her the cause of her anxiety, “Your problem is that you see all your daily demands on a horizontal plane, with each being equal in weight and priority. What you need to do is start seeing demands vertically, with the most important being at the top and the rest falling underneath.”
To escape the tyranny of the urgent, Hummel writes,
The answer lies in the life of the Lord…What was the secret of Jesus’ ministry? We discover a clue in Mark’s report of what happened after the very busy day of teaching and healing which we first noted, ‘Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed’ (Mk. 1:35). He prayerfully waited for his Father’s instructions.
A college roommate of mine always kept this quote on her desk, “You may not have time for all the things YOU want to do today, but you do have time for all the things GOD wants you to do.”
I think that quote stuck with me because it describes Hummel’s answer to the Tyranny of the Urgent, which is to pray and follow God’s instructions.
With an infant in my life, it is hard to predict my days. How much time will I have to dedicate to his care, to chores, to writing, to whatever else crops up on my to-do list. And yet, I have found that when I make prayer a habit of prayer at the beginning of my day…even if it is short, holding my son in one arm with a bottle in the other…the tasks of my day are better prioritized according to God’s measure. Not that I do this perfectly…my bad habits and other problems often cause me to succumb to the Tyranny of the Urgent instead of following the Divine to-do list. But…with patience and effort, I believe I will get better at listening and prioritizing.
When I converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, I learned this morning prayer by Met. Philaret of Moscow, which I (and many others, I think) really like:
O Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace. Help me in all things to rely upon Your holy will. In every hour of the day reveal Your will to me. Bless my dealings with all who surround me. Teach me to treat all that comes to me with peace of soul and with firm conviction that Your will governs all. In all my words and deeds, guide my thoughts and feelings. In unforeseen events, let me not forget that all are sent by You. Teach me to act lovingly, firmly, and wisely, without embittering or embarrassing others. Grant me strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day with all that it shall bring. Direct my will. Teach me to pray. Pray You Yourself in me. Amen.
Amen.
I’m going to tattoo that prayer on my foot or something. I’m also tempted to give a copy of this post to every person in management at Panera. Oh my–the distinction between the important and the urgent is something I deal with every moment on the job. I have learned a wealth of what to concentrate on when there is a line of customers out the door, I am under-staffed, and I have a customer that needs a refund right in front of me. What’s important at this point? Yep, it’s still loving my neighbor even when they come into my life in the form of an unreasonable and spoiled American customer. It’s still loving the teenager who’s messed up another salad, thus driving the ticket-times ever higher, customers getting ever angrier. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned from my job. I fail a lot.
Yet I’m still not good at this when it comes to life as a whole. I had a dream in which I had a ton of bread in my car from work. I then realized that I was in a bad part of town and someone was about to break into my car and hurt me. I went to get onto the freeway and a traffic jam instantly formed, and at this point I realized that my breaks had gone out as I smashed to a stop. Stuck. When I prayed about the dream, I heard God’s voice (which I seldom do): “Was it worth it, Sarah?” The bread was provision, money–and the part of town was my spiritual life. My breaks going out was my being too busy. Is it really worth it to have financial provision from working a lot, but then being in a dangerous spiritual position–not-to-mention unhappy and stressed? Seriously? I’m glad for the dream: it’s God’s warning to me as I make preparations to begin a new chapter in my life in which I have a chance to re-set my priorities.
I always think a time in my life will come in which I will get time to just vegg and not worry about anything. Ha! After all, I do plan to have children. No, there will still be much to do. Have I mentioned to you (I think I have) that Eugene Peterson talks about rushing being a sin? We are trying to go outside the healthy boundaries that God has set for us. How freeing and beautiful to accept God’s playpen for us instead of trying to escape all the time. I did this a lot as a toddler and I always ended up with a goose-egg on my head. After doing this to myself over and over again as a college student, I think my head has had enough goose-eggs on it–enough sleepless nights up doing papers with my heart beating fast, wondering if I will get done in time–that I’m ready to reassess some things.
Thanks so much for this post. I’m stealing that prayer.
I’m looking forward to graduating soon so I can get back to writing!
Wow…thanks for this comment. I like the dream…that gives me a visual because, well, I rush all the time. And now, as I often lay awake at night feeling my heart pounding, I think, hmm maybe it is time to…SLLLLOOOWWW DOOOOWWWNN!!!
Why is this so hard?
As I wrote, I think college trained me to be overworked and anxious (more than I naturally am). I like what you say about not going outside the boundaries God has given us. Ugh, at the end of the day, when I wish I would have read more, wrote more, cleaned more, visited more, whatever…I feel depressed that I couldn’t pack more in. But you’re right. Is it worth it? No. Not worth sacrificing my health for the to-do list.
There is a little book I read that you might like…Adrenaline and Stress by Archibald Hart. I am really interested in this topic of how-much-is-too-much and what it physically does to the body. As an anxiety sufferer, I like to know what research says about my limits. Maybe you’d be interested, too?