Defeating Busyness

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Repent

Confess your busy-ness. Acknowledge the symptoms, negative effects, and the self-serving or self-directed reasons you get so busy.
Refuse excuses.

Trust

Accept the word of the Lord to provide and care for you, and trust that it is a binding commitment from God.
Obey the word of the Lord as He calls you to use your resources (including time) to fulfill the purposes of His kingdom first.

Plan

Schedule a prayer day to evaluate and reorient your life using this guide.
Write a brief description of what your life would look like if it were full, but not busy.
Evaluate: Make a list of the activities that fill your life in a typical week. Mark which activities are ND (Not discretionary); D (Discretionary); C (Clutter). Be careful to identify something as ND only if there is no way to adjust it. For example, your job may be ND, but even job responsibilities/expectations sometimes can be adjusted by changing your work schedule or striving for less income.
Explore: Ask the Lord to help you see what’s not on the list that should be? Add those to your list as ND’s.
Prioritize: Review your entire list. Weed out the C’s, if you’re willing. Now begin to create a new list. Write down and pray over each ND you set as top priorities. Now write down all the D’s you believe are important enough to pursue. Which ones – if adjusted somehow - will make the biggest difference in reducing busyness?
Ask the “Relentless How”: Look at your ND’s one more time. Ask yourself, “How am I going to do this?” When you answer, “I will do X” then ask yourself, “How am I going to do X?” When you answer, “I will do Y” then ask yourself again, “How am I going to do Y?” Continue this process until you are satisfied your commitment and course of action is clear.

Position

Accountability: Somehow you need to “go on record” about your commitments. How and when will you do that? What reminders do you need to create for yourself? Who could you ask to hold you accountable?
Mutuality: Where can you find like-minded people with whom you can agree together to pursue the “unhurried” full – not busy – life? Connect with them. Support each other.
Ministry: Since you tend to mature the most when you give others what you need, and since we are supposed to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” make it a top priority to help someone else (e.g. your spouse) get set free from busy-ness by shouldering some of their load, helping them have a special prayer day or encouraging them in some other way.
Plan to persevere:
- Create checkpoints. Schedule a day 6-months from now to review your progress.
- Build the habit of praying before you make new commitments or add new time-consuming activities to your life.
- Find, buy or make a suitable keepsake that will serve as a meaningful “reminder” of the importance of your commitment to live a full, but not busy, life.