Secret #125 Not Every Opportunity Is an Obligation

Every opportunity people give you—even ministry opportunities in the church—should not automatically be understood as an obligation from God. There are so many good things people want you to do with your short life, you will never be able to do them all. And if you try to do them all, you will miss God’s best for you. If you miss God’s best, you will not finish this life well. Hence, the ability to determine the difference between what is good and what is God’s best for you is a powerful advantage in life.

The question is: How can YOU figure out what's merely a good opportunity and what's a God opportunity?

To answer that question, I encourage you to observe the decision-making genius of Jesus.

For a FREE PDF download on how Jesus determined the difference between a mere good opportunity and a God opportunity, GO HERE.

You have my enthusiastic permission to share this FREE PDF download with as many people as you wish.

Thanks for reading Amazing Time Management Secrets.

Secret #104 Beware the Knee-Jerk No

No is a two edged sword.

It can cut you free from entanglements you shouldn't have been involved in to begin with—and it can starve your very soul.

That's right. If your autopilot is set to automatically say no to everything... your soul will starve.

Consider this: It's possible to be so focused on protecting YOUR schedule with "no" that you miss God's agenda for you.

Think about it. In such cases, you're not saying no to people or opportunities—you're saying no to God himself.

That's not where I want to live.

Yet, saying yes to God doesn't mean saying yes to everything.

So here's my two cents: Learn to say no... but only so you can say a passionate yes to God when he hands you an assignment.

How can you know if an opportunity calling for your attention is just a good thing... or a God thing?

At the risk of being too simple, I would encourage you to do something crazy: Ask Him.

Beware of the knee-jerk no. You could be missing God.

Secret #99 Hula Hoops & Life Lessons

1. There's a connection between the smile on your face and the number of hoops you choose to hula.

2. Make sure the few hoops you choose to hula are the most important ones.

3. In order to hula a number of hoops at one time, you'll need to get into a sustainable rhythm.

4. The more hoops you hula, the more important that you establish a center and then let everything move around that.


5. While everyone has a differnt number of hoops they can hula, you can't hula every hoop.

6. If you have more hoops than you can hula, you'd better figure out fast which ones you can drop... and which ones you can't.

7. It's a beautiful day in your life when you can hula less hoops without frustration or guilt.

8. Say these words out loud: "God doesn't expect me to hula every hoop offered to me."


9. Other people will try to make you hula their hoops.

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Go ahead... click on the comment link below and fill in your own lessons about life from hula hoops. I'd love to share your thoughts with over 1,000 people who read this blog every month! And I will actually add the best ones to our list... so please share your insights with us...

Secret #96 The First Spiritual Flaw

You may have heard of the first spiritual law: God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

I would like to introduce you to the first spiritual FLAW: God loves you… and PEOPLE have a wonderful plan for your life!

If you are going to intentionally and proactively take charge of your life and time, not only must you learn to say no to obvious time stealers in your life, but you must also learn to say no to people who will try to get you involved in many different GOOD activities. To develop the inner fortitude to say no to people, you must:

1. Clearly identify what God’s priorities are for your time at this season of your life.

2. Figure out the difference between a good opportunity and a God opportunity.

3. Say no to doing mere good things.

4. Say yes to doing God things.

Why do you have to learn to say no to good things? Good is the worst enemy of God’s best! If you refuse to learn to say no to good activities, you will never be able to strategically invest your life in what God’s best is for you. It is possible to be so involved in good activities—even church activities—and miss God’s best for your life!

If you need permission from someone to say no—listen up: I HEREBY GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO SAY NO! Dr. Richard Swenson says, “Saying no is not just a good idea—it is an absolute necessity. If there are one hundred good things to do and you can only do ten of them, you will have to say no ninety times.”

Make no mistake about it: We must get used to saying no if we are going to take control of our time—and use it to honor God.

* In what ways are YOU suffering from the disease to please?
* With whom?
* What do you think God wants you to do about it?




Note: This blog entry was taken from the workbook and audio CD, Time Management for Painfully Pooped-Out People: Ten Biblical Principles for Taking Control of Your Life and Time

Secret #80 Create a NOT To-Do List

Knowing what to STOP doing is just as important as knowing what you must be doing.

As I was reading the Bible this morning, I read where Jesus said, "I have not come to...." and then he explains exactly what he would not do with his time... and then reaffirmed what he would do with his time. (For the complete context, read Mark 2:13-17.)

Jesus got me thinking today. What is my "NOT-To-Do List"? If I can get my NOT to-do list clear--it wil certainly help me create a clear and properly prioritized to-do list.

Think about it.

If you figure out what you should be doing for this season of your life, but you don't stop doing less important things already in your life... you won't have time to do that which is most important.

This is the law of posteriorities: In order to take on some new activity you must first get rid of an old one. For no one has a limitless capacity to keep adding activities to life without pitching something.

Hence, the law of posteriorities accentuates our need to create a clear Not To-Do List

Click the comment link below and share with us your short NOT To-Do List.