Over the last year God has been dealing with me in a big way about my need to be a better leader.  At 42-years-old I’ve probably read most of the leadership books out there…not to mention having attended a BUNCH of leadership conferences.  The problem with being 42-years-old is that you start letting a lot of leadership stuff slip and start relying on practices that have gotten you this far in life.  The issue with that…some of those practices are not healthy…they are just easy and convenient…but not productive.
One of the areas that God has really been slamming me with is time management.  The keys to time management is discipline and consistency…which normally do not go hand-in-hand with Attention Deficit Disorder.  I often tell people I do not suffer from ADD…I rather enjoy it.  All joking aside,  ADD has many plus sides for leaders…but one of the down sides is the ability to stay on task in meetings, normal work sessions and conversations.  This can lead to some pretty bad time management habits that can take its toll on me…and those around me.

It’s no secret that my time at Evolve and Unleash really kicked me in the butt…and forced me to re-examine what I am doing as a leader.  At my age…I never expected that to happen…but am glad it did.  I believe that my life, my marriage, my church…and especially my relationship with God are better for it.  During the recent butt-kicking I have had to make…and am still making…some changes to my time management practices.  I’d like to post about some of those over the next few days in hopes that God might allow it to speak to others,

1. Scheduling time off.  A church leader’s job is never done…there is always more work…endless work…as the calling of ministry never has a natural conclusion while you are alive.  I’m learning that some days you just have to realize the work is not finished…but still turn it off anyway…clock out and go home.  Taking a page from Maxwell…I’ve started scheduling “meetings” with God, my wife and my family…not to mention some “meetings” just for fun and relaxation.  They get added to my schedule first these days…and very rarely do they get canceled.  When someone asks to meet with me on a time when my personal “meetings” conflict…I just tell them I already have a meeting scheduled then.  It is not their business what meeting I have scheduled…so I don’t tell them if they ask me who I’m meeting with.  God, Denise and my personal stability is just as important as the other person’s issue…and their priorities are not my priorities when it comes to scheduling meetings.  Yes it pisses some people off…but better them be mad at me than God or Denise.

2. I‘m cutting way back on the Internet.  I believe that the ‘Net is quickly becoming today’s crack.  Blogs, podcasts, Twitter, MySpace, Google, YouTube, etc., etc, etc.  It never ends and there is always something pulling at you. I’ve dropped my blog feeds that I’m tracking down to twenty…ten I read daily…and ten I read once a week.  They are guys or sites that God is really using to speak to me right now.  They change on occasion…most are not the well-known guys…many aren’t even friends of mine that blog.  I almost never go to YouTube any longer and I dropped my Facebook account.  I only keep MySpace because of my involvement with local youth programs…but am seriously considering dropping that.  Twitter is something I do for fun…and block “followers” that nudge me when I only post to it once a day.  Twitter is the new “cool kids table” and has a shelf-life of about two years…I’ll be one of the first to switch tables…in fact that day is fairly close.

3. My blog is not my life.  I have met many really cool friends and mentors through my blog.  It has allowed me access to areas and people that I would have never have had otherwise.  I think God has called me to share things about my life as a church planter and pastor because I have no filters…and God seems to use that to speak into the lives of other church leaders (I have no clue why…but I am humbled and grateful for it).  However, my blog is not my life…just a small part of it.  I do not derive my self-esteem from it…I do not keep up with the stats…I could care less who it ticks off…and I do not see it as an open form of communication.  I am grateful for the readers…and the people that say they get things from reading it…but there will come a day when ChrisElrod.com is no more.  There have been weeks when it has become the “tail that wags the dog”…and like everything in my life that is not about God, family and calling…it is subject for the chopping block when it comes to time management.  As a result, I am cutting back some on the lengthy posts (though apparently not this post) and the number of times I post each week.  Only in rare cases will I post Friday through Sunday.

4. Games are mainly for children.  I love a good video game.  There are days when leading a NCAA football team to Xbox victory…or slaughtering a butt-load of enemy soldiers on the virtual battlefield…is a stress-reducing activity.  However, too much of it can produce way more stress.  I have cut back to almost never playing video games…they are like meth for me…I start out just playing one game…then three days later I’m still staring at the same screen…eyes bloodshot…clothes soiled and smelly…teeth rotting out…no bath…no food…just endless button and joy stick action.  It’s not healthy…it’s not productive…and pastoring isn’t so stressful that it warrants that.

5.  I said goodbye to soggy shoulders.  Church planting and pastoring has some pretty tough days.  Get over it…stop your whining…snotting…sniveling.  Too much time was being wasted each week by crying on someone else’s shoulder…or someone crying on my shoulder…about how tough leading a church was.  I came to realize that a BUNCH of time was being wasted on griping, complaining, whining, being ungrateful and just plain being a wussy.  I also came to realize that I pee standing up…that God gave me a pair and I better use them.  I still have “those days” where I’ll want to get advice from others about how to handle a difficult situation…but I don’t go whining to them.  I also have cut folks out of my life that only want to cry on my shoulder about how bad they have it.  Seriously…get past it.  We are church planters and pastoring…the coolest calling in ministry…the best job in the world you can do with your clothes on.  The time I wasted whining to some else…or have them whining to me…could have been better spent just dealing head-on with the issue.