As I have gotten older I have found routine to be more important in my life. Most areas of our lives require routine to be successful.
An area of my life that needs the most routine is my prayer and bible reading time. I have always been inconsistent in this area. I know it is important for my spiritual walk but I do not always stay on top of it. Back when I had my business it was much easier. After dropping off the girls at school I would come back home around 9am and go into the garage. I had a small table and a chair in there. I would spend around thirty minutes reading and praying. Okay, 25 minutes reading and 5 minutes praying. I am not exactly a fancy prayer. Since closing my company last year and slowly heading back towards traditional employment my daily (Monday through Friday) quiet time has been neglected.
While working on my Hard Work Network (HWN) page this weekend I was considering something I could do that would challenge me over the next ninety days. In some ways it is a little bit of a cop out to just put down my school schedule. Since I will be taking classes for the next several years this could make for a very boring page, for everyone.
So, for the next 90 days here is what my Hard Work goals will be.
- Human Anatomy and Physiology - 6 credit hours
- Human Growth and Development – 4 credit hours
- Get up early enough (Monday – Friday) to spend 30 minutes in prayer and bible study before starting the day.
The third item on that list will be much harder than the other two. I am not a morning person at all. I do remember how much that quit time helped me a couple of years ago but it was not early in the morning. I am not a good evening bible reading and prayer person I am usually just too tired and too easily distracted.
I had a great chat with my pastor last Tuesday morning and he was the one who encouraged me to get back into the habit of doing this each morning. I shared with him some struggles I have been experiencing during the last year, and how I was struggling with my prayer life. Hopefully this will help me get back into a healthy habit.
I will Facebook and Tweet (using the #HWN tag) my favorite verse of the day as an additional accountability tool.
Thank you to everyone who has joined the HWN with me. I really do love the accountability. I can tell it is going to be a great took to help all of us stay on track with our ideas and goals.
Be sure to check out the other members!
This is probably where I struggle the most as well. I am trying to get up in the morning and read my Bible before getting out of bed. It has been an interesting experience that I hope to continue. I’d like to add journalling and more prayer as well.
I have never been much of a journal writer. Doing this once a week is all I can handle.
This morning felt great. I even had time to sit with my youngest before leaving for work.
I started a 21 day study on Character using Youversion. Pretty good so far.
James – appreciate your openness and honesty sharing about your struggle w/ quiet times/Bible Study through the years. Very glad to hear you’ve got a goal to really prioritize those quiet times this year. I fully believe that our strength to do anything stems from staying connected with God. Eager to hear how your new habit affects all areas of your life in 2012
That’s a good addition to your list. It is definitely a challenge. I’ve been playing with the idea of posting some longer term goals. I don’t think they belong on the Current Hard Work list, but I think they should be somewhere. I also don’t want a bunch of disjointed lists all over the place. Any suggestions for how to work with this?
That’s a good question, Raun.
I would like to think that any long term goal could be started on the 90 day HWN list. I am using the power of our community to get myself started on this new habit. I certainly plan on continuing the habit for a long time; I won’t quit just because it is off the list after 90 days.
Some items, like your doors, naturally fall off any and all lists once they are complete.
In my mind long term goals change with our lives. I want to get my master’s in nursing but I am open to the idea that life changes and it may never happen. Still, the idea is out there ‘in the clouds’ as a possibility. All the steps in between will most likely make it to my HWN list.
Brent Green is awesome at this kind of stuff. I’m going to drag him in here to give us his feedback!
Good idea! Let’s get Brent involved. I guess what I’m thinking is that the long term goals should be in their own place (whether online or off, but written down either way) and the steps toward the goals should be on the Current Hard Work list. Those tasks should probably be granular enough to be able to complete them in 90 days. I think the fog is starting to lift.
Hi Folks -
I’m in agreement in keeping the longer term and day to day goals separate. Steph and I have a long-term goals document (contains everything over several years). Then, we’ve got a working document with all the goals from the current year that we look at every few weeks…and update it. At the end of each year, we create a new working document (often w/ the same areas of focus – spiritual, relational, vocational, financial, etc) but with different/updated goals for the next year.
How do you guys keep track of your goals day to day? Online? Paper? Something else?
Thanks for chiming in, Brent. Unfortunately, I’ve been pretty bad at creating goals. I’m good at making lists, however once written, I have a habit of not looking at them again. I’m trying to fix that issue and the Current Hard Work list has kept me on my toes. I’m leaning toward putting my longer term goals online for this reason.
Hi Raun -
I’ve had this problem as well. One of the ways I’ve helped deal with this is to put these goals somewhere that I can see them every day. For me…it’s on my computer where I write in my prayer journal. Where could you put those goals to keep an eye on them? My wife likes to print them and put them on the refrigerator
Enjoying the discussion here guys
Thanks for coming by and adding your thoughts, Brent.
I knew you would have some good ideas!
Is that one of the main things you cover each winter on your yearly get away?
Seems like a really cool idea to me!
That’s right James. Usually, I have the yearly goals written out by then….and have talked some about it. But…we review the past year….and review plans for the next year on this end of the year ‘get away’. Those get aways are very valuable times for Steph and me….and we make sure and have some fun, relaxing time as well on those trips
I like the idea of setting goals together!
I like the idea of a yearly get away better! lol
This is an area I am neglectful in as well. Every week I leave church aglow with the passion of a life lived for Christ only to spend much of my week ignoring Bible reading and prayer. Now I pray all the time, but I need to be spending time actually sitting quietly and listening as well rather than having a constant one-sided conversation with the Lord. I neglect that all the time and it is sad. It is easy to then feel guilty about it, much harder to turn that feeling into action.
I commend you on your goals, I’m trying to do the same my friend.
My chat with Pastor Jack was a good one, Carl.
We talked about the ‘pray without ceasing’ idea and how it is easy to use that concept to neglect intimate one-on-one prayer time with God.
Yes, I can pray while driving my car down the road but I should never consider that as a replacement for quiet prayer in a room alone.
The more I find my prayer time being while I drive down the road the lower my bible reading time gets. In my life prayer and bible reading to together.
I thought this was an appropriate article to pass on while discussing routines. Here you go!
thedailyretort.com/the-difference-between-monotony-and-boredom
What project is the HWN going to do?
I’m not sure what you mean.
Something that we could produce together. Nothing concrete, it is just an idea.
Hmmm, I’ll think about it.
I like the concept!