You’ll End Up Thanking Yourself
By: Jeff Davis
Tags: Purpose Driven Life, Prioritization, Helping Others, Self Improvement, Time Management

Image: quotefancy.com

John Powers is one of the most involved people I’ve ever met. He is a successful communications consultant, a college professor at Quinnipiac University who has his PhD, and a leader of a semiannual service trip to the Dominican Republic where he serves some of the poorest people in the world.

The purpose of this post is to share how to fulfill your inner life while overwhelmed with a lot of different priorities. To truly create a life on your own terms it’s essential you have your values and priorities in the right order. In order to break through society’s lies, you must first become more organized.

Please note: This was originally written while John was still in the process of getting his PhD.

How to Effectively Juggle A Lot At Once

“The service you do is incredible, to say the least,” I said to John with a smile. “I also know you have so much going on in your life. A challenge for some people I talk to is they would love to give back, serve others, and make more time for themselves, but have a hard time making the time for that in their hectic, demanding, and overwhelming schedules. Any thoughts or tips?”

“You must prioritize on a daily basis,” John said. “Don’t be afraid to juggle things around and shift priorities. For example, my lab for one of my classes in my PhD program is not due until the end of the week, but I must teach my class tomorrow morning. So I’ll make sure to prepare for my lecture tonight before doing any work on the lab.”

You don’t want to over-delegate, but there are times when delegating can be effective.

“For the Dominican service trips I’m in charge of the whole thing, but I’ve learned to delegate to other people who in turn delegate to others. Certain people are in charge of groups depending on the project and activity.”

John embodies the qualities of strong leadership as well as effective teamwork. He is able to authentically serve others in these big trips because of his strong time management skills, as well as his attention to detail. With that said, there are difficulties as well. Despite decades of experience, it can be challenging at times.

“It’s hard to balance a million things,” John said. “But saying no when and where applicable is important and I’m getting better at that.”

Never be afraid to say no when saying no is the right thing for you to do. It can be incredibly challenging to do, but you’ll end up thanking yourself for doing it. Be polite and respectful, but don’t say yes to someone when you really want to say no.

Saying no is about authenticity — the authenticity needed to be true to yourself. It’s important to say no regardless of how others may interpret your no. As author Ryan Holiday argues, “If you can’t say no, you’re a slave.”

John also loves productivity apps and technology, embracing them as reliable tools in the digital age we live in. Evernote, an iPhone, a MacBook, or any computer are all valuable for scheduling. He keeps all his PhD stuff in Evernote and if he’s waiting in line or in a waiting room of some sort, he’ll pull up his notes on his phone. This allows him to think in terms of time segments and break down a hectic schedule into small, manageable tasks.

John uses Notability, pdf readers on his iPhone and iPad, and Todoist to keep track of all his activities. John uses the premium versions of these tools and finds them to be quite affordable — Todoist helps him with particular reminders.

“These tools save me,” John said. “Without them, it would be so much harder to keep track of everything. I’m able to serve others because I stay on top of my schedule. Also, I use driving time well. I often use my drive time to make important phone calls on my Bluetooth device. If you’re in the car sitting there and driving, you might as well use the time to your advantage.”

John undoubtedly has a lot going on, but he says that “multitasking is detrimental”. What John means by this is that when you are doing something, focus on one thing at a time. It’s alright to have many activities in a given day and several skillsets overall, but when you are doing one thing, do that ONE thing with your full concentration. It will lead to an increase in output and productivity (as opposed to doing something with semi-concentration and not giving it your best effort).

I know you’ve probably already heard “focus on one thing at a time”. But it’s worth repeating because fulfilling your inner life is about focusing all of your efforts into your greatest areas of impact. Greatness lies in the elimination of the nonessentials in favor of the single-minded focus. You will not be able to effectively lead yourself and others until you take control of your time.

John reminds me of the other greats I’ve interviewed over the years, in his inherent ability and talent to make the most of his time while always thinking about how he can best help others. John’s values are in the right order — despite his insanely busy schedule, he puts his family, his faith, and his relationships above everything else. That’s what makes John such a great guy — he’s an extraordinarily productive man who serves others, and he’s also down-to-earth and makes time for his friends and family.

“I had all this reviewing and studying to do the other night,” John said, “for not only my PhD program but for the college classes I teach at Quinnipiac. But I went and saw my daughter play her volleyball game and I really enjoyed it — I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

John hit the nail on the head. Time management is really nothing more than life management. If you have your priorities and values mixed up, then everything else will be out of whack. There’s nothing wrong with having a large number of commitments as long as you are able to keep it all in perspective and make the right choices when push comes to shove.

Always remember that in order to best serve others, you must stay on top of your time. You must have your values in order and be a person of character like John. Easier said than done, but very possible with practice.

Here are tools you can consider using to better manage your time and priorities:

· Todoist

· Notability

· Remember The Milk

· Evernote

· Wunderlist

The reason time management is so important is because in order to break free from society’s brainwashing, you must become more organized. You need to take full and complete control of your life and time. Time management is really self-management. Be careful what you commit to, and be slow to make promises to others. When you do make a promise, be true to your word.

Learn more about John’s Dominican Republic Mission Team — incredibly important and valuable work. He and his team are making a real difference.