Self-control involves much more than simply refraining from taking one more cookie. It is easy to relegate self-control issues to sins and peccadilloes of the flesh, strive to above average respectable in that department, and call it self-control. Now of course it is important to have the appetites under control, but for most Christians today, the central self-control issue is that of managing the schedule.
And part of this problem is that this evokes the standing question—by what standard? Peter Drucker taught us to distinguish efficiency from effectiveness. “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” It is far better to load the right truck slowly than the wrong truck swiftly.
Whenever we talk about control over our schedules, priorities, and projects, it is easy to be immediately distracted into massive guilt over our inefficiencies. What we ought to do first is run an inventory on those things we are doing, however well we are doing them, to ensure that we are addressing the right tasks, the ones assigned to us by God.
Moms, are these your kids? Dads, is this your job? Students, are these your classes? In short, are you facing your responsibilities squarely? Are you refusing to be distracted by things that are not your responsibilities? Have you learned the gift of a Spirit-inspired no? “I can’t take that on right now.” As Oswald Chambers once put it, the need is not the call. And as someone else less spiritual-sounding once put it, “not my circus, not my monkeys.”
Are you loading the right truck? If you are, thank God for it, and make sure you stay at that truck. As you stay at that truck, limiting yourself to that truck, you will find that some of your inefficiencies have disappeared by themselves. And as you carry on faithfully, you will begin to remove your own inefficiencies. And when that has happened, as you have learned to bear your own burden (Gal. 5:5), you will find that you have a genuine surplus of time and competence, which means you will be in a position to help others bear their burden (Gal. 5:2).
Good stuff. Thx
I have been thinking about these kinds of things recently in terms of administrating (work or home). While I have often considered efficiency ( working smart rather than hard); other concepts have been helpful in addressing this issue. As you say, taking on the right task is important. But other than efficiency, I think the concepts of capacity and capability are very useful. Some people have high capacity. Then go much longer with smaller breaks and get less worn out (on average). Some people are capable and can do quite complex or specialised tasks. Some people are efficient and take… Read more »
Working for a Gov. Agency and loading the wrong truck slowly. When you try to load the right truck it is highly discouraged. Is it a sin to avoid the work altogether and just collect the paycheck?