Personal Log 7.14.20

I look at all the great people who have ever lived, the ones who accomplished so many things in their lifetimes & sometimes  (well, all the time) I wonder how they did it.

Since Adam & Eve, we've all had the same 24 hours a day & just like money, some invested their time & others wasted it.

Does the secret simply lie in the fact that they led uncomplicated & focused lives? Is multitasking the enemy of productivity? Why can some people multitask & get several things done while others multitask & get nothing done?

I look at people in the Bible & I say to myself, “how did they have time for all that? Maybe the question I should be asking is how did they make time for all that?” Jesus accomplished more in His lifetime than many of us ever will in ours; the Bible even says that there aren't enough books to record all the things He did. I mean did He sleep for 30 minutes a night or was He just really, really focused? I often wonder if Jesus ever took a day off & just walked along the shore line, skipping stones or if He went for a hike in the woods, just enjoying His creation...

Look at William Shakespeare, how did he write all that stuff in one lifetime? He only lived for 52 years...

How was Agatha Christie so prolific in writing? Just look at the sheer volume of work she created...

I've heard that Theodore Roosevelt read one, sometimes two books per day & still got things done like running a country & writing books of his own, that's unreal to me…

Take a look at the lives of both Nikolai Telsa & Thomas Edison, ideas & inventions that just kept coming…

I'm looking right now at the Neal Morse Band & how they keep pumping out new music every year & it's fresh, do they eat/sleep/drink music 24/7?

A friend of mine published his book last year & I'm very happy for him; I know it was a labor of love but he got it done while pastoring a church, preparing sermons, connecting w/ community leaders, running a few miles every day & maintaining a great marriage to wonderful woman. I greatly respect that & he's my age…

During this pandemic, I've been examining my own life, what my priorities are & what I need to get done.

I'm not using this as an excuse but lately I've been putting in 12-14 hour days working on some projects for some elderly people & neighbors, that doesn't leave a whole lot of time for other things… this season will pass as I get the projects done & I'll have more time freed up but I'm much more aware of the passage of time & just what I'm doing w/ it.

I'm in process of working on an acoustic worship CD, rewriting some of the songs & laying down tracks when I can but it seems so slow w/ all the other aforementioned projects going on...

I'm also looking at a collaboration Christmas CD but everyone else is busy in the Summer which leaves the Fall in which a Christmas CD should already be recorded…

In the last week I've been revisiting my genealogy book, looking it over & thinking I need to finish it within a year…

So I have all this stuff going on while watching some videos between midnight – 1 am from my pastor on how to read the Bible & at that time of night, I'm not sure how to the answer the questions on the worksheet…

I've heard where some very successful people use this model (or something similar):
- work on a project for 45 – 60 minutes
- then take a 10 – 15 minute break
- then work on another project for 30 – 45 minutes
- take a 10 minute break
- then move onto another project for 45 – 60 minutes
- take a 30 minute break, go for a walk, play some bocce
- revisit the first project refreshed

This model works for some people as it eliminates fatigue, other people just plow through & work on one project at a time; I guess it just depends on what kind of person you are & if inspiration hits you.

Again, maybe it just boils down to priorities & simply reaffirming Jesus as Lord of my life, Lord of my day & Lord of my time...