Take Fifteen

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Ephesians 5:15-17

Here’s another time-saving tip for the holidays: Take fifteen minutes at the beginning of each day to plan. Planning for a few minutes each morning can significantly affect the trajectory of your day, and thus your holiday.

I base this claim on a businessman’s helpful little rule, the 15:4 rule:

“Spending fifteen minutes thinking about what you are going to do before you start will save four hours of wasted time later on. Any individual who has thought through her workday, set priorities, and organized the days’ tasks is likely to accomplish far more than someone who randomly moves through the day.” (James W. Botkin)

Four hours a day is a lot of time! If fifteen minutes saves me even one hour a day, it’s worth it. Point being: when we deposit a few minutes into morning planning, we’ll yield significant returns in time and productivity all day long.

Ignore this little rule, however, and we potentially throw away time that was free for the taking. Not pausing for a few minutes to plot our days’ course is like going Christmas shopping without making a list. We would undoubtedly forget someone and waste a lot of time going back to the same stores to purchase more gifts.

On the other hand, if we’re faithful to plan first thing each morning, we’ll conserve loads of valuable time. We may realize that our hair salon is in the same shopping center as the post office or figure out that we can order a gift online instead of going to the store. Or we may plan to call a relative during our Christmas baking (although my mom and sisters wouldn’t recommend this time-saver for me!).

If we make the 15:4 rule a daily ritual this December, imagine how much time we’ll save!