Get More Done:  Make Your Time Top-Heavy!

Do you have trouble getting things done? Are you chronically late for appointments? Do you find yourself constantly procrastinating? If so, your problem could be a bottom-heavy schedule. According to blogger Scott H. Young, people who get things done tend to have a "top-heavy" schedule. Procrastinators, people who always run late, and people who can't finish all their tasks in a given time period usually operate on a "bottom-heavy" schedule.

What is a top-heavy schedule? Young provides these definitions: “Being top-heavy means the bulk of the work is at the start. A top-heavy joke has a long build-up for a short punch line. A top-heavy schedule emphasizes the start, leaving more space at the end.

When it comes to productivity, there are a few things you can make more top-heavy:

Volume of Work

Put most of your work earlier in your schedule. This could mean working all morning while having little to do in the evenings.

This requires discipline (mainly, not answering every phone call to fight every else’s fires) and sacrifice (mainly of sleep because you’d have to get up earlier). However, don’t forget the definition of sacrifice. To synopsize, it means giving something up in order to get something else in return.

And what things might that return on your sacrifice be? Peace of mind (while you put your feet up and relax); much-needed time with family; schedule room for other vital tasks (honey-do lists… there’s always a honey-do list!)

Importance of Work

Put your most important tasks first. Do the tasks that have a long term impact before taking on the minor problems.

There's an illustration I use to teach a very important lesson concerning this. Fill a bucket with medium-to-small gravel and sand. Then, top it all off with water filled to the brim. Finally, try fitting in fist-sized rocks without overflowing the water and sand.

Doesn't work, does it.

Do it again, only in reverse. Put the larger rocks in first, then the small gravel, sand and top it all off with water to the brim of the bucket. What do you know... you can get it all in then!

The point? The fist-sized rocks represent priorities; the gravel, sand and water things which can be considered secondary schedule items. Therefore, schedule and do the most important things first, then let the piddly, mundane and oft times frivolous stuff be the "filler."

In not putting the big stuff in the bucket first, we all know how the less-meaningful stuff fills up our schedules to our and others' detriment.

Will Sister Halfthrottle’s world come to an end if you don’t drop everything and attend to her emotional needs today? Will Brother Sandpaper’s existence have less meaning if you don’t fit him on Monday morning to hear his criticisms of yesterday’s corporate gathering?

Frankly, those are sacrifices that can, and should, be made if your most important work is yet to be done.

Difficulty of Work

Put the hardest tasks first, when you have the most energy. Many times, the tasks we love most require a lot of emotional and/or mental energy - even physical – so bear that in mind: drudgery does not always = difficulty.

A bottom-heavy schedule would be the opposite. It would place the most work, the most important work, and the most difficult work at the end of your schedule. This is a recipe for procrastination as you burn yourself out on the tasks that don’t matter.”

All of us want to be the most effective in our ministry work. Rearranging our tasks into a top-heavy schedule may be just the trick! You can find other great tips at Young’s blog.