Almost all of us have all been there.

We are sitting in a coffee shop or driving home from work when the Lord whispers this brilliant idea into our ear.

The excitement starts to build and you begin investing a ton of time and energy into it.

And just as we start to build some momentum…

The next big idea comes and we abandon the last one for the sake of the new one. Soon, we are tired and frustrated. We’re moving in a trillion different directions and making no real headway in any.

Exceedingly More

We never want to compromise the calling God has placed on our lives by filling our plates with things He didn’t call us to do.

But I wonder if sometimes we’re compromising the calling because we’re picking and choosing the parts we want to fulfill.

Hear me out.

What if the Lord is giving us multiple avenues to fulfill the calling he has placed on our lives, but we’re only using one?

Now Nicole, you can do all things, but you can’t do everything.

I hear you, girl.
But we can do a whole lot more than we’re giving our God credit for.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Ephesians 3:20

I started Black Girl Musings in a week.
From the time the Lord gave me the idea to create a “doing life” blog for other young, dope, women of color to the day the first post launched, there were only 7 days.

Buying a domain, figuring out Word Press, putting it all together, and hitting publish took very little time. BGM was a gift from the Lord.

And since then, He has given me a few different avenues to express myself all in the name of empowering people to be the best versions of themselves without hiding the hard messy things required for our refinement.

But the problem has been I have tried to trade one avenue for another, instead of thinking about how all of these things fit together.

But I’m Already So Busy

I know it could be hard to believe that there are even more ways your gifts and talents can be used to serve people for the glory of God when you’re already so busy.

But how much times do our tasks really have to take? Do we really need all the time we are using to get thing done?

If you promise not to judge me, we can use me as the example for this illustration.

I believe that God also called me to my 9-5 in service of my larger calling.

I wake up around 6:00am most morning and one of the first things I do is check my email and my calendar to see what’s on my plate for the day.

There is nothing wrong with checking my email and calendar. The problem is I am moving out of order.

My 9-5 is from 9-5. So by starting my morning with email responses and calendar checks, I’m stealing time from different avenues. Avenues God has also entrusted me with.

Similarly, I sometimes use my nights to finish up things I didn’t get to during the day. By the time I turn off my computer for the day, I’m done.

I have no more mental space to use any other avenue. And again, the issue isn’t that I’m working hard.

The issue is I’m working hard at the right things at the wrong times. Imagine what I could do if I used from 6am-9am and from 5pm-9pm to work on the other projects and ideas I know God has given me.

So how do we get there?

Take inventory of your time.

Take a few days to track the amount of time you spend doing things. Maybe emails are your time suck. Perhaps it’s social media rabbit holes that do you in. Or maybe, you try to tackle too many tasks at once and end up getting everything started, but nothing accomplished. (Guilty.)

Create your ideal state and live in it.

What are the daily priorities you want to tackle? Is exercise important to you? Do you feel better when you spent time in a devotional before you jump into your day? It’s time to take your list of priorities and

I started by thinking about the time I needed to be seated at my desk and worked backwards.

6-7am quiet time with Jesus
7-8am walk the pup and shower
8-9am Blog Writing

9-12pm Intellectually heavy work (my brain works better in the morning)
12-1pm mid day break and lunch
1-5pm meetings/collaborative work and menial tasks.

5-6pm Brain break
6-7pm Dinner with the hubs
7-9 pm Writing Project
9-10pm shower, reading, bed

Will this happen everyday?
Heck no.

But now thatI I’ve figured out my ideal state, can I work to get as close to it every day as possible?

Yes.

There are a few things I don’t have to worry about in my ideal state that you might have to.

I work from home, so I don’t have to factor in commute times. But during my busy season I travel weekly for work…so my ideal state on the road is going to have to look different than at home.

STOP: Take some time to identify the goals you want to tackle daily and then craft a schedule that allows you to meet them.

Track your progress and adjust.

So we’ve tracked our time and we’ve created our ideal state. Now it’s time to see how often we’re able to live in it. Create a system that allows for you to track your progress toward your goals.

It can be as sophisticated as a fancy excel spreadsheet or as simple as a sticker chart. What matters is that is easily accessible and gives you a visual representation of how often you’re hitting the marks you’re setting for yourself.

You can also track things like screen free time, reading, and water intake. The key here is it has to matter to you.

Don’t make God an afterthought.

You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

While you’re doing the things, Christ is giving you the strength. No Christ? No strength.

We can have the best plan, tracker, and water bottle, but if we don’t have God all that other stuff is just stuff.

We are about to willingly stretch ourselves (not kill ourselves, because that’s silly and counterproductive) past the point of comfort so that God can blow our minds. We can’t leave God out of it all and think we’re going to get too far.

Disclaimed: Every season aint a multi-avenue season.

This season might not be a multi-avenue season for you…and that’s okay.

Every season requires something different. Some seasons require stillness and some require movement. That’s why you have to get quiet before Jesus. That’s why you create your ideal state. It’s all about knowing how the Lord needs to use you in the current season you are in.

And how He’s using the person next to you might not be the same way he’s using you.

So let’s tackle these goals, drink this water, and monitor our progress. The world needs our gifts and we have to be strategic about how we cultivate them.

There is magic in our musings, time, and gifts.
Nicole