How to Get It (Almost) All Done Without Losing Your Mind

In this episode, we explore the importance of intentionally prioritizing our lives to fit in what truly matters amidst the busyness we often create. Martha shares valuable insights about control, rest, and alignment with God's plan for a fulfilling life.

• The struggle of fitting everything into a busy life 
• The jar metaphor for prioritizing big rocks, pebbles, sand, and water 
• The significance of taking control over life’s distractions 
• Emphasizing the importance of rest and regular sabbath 
• Insights on discerning true values and identifying priorities 
• Invitation for listeners to share their experiences and priorities

Chapters

• 0:05 Intentional Living and Priorities
• 10:19 Time Management With God's Guidance

Transcript

Martha Gano: 0:05

Do you ever feel like life can get too complicated and maybe even overwhelming? Yeah, me too, and it's okay. My name's Martha Gano, and in this podcast we're going to talk about life, love, faith, family relationships, all kinds of things, and we're going to drink from what God wants to pour into us, one small sip at a time, because when it's the fountain of living water, small sips make all the difference. Sometimes it'll be just you and me. Sometimes we'll have a friend join us. If we could have lunch together today, this is what I'd want to talk about. Hey, hey, hey, everybody, it's great to be back with you again. Happy New Year again. This is our second episode in January, but even if you're listening to this episode later, it has some really great stuff for how to get, how to get it all done. How do you get it all done? How do you fit everything in that you want to be in your life, or maybe you feel like that has to be in your life? It's a great question. We're going to talk about it today. So I'm actually old enough to be on someone's board of directors. Now, if that statement doesn't make sense to you, hop back to season one, episode 16, because it's a really cool concept and while you do that, I'll grab my cane. But for real, there are some very young people and some good friends my age as well in my life who regularly talk with me about their lives, especially when it comes to important issues. Recently I got a call from one of those because he had hit that point in his life where he had transitioned from the I have endless time and can do all the things into actual adulthood, where I work a full-time job and now all the things seem crammed in and I would like to breathe every once in a while. Is that allowed, especially if the things are good things with people that we love or we love serving? Especially if the things are good things with people that we love or we love serving? His question was basically do I deserve space in my life and if yes, then how do I decide which good things to keep and what good things need to leave? Such a great question, right? Anybody else here resonate with that besides me? Raise your hand, anyone, bueller, bueller, and if you don't understand that reference, ask your parents. I'm grabbing my cane again. It's such a great question.

Martha Gano: 2:30

In our culture that is addicted to busyness, sometimes it seems like we're even in kind of this weird contest and I have been 100% guilty of participating, to the point. I'm ashamed actually to say say that people would say things to me like I would call you, but I just know you're so busy, or I called and you didn't pick up, but I know you're so busy, or I would text you or try to get together, but I know you're so busy, I just haven't asked you. I literally and it was my own fault because of what I communicated I had literally built it as a brand. Like I said, it may actually be the flavor of our day. Maybe it's not just me, maybe you've been a part of a conversation that goes something like this oh my gosh, I can't believe how busy I am. I have three football practices and two soccer practices and a volleyball tournament this week, plus we lead a small group. So there's that. And also four orthodontist appointments and two sports physicals, and, and, and and. Then the next friend says yes, me too, I have all of that, and I'm in grad school and I work full time plus, and also I have one more kid than you do. So there's that. And then another friend me too, in fact, I'm so busy that I really don't even have time to tell you all the busy things that I should be doing right now. It's like we feel like we have to cram in all of the experiences and all of the opportunities and all of the life for ourselves and we even project it onto our children. We're driven by FOMO. We've even named it onto our children. We're driven by FOMO We've even named it, you guys fear of missing out, fomo, fear of not getting in everything we can, of experiencing less of life than we possibly could or should, and in that process we can end up packing our lives so full that we don't actually experience them. We're consumed with running from one experience to the next.

Martha Gano: 4:32

There's a well-known story about a university professor who wanted to make a point about this, about the importance of being intentional with how we structure our lives and our time. The professor came into class and put a bunch of items on the table in front of him and when the class began, without speaking, he picked up a big empty jar and he proceeded to fill it with large rocks. Once the jar was full, he asked the students to identify is the jar full? They agreed it's full. Then the professor pulled out a box of pebbles and started pouring the pebbles into the jar. He would pause and shake the jar a little bit, watch those pebbles settle into those open areas between the rocks, pour more pebbles in. Finally he filled up to the rim with pebbles and then he asked the students again is the jar full? They chuckled and agreed that yes, it's full.

Martha Gano: 5:23

Then the professor picked up a bag of sand, started slowly pouring it into the jar. The sand filtered down between the rocks and the pebbles and filled the remaining open areas. Again he asked the students is the jar full? By now they were really beginning to realize their limited thinking and they affirmed okay, okay, yes, now the jar is finally full. But then the professor reached behind his desk and picked up a pitcher of water which he slowly poured into the entire mixture, allowing that water to slowly settle in and fill those remaining minuscule spaces that were left.

Martha Gano: 5:58

And then he made his point that the jar signifies our lives. The rocks are the truly important things, the things you would have recognized last episode if you did the Wheel of Life exercise or if you're one of those tenacious ones still sticking to your New Year's resolutions, or even if you're not. It's probably items on that list too Things like family and health and relationships, like if nothing else could fit into the jar of my life. The rocks, the big rocks those are the things that matter most. My life will still be meaningful and fulfilling if those big rocks are all that fit into it. The pebbles signify the things that matter a little less in your life but that still need to happen School work, groceries and the sand represents the remaining small stuff, like material possessions and maybe things you enjoy, but they don't add the kind of value that the rocks and pebbles do. And the water those are the things that you just fit into the spaces that are left when you can, but they don't make a whole lot of difference or add much value. Now imagine what if we took the jar and we were to put the water or the sand in first. There would be little or no room for the rocks or the pebbles. And the same is true of our lives. If we spend all of our time and energy, or lots of it, even on the small stuff, we'll never have room for the things that are truly important and that really matter.

Martha Gano: 7:26

I had a business coach once. Give me a great visual for how our lives happen, I guess you would say. She asked me probably because this is why I needed coaching, right? She asked me, martha, who is holding the cue stick in your life and knocking around the pool balls on your pool table? At that point, to be honest, it was lots of other things besides me, or intentional choices, it was my circumstances, or the tyranny of the urgent, because nothing was really getting done in a timely or planned fashion. So it all just hit once. It was finally an emergency and it had to get done quickly.

Martha Gano: 8:07

It could be whenever the phone rings or when a text comes in, or when social media or email notifications ping, which, as we're chatting through this, it may be no surprise to you to know that I have zero social media or even email notifications on my phone. I only see them when I open those apps. And my watch has nothing on it. It operates as a watch and as my steps tracker, and that's it Because I like my mind and all of that chaos coming at me all the time. It scrambles my brain, and that's when I realized what I thought was my inability to focus in an effective way is actually just because the notifications are holding the cue stick of my life and I'll get to the end of my day wondering why I got nothing done. So back to the professor's jar.

Martha Gano: 8:57

When we talk about this idea of designing our lives with intention, of taking the cue stick in our lives back from all the chaos swirling around us, this is an incredibly clarifying and helpful concept, isn't it, of intentionally giving my time and attention to the things in life that are critical to my happiness and well-being. When I'm not being mindful about this, the sand or the water could easily fill the jar of my life to the point where I never get to the things that matter most because I'm the passive participant in my life instead of the active one. I often think that's when we start saying things like gosh, there's just not enough time in my day. Or, oh, I'll sleep when I'm dead. I got to get it all done. You know what I realized in my own life? That it was a poverty of time. So stick with me here. Like, somehow, underneath all of that, it's almost like we don't think we're actually given enough time to live the lives that God has prepared for us, and we've normalized it so much that we say it out loud, and sometimes we even wear it like a badge of honor, like if we could, we would give more than we have. But somehow that's not our fault that we don't have more to give. We're frenzied victims in this game of life where something besides us is always holding the cue stick.

Martha Gano: 10:19

My sister, Stacey, gifted me with a powerful statement one time. It changed my life and she was using it to remind herself of this regularly. Here's the statement I have time for everything that God has for me today. Y'all. I wrote it on an index card and I taped it to my bathroom mirror. It's my regular reminder that with God there is no poverty in anything, including time. He's full abundance, full provision, fullness of life. His plan for my life today is not short 15 minutes or three hours. He created time and he actually operates above and outside of it. Remember that story where he gave the children of Israel an extra hour so they could win a battle there in Joshua and y'all.

Martha Gano: 11:09

Here we go again, just making a note that if you ever feel like the Bible's boring, there's some crazy stuff in there you should read it. So he's the creator of time, he operates it, he's outside of it and guess what he's on our side. So if he can handle time and that includes mine, and he's the boss of time and I want him to be the boss of my time then my question becomes hey God, what do you want me to do with my time? I can tell you part of the answer right away. He's really clear about it. He wants us to take one seventh of our time on a regular basis and just rest. It's called Sabbath and it was created not just as a part of the law but for our good, which side note here the rest of the law was also created for our good. It's actually an expression of his love for us and we need it. So rest is actually vital for my mental and physical survival. It's vital for creating space, space for me to hear from him, space for relationships, space for the organic and unexpected things that make life so rich, space to be rested and ready for all he has for us.

Martha Gano: 12:32

The other six days. That's what my young friend was sensing. There was no space in his life, no margin, no quiet for considering what he was actually doing, no space to reach out to people that he didn't see in his regular rhythms but wanted to stay in touch with you know if you have kids or you ever are going to have kids, or you've been around them or you keep them or spend any time around them. There's a common saying to all children unless you're anesthetizing them constantly with the screen, which I do not recommend largely for this reason even my kids would come to me and say, mom, I'm so bored. And you know what my response to them was Awesome, you're about to think of something really great to do, and those things that they could think of. They cannot come into spaces that are already occupied with other things. The same is true of us.

Martha Gano: 13:35

Ephesians 5, 16 says this. So then, be careful how you walk, not as unwise people, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and I love it in the Passion Translation. Yes, I know it's not a literal translation for our theological friends, but I love it. Okay, here's how it goes there. So be very careful how you live, not being like those with no understanding, but live honorably, with true wisdom, for we're living in evil times. Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for his purposes and don't live foolishly, for then you will have discernment to fully understand God's will.

Martha Gano: 14:24

Man, right now, I wish I could actually have lunch or coffee with everybody who's listening to this, especially after you spend some time asking the Lord what should my big rocks be? Is there a big rock that I'm treating like a pebble or sand or water? Or is there sand that I'm giving the space in my life of a big rock and it needs to be right sized? What should my priorities be? And then, how can I make sure to open up my calendar and put my big rocks in the calendar first and then add the pebbles into my calendar after the rocks, and then add the sand and then space for the water? I promise you taking a little bit of time to walk through that process with the Lord here at the beginning of the year or whenever, and using that Wheel of Life tool and or this one. It's so worth it. You're going to feel totally different at New Year's next year, and then you know what happens you actually get hooked on it or you just know how to come back to it when you lose it a little, or you lose it a lot.

Martha Gano: 15:35

Hey, I'd love to hear from you Message me what you're hearing for your life this year or in general, or what your rocks are or what changes you're making Any and all of the things. I would love to hear it. It's so fun. I hope this is helpful for you in hearing what the Lord has for you this year and creating the kind of life that you want to live, instead of just having life happen to you. Thanks so much, you guys. We'll see you next time. Hey you guys. Thanks for hanging out with us today. I hope you got some refreshment from this sip from the fountain. If you're curious to hear more, or if you like what you've heard, you can go ahead and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to yours, or follow our Instagram account, sips from the Fountain, or our Facebook page by the same name. Special thanks for Cover Art Photography to the Sarah D Harper, and I can't wait to hang out with you guys next time. Thanks so much. Love y'all. Thank you.