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4 Things to Add to Your Schedule When You’re Busy

Sometimes we can get just plain busy! Things pile up and we wish we had more time to do the things we need to get done. Being busy often leads to stress, feeling disconnected and fed up with just about everything around us.  But the alternative to being busy is not to run away from it, but to make sure you add certain things to counter balance busyness.

I know the saying is “do less for more” and I wholeheartedly believe that as well, but sometimes in life you just simply can’t do less.  You and I are just in a busy season…period.  And so my idea for a solution is to put more on your plate! Hear me out. Read this passage from the Old Testament and then I’ll give you four things I think we should ADD to our schedule when we’re in that busy season.

5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”
6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”
8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
(1Ki 19:5-9 NIV)

1) Get Plenty of Rest! This is a no-brainer, but the hardest thing to do.  We get up earlier and go to bed later just to get the things we need to get done, done. But working on a tired tank produces less excellent work and we actually take longer to perform simple tasks.  Feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep or even a power nap is good to keep us going strong.  Some of the best thinkers in the world were frequent nappers.

2) Get Proper Nutrition! Many studies have shown that having too much caffeine produces less good sleep which causes us to drink more caffeine.  It’s like a vicious cycle. Giving our bodies the proper energy during the day helps us power up, but also helps not to burn through that good night’s sleep so fast.  When Elijah was burnt out from doing a bunch of God’s work, an angel came and told Elijah to eat and rest, eat and rest, eat and rest.  Sounds like a good pattern to follow. But it wasn’t like a vacation or a weekend retreat. It was a daily refueling because the journey he was on was going to require it.

3) Talk with God! There are a few things in life that get pushed aside during busy times and I bet the most common answer is time with God.  Spending time with God helps us keep things into proper perspective.  As we read the bible and pray to Him, He not only comforts us, but reveals to us if we are too focused on our work or on our ability or really acting in a way that should lead us to repentance!  Jesus says in John 15 that when we are connected to Him and His Word, we will produce and see results.  Worry and stress are indications of our pride and the absence of God in our daily lives. Be honest with God about what’s going on with you. God loves when we are honest and when we express our feelings.  But don’t be surprised when God is honest and expresses His feelings back to us.

4) Talk with People! Being busy causes us to “bunker down” and get our work done.  We isolate ourselves and ask people not to bother us.  Family gets pushed away.  Friends get pushed away. Talking to ourselves does not count.  God has created us to be relational and communal beings. This is all over the bible.  God evidently tells Elijah to go and find someone he could teach to do his job.  I think this was both a focus on succession and a focus on working together. We learn and people learn from us when we talk things out.  It’s pretty cool to see this in James 5:16: “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (NIV). It’s it strange? You would think that the only thing we should do to be healed of our sins is to confess them to God.  There is something amazing in how God designed this that when we talk about something with someone else, it produces healing.  Of course, if that something is gossip, it will be harmful. So try to make it clean and just about what’s going on with yourself, but talk!

Those are my top 4 things to add to our schedule when we’re busy.  What would you add to your schedule when you’re super busy?