BETTER BY SUNDAY
WORSHIP + TECH TEAM FAILS: THE TIME MANAGEMENT PROBLEM | Doug Doppler
I think we’ d all agree that in these days everyone seems to be cramming more things into their days, nights, and weekends. I believe this has become a cultural norm that affects worship teams in unique ways. For some of us, that translates into internal stress, while for others, it is expressed in our lack of patience for those around us. For some, it gets us out of bed at 4:30 a. m. so we can grab the day by the horns and wrestle it to the ground before it starts kicking back. So, what are we to do about all of this?
WHERE IS YOUR TIME LEAKING?
Regardless of whether you lead a team or serve on one, the first place I’ d suggest starting is by taking a hard look at where you’ re‘ leaking time’…
BUDGETING YOUR TIME IS KEY! We live in an era where people tend to rely on credit to spend more money than they have on hand. This pervasive mindset overflows into how we spend our time. Let’ s start by thinking of your time in a given week as a ten-dollar bill. Noting that you can’ t spend more time than you’ ve got, are you accurately predicting where you’ ll spend your time? At the end of the week do you have any time left over to put into the‘ time bank’ so you can invest it into your key relationships?
Many, if not most creatives, err on the side of spending way too much time on doing something that is driven by emotion...
If you answered no to the above questions, you’ re in good company. Practically speaking,‘ getting there’ usually means setting our sights a bit lower, and spending a bit less time on things that we’ re most passionate about. Akin to buying a new car versus cleaning out the gutters before the rainy season. Many, if not most creatives, err on the side of spending way too much time on doing something that is driven by emotion, versus starting off with the most urgent items like practicing the songs before rehearsal!
Back to the ten-dollar bill analogy, I’ d suggest pulling out a piece of paper and drawing two circles. In the first, draw a pie chart documenting how you spent your worship or tech team time for the previous week and the second for how you can better spend it for the week to come. Chances are you’ re wanting to achieve more things than your time allows, which is why splitting things into ten percent increments and multiples thereof is so valuable – it gives us a visual representation of something that is transient in nature. As you might have guessed, I’ m going to ask you to place your pie charts in a conspicuous place over the course of this next week. And yes, in a week I’ m going to ask you to draw another two graphs on that same piece of paper so you can track your progress.
114 September 2018 WorshipMusician. com