“I really don’t have time.”
“I barely have time to fit in anything else into my time.”
“I am so overwhelmed with the tasks I have to do.”
“I don’t even have the time to rest, I am so busy with work, the children, with everything”
“How do you manage to do all you do?”
Many have these as their predominant thoughts and are overwhelmed by the thought that they have little time to do all they need to do before they even start doing anything.
Those who actually make time are seen as supermen of sorts who have 72 hours packed into one day!
But, to be honest with ourselves, is it really that we don’t have enough time or we simply don’t make time for the things that matter?

Let us review your last 24 hours.
You woke up at 5am, had some quiet time and while you read your Bible on your phone the flashing led light reminded you that you had unread messages. You proceeded to spend a few minutes catching up on unread messages and replying them. You promised yourself it would only be a few minutes but from replying those messages, you moved to statuses. It wasn’t deliberate, but one status quickly scrolled to another and another and another…
By the time you looked away from your phone, it was 7am. 2 solid hours gone. You sighed and attempted to drop your phone. But then there was this catchy headline on Briefing, “How I lost 100 pounds in 2 days” and since you had tried all sorts of diet plans, you were sure this was an answer to prayer. You clicked, read the story. Then saw the Instagram handle which promised to show a before and after picture. Before you knew it, 9am… 4 whole hours unaccounted for.

Stay calm; mind your own business; do your own job. You’ve heard all this from us before, but a reminder never hurts. -1 Thessalonians 4:11

This week, I had many opportunities to get distracted. I felt swayed to click on time devouring things. Each of those opportunities, I heard Him tell me gently, “Mind Your Business.” It wasn’t amusing but it was a gentle reminder for me to focus on the needful and ignore things that were really not my business.
There were many “Mind Your Business” moments. I was amazed at how many times in a day I had to be reminded by the Holy Spirit to focus throughout my day.
It’s unbelievable how much more you would actually get into your daily routine if you simply, mind your business; if you would resist the urge to keep scrolling from status to status, from Instagram handle to handle, from Facebook story to story.
While we remain involved in each other’s lives, we must consciously mind our business. We must consciously plan our lives. If we don’t do this, we will keep thinking we don’t have enough time for the things that really matter and we would stay unhappy, wondering how to get in all we have to do into the day we have. Thinking that we are busier than everyone else.

Plan your day. Not today, plan your day yesterday. Decide today what you will be doing by 4pm tomorrow. Plan each hour. Make small room for deviations, make room for chit chat but be sure to allocate a large chunk of your day into productive tasks. Read that book, take that course, prepare for that exam, write that story, and prepare that speech. Whatever it is that you need to be doing, plan for it. And then do it. This doesn’t mean you become a hermit and cut people out of your life; you need people anyway. It simply means you ensure a large part of your time goes into tasks that truly matter.
Will you mind your business today?

“How do I have productive days with minimum drama? Simple; I mind my own business.” Steve Maraboli