This is a difficult thing for most women.  We are inherent people pleasers and genuinely want to help people.  But, if you want to identify the big tiime wasters in your life- the activities that steal your time and your peace of mind, you need only look at the things we agreed to do out of obligation, guilt, expectations, etc.  As long as we are motivated by pleasing others and not creating “conflict” then we will be spinning around in circles wondering where all the time went!

 Have you ever been in the situation where someone, such as the president of the PTA, comes up to you and says something like this “Oh, Melissa I am soooo glad to run into you.  I was just going to call you.  You are so good at making those special chocolate bars that sell so well at our bake sale I just knew I could count on you to make them again this year, and did you hear about Susie?  She is laid up with a broken arm, I know the timing is just not good, but you are always there for us and so I knew you wouldn’t mind making the two dozen apple dumplings she usually contributes.  Oooh you are such a good friend!  I knew we could count on you! ” And then she flips her perfectly styled hair with her french manicured fingernails and leaves you in a vacuum of Avon perfume and dumbfoundedness. 

Be careful of these seemingly harmless “friends”.  They come to steal and destroy your schedule and routine.  They do not leave time for arguments, conjecture or even a breath between their request for assistance and their swift departure.  Here is a little secret I have learned over the soccer mom years- saying no begins with simply not saying yes. 

We have all done it- responded to the request of Barbie Supermom without even thinking.  We don’t even take time to engage our brain before our head is nodding and the dreadful “ok” slips out of our chapped lips.  Sure, what is one more thing on our to do list?

What we don’t know is what the upcoming week has in store for us.  Because it is never the weeks that we have nothing extra to do that the car gets a flat tire, the kids get strep throar, hubby has to go out of town for a business trip and the cat needs put to sleep. No, these things only seem to happen when the world is already moving at a chaotic pace AND you have chocolate bars and apple dumplings to bake for the PTA sale.

All kidding aside, boundaries are an important concept when trying to eliminate time wasters from our lives.

We know what our priorities need to be (visit our network site if you need a refresher) and all decisions about our time need to be conducive to those priorities.  Decisions need to be made thoughtfully, not reactively.  Pray about it before taking on another obligation or task.  God will never lead you wrong.

So, the next time that someone asks you for your assistance (=time)  smile and reply- “I will need to get back to you on that.  I need to pray about it and check my calendar.  Can I call you Tuesday?”.  I have yet to meet someone that could argue with the fact that I needed to pray before making a decision. 

Time is precious and the things that God wants us to devote our time to- our spouses, children, family, etc.-have to be protected or the busyness of life will waste (=steal) our time.  Time that you will not get back.