2 Resolutions To Help Us Keep Our Lenten Discipline No Matter How Busy We Are at Work
Today we'll see how 2 Resolutions can help us keep our Lenten discipline no matter how busy we are at work.
During our lead up to Lent, we spent some time reviewing ways to keep our Lenten discipline no matter how busy we might be at work. These included the suggestion to use our time well during the work day.
Using our time well includes a disciplined approach to getting our tasks done withing a certain time frame. As an example, some jobs require the repetition of certain tasks on a regular, even daily, basis. Completing such tasks may be rote and therefore boring, but they must be done. One way to manage this without sinking into a weary funk is to designate a specific time of day, or length of time, to get those tasks done. With practice it's possible to shrink that time frame as the efficiency born of repetition yields its fruit.
In my small business, there are a slew of repeated tasks that must be done. When I started the business over 15 years ago, completion of these tasks took a lot longer than they do now. One clear example is my weekly business review. I once performed this at the end of the week, on Friday afternoon. When the week was particularly busy and tiring, my business review seemed to take forever - and sometimes did when it was not well organized. I've switched the time slot and honed the review so that it's performed during the week. It varies in length, but every task is written out, with some tasks only required every so often, some every week. The review can sometimes take 5 minutes. Other times, more like 45 minutes.
While repeated tasks may be more amenable to being efficiently bottled and slotted into specific time frames, there's really nothing that can't be subjected to this discipline.
Of course, sometimes time frames are given to us. If our boss wants something done in a certain time frame, it behooves us to comply. If a client requires a response, or the completion of a project we're working on for them, we'd be wise to respond as desired.
You get the point.
But if there's no externally imposed time frame, we can still - really should - create specific time frames or slots and do our best to complete our project or assignment or task in that slot. Start, work, finish. No dilly-dallying, no procrastinating.
If you're not in the habit of doing this, the work day can "feel" out of control, chaotic, anxious, pressing, or the myriad other emotions that make work relatively unpleasant if not miserable.
Books have been written about efficiency on the job. Frankly, the efficiency stuff can be overdone. We're not machines. And you really don't need to get a PhD in efficiency to be efficient. Just learn to complete tasks in a certain time frame.
Now let's connect this to our Lenten discipline. In doing so, we'll drag in those 2 Resolutions to really sharpen our discipline.
Assuming some degree of organization in our work day, the 2 Resolutions will tighten things up quite well. On the other hand, if we need better or more organization, the 2 Resolutions can serve as a sound foundation for such efforts.
If our work day is flowing smoothly, efficiently - especially with the help of the 2 Resolutions - we'll be spending less time and effort in initiating our work flow and keeping it going. We'll have time and energy for our Lenten discipline. Simple, no?
A well-organized day will include a list of tasks to do along with when to do them and with some sense of how long each will take. With our work thus corralled in some fashion, we should be able to attend to our spiritual discipline. We won't feel like we can't take our eyes or mind off our work for a split second in order to: say special prayers (typically aspirations), delay our meal (typically lunch) for a few minutes; interact with charity with our colleagues, especially in how we talk to them when we're particularly busy; fast from our typical food intake, whether as to quality or quantity of food, depending on our particular situation; avoid those occasions of gossip, or even those of thinking ill of our boss, fellow workers, annoying customers or clients, etc. (charity above all!), or any other items we've included on our Lenten list.
With our work well in hand, we have no reason not to be able to keep a not only our work flowing, but our Lenten discipline as well.
Well, we're just about exhausted our welcome for today. But what of the 2 Resolutions? We'll get to those next time...
Signing off with out traditional Lenten aspiration.
We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee
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