Master Schedule

The idea of a master schedule is to have an ideal week, a plan for each day that helps you to get your work done best.

Let’s get to the disclaimer first: There will be interruptions to your schedule because of tragedies or family or special occasions. Nevertheless, in order to make the best of your “sermon rhythm,” you need to aim at keeping to a master schedule. In that way, you get the hardest work done by schedule instead of putting it off. You include in your times with the Lord and your family and exercise as well as the whole vocational workload. Otherwise the week attacks you, instead of the other way around.

I personally started keeping a schedule in 1968, and I’ve done it every year since, revising it in August for the new “semester” and again in December for the January surge that goes through May and June.

Back in those days, it was the only way I could find time to visit shut-ins. I love visiting shut-ins, but I was prone to do the more productive work first—you know what I’m saying—and leave little time for that important task. So on every first and third Thursday from 3:30 to a little after 5, I would devote to visiting shut-ins.

So, how do you begin? Take your goals for each week—time with God, with family, with staff; exercise; sermon prep; and administration and planning—and then put them into the week at your best times. Most of us probably study best in the morning or during a certain part of the afternoon. I always put letter writing and email answering at 4:00 because I wanted earlier more productive times to be with staff and to study.

What are the things in your life that get too much time? What are the things which get too little? How would keep a schedule help you to accomplish some of the necessary work which you normally avoid?