Episode 1048: The Gift of Time

[00:00:00] Thanks

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: for joining me on episode 1048 of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:07] Marcus Hall: I'm Marcus hall, author of pursuing spiritual wealth, 40 principles that make your life richer. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasure to live out your.

[00:00:24] Having the ability to recognize you are a manager and not an owner is key. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott.

[00:00:38] Scott Maderer: and if you're sacrificing relationship with the idea that this will somehow be the thing that makes you more productive and more efficient, you're not really getting the point because you're going to miss out on so much more. That can actually lead [00:01:00] welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts.

[00:01:04] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that. Can impact the world.

[00:01:26] And today's episode about developing your influence by stewarding your time. I talk with you about why we often identify time as a pain point in our life. I share how this is often more about our view than the actual time we have. And I also explain why we can shift this view if we want. As we talk about stewarding your time.

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[00:02:14] Time is one of those things that we often talk about as being a big problem in our life. I simply don't have enough time. I can't get everything done. I don't have enough time to do anything. And so we often push away and reject even the simplest things. What I mean by that is, think about this.

[00:02:33] If you walk into a local coffee shop or a Starbucks or something else, and the person behind the counter says, and how are you doing. We usually just take that as a cursory greeting and we say, reflexively fine. Thank you. We usually don't even ask for a response, how are you doing as well? But if you've been to a small town, And you've been asked that question, or [00:03:00] if you've been asked that question by someone who actually wants an answer, you've had that moment of that awkward conversation where they actually answer and talk to you and want to take the time to connect.

[00:03:17] It leads to a wow moment or a difference moment, because often when we start conversations with each other, even people that we really care about at love, we start with things like, do you have just a minute? Do you have a second to talk? Could I talk to you for a minute? We immediately minimize the interaction.

[00:03:39] We try to point out to folks how don't worry. I'm not going to take a long time to try to build a relationship with you. I simply want a little bit of information or a little bit of interaction from you. It's a reflection of the fact that we talk about having no [00:04:00] time, so much that we think we need to not impact other people's time, as well as our own.

[00:04:07] Yo, oftentimes we would look at things like technology and other things is a pain point, but time comes up more and more. And again, I think when we have times of stress, like during COVID and the pandemic and all of this that's going on, sometimes it brings our attention to this in a way that other things.

[00:04:27] I don't. I think in some ways it's recognizing that we have way more time than we thought and perhaps way less than we thought, but pivoting into recognize that time is a gift that we need to value. Isn't easy. Taking time out of our life to have a cup of coffee with a friend, or to just have that phone call and that chat with someone that we care about, or even just to go on a walk through [00:05:00] nature or take the dog for a walk, is something very different from the mindset of, do you have just a minute so I can get this information from you.

[00:05:11] You need to work on building that mindset. You need to look for opportunities to engage in conversation and relationship. If someone asks you for. Actually share with them more than just the base answer. If possible, spend a little bit of time with them on some of the other things around the interaction, build a relationship with them, get to know them when you ask that question and how are you actually listen for the answer and try to get more than just the reflexive.

[00:05:53] I'm fine. Out of. Be a little bit full philosophical and [00:06:00] relational with your time. And the interesting thing is when you do that, what you will find is that you will have more energy. You will have less depression by the way, this is true. Whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, this is true. Whether you're someone who loves interacting with other people or not.

[00:06:21] We need to have connection. We need to have people in our life. And as we've gone into isolation and gone into moments where we don't, it has increased depression, frustration and made us less and less efficient with our time COVID has made it harder and has made us a little bit. Able to do it. And yet I think has also made us more aware of the need for it has given us the ability to recognize that maybe we can slow down a little bit.

[00:06:58] Maybe we can not [00:07:00] take that time that we used to take commuting to the office, but actually spend it changing someone's life. Actually spend it reflecting and meditating and resting actually spend it, taking that walk through the nature or building an, answering a question for somebody else in a way that's more than just a surface answer.

[00:07:21] That's looking to see how quickly you can move to the next thing. The funny thing is being productive. A lot of times people hear what I'm talking about is that means getting more done. But as I've said before, on the episodes of the show, it's really about getting the right things done. And if you're sacrificing relationship with the idea that this will somehow be the thing that makes you more productive and more efficient, you're not really getting the point because you're going.

[00:07:55] To miss out on so much more, that can [00:08:00] actually lead to being, and doing and getting the things that you really want to get done as opposed to just getting more done. Thanks for listening.

[00:08:12] Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of time, be sure to sign up for our stewardship of time tips series by going to inspired stewardship.com/time or texting 4 4 2, 2, 2.

[00:08:48] Time tips, and that'll get you our best tips on stewarding your time until next time, invest your time, your talent and your [00:09:00] treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.