Episode 1183: Setting Boundaries to Be More Productive

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1083 of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:06] Brian Kreeger: Hi, I'm Brian Kreeger. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to be a courageous Christian leader is key.

[00:00:25] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this. The inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.

[00:00:33] Scott Maderer: You have to see what happens. See, one of the things that keeps us from setting boundaries, we often think, Hey, if I set this boundary, then I'm gonna lose my job or something bad is gonna happen. And the truth is it usually doesn't, but until you begin to test them and see those results and see what are the things that you really have a hard boundary around.

[00:00:57] Welcome and thank you for joining us on the [00:01:00] inspired stewardship podcast. 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, who will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence.

[00:01:20] So that. Can impact the world.

[00:01:23] In today's episode about investing in others by stewarding your time. I talk with you about what it means to set your boundaries for productivity. I share how you need to set them, how you need to test them and how you need to communicate them to be successful. I then share how you have to commit to those boundaries for real productivity.

[00:01:43] As we talk about stewarding your time. Wouldn't it be great. If you could support this podcast and do it without just taking too long, turns out you can't. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. When you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon and a small [00:02:00] commission will come back to support the show.

[00:02:02] Just that quick. If you enjoy the show, when you're ready to buy from Amazon, just use inspired stewardship.com/. boundaries. We all know that we need them just like we all know we need to exercise more, eat better, do better with our money, get out of data and all of these other things. And yet the truth is boundaries is one of those things that we know we need them.

[00:02:29] We know that they would help us feel more secure, more healthy, more productive, and yet we have a really hard time setting them. Because different boundaries represent different things to us. They often make us look at things like toxic behaviors. They make us look at things that have happened in the past.

[00:02:53] They make us think about our self worth and whether or not we have the right to guard our [00:03:00] own boundary. We, whether or not we have the right to say no to somebody. And what does that mean when we do. Because whether or not we have to always be on and always be giving to feel worthy. That's a bad thing.

[00:03:17] Yes, we need to be a giver. Yes. We need to be a servant, but it's not because that somehow earns us something. Boundaries can be really hard for us to set, especially whenever we have ourself worth tied in to what it is to say yes. Or to say no, cuz boundaries are all about what are we gonna say yes to?

[00:03:41] And what are we going to say? No. In a very real way. Boundaries are about who are we going to give power to? Who are we going to allow to speak into our lives? Our schedule, our workloads. Is it our family? Is it our [00:04:00] boss? Is it ourselves? Is it our friends, our coworkers, who is it that can put things on our time.

[00:04:08] And what's more, what's the priority between all of those people. What trumps what comes over something else is sending an email at five and expecting an answer. Okay. How about at six? How about at seven? How about at two in the morning? What is the limit? There's always got to be a limit and yet we often find it hard to set those limits.

[00:04:37] The first is thing to realize is there are kinds of different kinds of boundaries. There are hard boundaries and soft boundary or boundaries or impermeable and permeable boundaries. Like I like to think about them impermeable hard ones are that places in your life where you're unwilling to compromise.

[00:04:58] It's a, [00:05:00] non-negotiable it is this way. If you take on. This task, or if this comes in this trumps, all other things, what's the biggest priority. What are the things that you will always say no to? What are the things that you will always say yes to impermeable are soft boundaries are those that have some give to 'em things that you're willing to compromise on.

[00:05:29] They may have conditions around them. You're willing to compromise, but only within limits. But there are things that have more give to them, things that will allow you to say, for instance, yes, I will work over time or I will stay a little late, but here's of the quid pro quo that I want for it, or yes, I'll do this and I'll just do it for you, but it's something that has some give to it.

[00:05:58] Because at the end of the [00:06:00] day, you really have to sit down and imagine that your life as it is right now is no longer possible. Maybe you get laid off, you move your relationships have changed. You're forced to change careers. Everything is upended. What would you do next? What are the things you would miss?

[00:06:22] What are the things that you would not miss? What are the new opportunities you would feel excited? What are the things that you would be upset about? Because if you do that kind of hard reset, it helps you begin to identify what are the things that are non-negotiable to you and what are the things that you're willing to give on?

[00:06:41] What are the things and the direction that you may want to go? And then try to set up some of these boundaries begin to set some hard boundaries and begin to communicate around those and protect the energy and the time [00:07:00] that you put around those boundaries, because see, once you've committed to some boundaries, you need to set them and then you need to test them.

[00:07:11] You have to share them. You have to communicate them with others. And you have to see what happens. See, one of the things that keeps us from setting boundaries is we often think, Hey, if I set this boundary, then I'm gonna lose my job or something bad is gonna happen. And the truth is it usually doesn't.

[00:07:30] But until you begin to test them and see those results and C what are the things that you really have a hard boundary around? And what are the things that you are willing to give? And who is really the priority in your life and who is not until you begin to get that result back, you don't really know and begin to add more areas of boundaries, communicate them to the people that are most important to you and to the people who those boundaries will [00:08:00] affect.

[00:08:00] And that doesn't mean you have to be rude about it, but you can communicate that getting an email at 5:00 PM and expecting an answer within the next hour is just not reasonable. And here's why, and here's what I'll do instead. And then find ways to make sure that you've committed to those boundaries.

[00:08:19] You can simplify 'em over time and you can celebrate. you can encourage yourself and your friends to celebrate the fact that you have these boundaries that allow you to actually focus on not everything, but on the things that are truly the most important. And by doing that, you'll find that you have more than enough time to not do everything, but you have the time that it takes to do those things that are really vital.

[00:08:51] Thanks for listen.

[00:08:53] Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast, as a subscriber and listener, we [00:09:00] 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. For our stewardship of time tips series by going to inspired stewardship.com/time or texting 4 4, 2, 2, 2 time tips.

[00:09:30] And that'll get you our best tips on stewarding your time until next time invest your. Your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact the world.