I have currently been called to serve in the Young Women's program at church. I am very excited about this, as I have never been able to attend and be a part of this group. (Because I was 21 when I became a member.) In the program there is something called personal progress. Earning your personal progress is very similar to earning your Eagle in Scouts for the men. I am beginning to work on my personal progress and hope to complete it in the next year. So far I have learned that there are a lot of projects, of which you can choose and personalize, and also a lot of learning by studying the scriptures and words from the prophets.
So my first study/project is on time management. I have learned a lot in the last few day and wanted write some of it out, so here you go! :) (Or at lest link to what I have found that has been really great.)
A story from LDS Living mag. ( I took out the parts that I didn't use)
FHE: Time Management
Shauna Gibby - January 02, 2012
Thinkstock.
"Do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of." - Benjamin Franklin
Conference Talk:For more information on this topic read “A Time to Prepare,” by Elder Ian S. Ardern,
Ensign, Nov 2011, 31.
(Elder Ian S. Ardern, “A Time to Prepare,” Enisgn, Nov 2011, 31.)
Scripture:
Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with
another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early,
that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds
may be invigorated.
(Doctrine and Covenants 88:124)
Story:
Elder Elray L. Christiansen
I think of a man they told me about in one of the stakes I was in not
long ago. You know how we go out and try to activate the inactive, bring
them along, get them to attend church meetings while time lasts. A
president of an elders quorum told this story of a man whom they had
called on many times,
a good man who had good intentions. He welcomed them to his home,
listened to them, and he would usually say, “Well, I will. I intend to. I
will do it. I will come to church when I get straightened out.”
Then they would go back another time. The same story, “Well, when I get straightened out, I’ll come to church.”
Then the elders president said, “I was called on to speak at that man’s
funeral. He was in church all right, and he was surely straightened
out.”
But along the way he had lost a lot of the precious opportunities that time could have provided him in the way of preparation.
It seems to me that life is a series of chapters, and chapters have a way of ending. Your time at
the BYU will end. This school year will end.
You will leave feeling that your time here has been used wisely, or you
will leave with some misgivings about time being unprofitably used. Now
we must have recreation and fun and diversion, but it also should be
planned, scheduled—and not overdone.
(Leon R. Hartshorn, Outstanding Stories by General Authorities, vol. 3, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1974].)
I really enjoyed from this story the point that life is a series of chapters. I liked to think of parts of life as seasons, but really some season don't come back, like things/opportunists that pass with age. My children with only be children now, and never again.
Doc and Cov 88:124 is good too, I need to get to bed earlier...
Lesson 44: Using Time Wisely
Young Women Manual 1, (2002), 194–97 (Again I deleted what I didn't use, but here is the link to the full thing) https://www.lds.org/manual/young-women-manual-1/lesson-44-using-time-wisely?lang=eng
Objective
Each young woman will understand the importance and benefits of using time wisely.
Suggested Lesson Development
Timed scripture search
Point
out that the scriptures teach us to make wise use of time. Divide the
young women into two groups. Appoint a scribe for each group; give her a
pencil and the following Scripture Reference List, replacing the words
in parentheses with blanks.
Scripture Reference List
After
the signal to start, each group should locate the references, and the
scribe should fill in each blank with the proper word or words. Take no
longer than three minutes. Ask the scribes to take turns reading the
completed scripture statements.
Effective Use of Time Brings Spiritual and Temporal Blessings
Discussion
- •Why do we sometimes use our time ineffectively?
Discuss
this question in detail, asking the young women to share examples from
their own lives or the lives of others. Make sure the following points
are brought out in the discussion.
Make sure the following points are brought out in the discussion.
Explain
that planning, assigning priorities, organizing, getting started, and
using proper tools and methods can make life less frustrating and more
productive. Wise use of time enables a person to enjoy greater spiritual
and temporal blessings.
Case studies and discussion
Ask
the young women to help resolve the following situations so that
greater temporal and spiritual blessings result for the person in each
case study.
Case Study 1
Ann,
a Young Women class president and an active high school student, is
taking music lessons and is the only daughter at home. Her life seems to
be always in a crisis with homework, Church activity, practices,
meetings, personal grooming, and home responsibilities. She never seems
to find time to read the scriptures, she sometimes falls asleep during
her prayers, and she is often late to meetings.
- •How could Ann enjoy an
organized life rather than endure a chaotic one? (She should determine
which things are most important and then organize her time to include
prayer, daily scripture study, and other essential things.)
Case Study 2
Christine
spends many hours after school tending her younger brothers and
sisters. She would like to have more time to develop spiritually and to
practice some homemaking skills.
- •How could she merge her
tending responsibilities with spiritual and homemaking development? (She
could teach the children gospel lessons and songs, develop a plan and
teach them to cook or sew, and read the scriptures and scripture stories
to them.)
Case Study 3
Lisa
fulfills her Church assignments and is a good student, an efficient
worker, and a helpful daughter. She spends her spare time listening to
music, swimming, meditating, and daydreaming.
- •What do you think of the
way Lisa spends her spare time? (Lisa seems to be very productive and
manages her time well. Time for rest, relaxation, and recreation should
be included in our scheduling. Unscheduled time is not necessarily
wasted time.)
Summary quotation
Have the following quotation read:
“Mere
‘busyness’ is not necessarily evidence of the wise use of time. There
should be time for mental and spiritual development as well as
relaxation: time for worship and time to express our thankfulness for
our ability to work, and think, and pray, and read, and help, and dream,
and laugh, and plan, and learn. …
“The
time we spend learning of our Father in heaven will bring untold
blessings to us all the days of our lives” (John Longden, “Time Is of
the Essence,” Improvement Era, June 1966, pp. 511–12).
Wise Use of Time Requires Planning
Object lesson
Ask the young women to enumerate activities they must
pursue daily (attend school, eat, sleep, do homework, and others). As
these activities are identified, place a stone for each one in a pint
jar or bowl. (The bowl or jar represents a twenty-four-hour day.) Fill
the jar with stones. Ask the young women to name other things they need
to do each day (travel to and from school, make beds, dress, bathe,
clean room, care for pets, pray, study the scriptures, prepare clothing,
practice music, attend Church meetings, and others). As these other
activities are identified, add sand, rice, or salt to the jar of rocks
until it looks full. (The sand represents these additional activities.)
Acknowledge that the young women’s lives are as full as the jar appears
to be. Then add water, explaining that even during an apparently full
day there is time for meditation, recreation, and other uplifting
activities. (The water represents these activities.) All of us should
strive for a proper balance in the use of our time. Accomplishing all we
need and desire to do takes careful planning.
Story
“Once
an efficiency expert approached the president of a large steel
corporation and outlined his firm’s services. ‘No use,’ the president
responded, ‘I’m not managing as well as I know how now. We need action,
not more knowing. If you could get us to do what we know we should, I’ll
pay you anything you ask.’
“‘Fine,’
answered the consultant. ‘I can give you something in a few minutes to
increase your doing and action fifty percent. First, write on a blank
sheet the six most important tasks you have to do tomorrow. Second, put
them in the order of their importance. Third, pull this sheet out the
first thing tomorrow morning and begin working on item one. When you
finish it, tackle item two, then item three. Do this until quitting
time. Don’t worry if you finish only two or three or even if you finish
only one item. You’ll be working on the most important ones. Fourth,
take the last five minutes of each working day to make out a “must” list
for the next day’s tasks.’(Goal setting, that is what it sounds like to me :) I gave a lesson on this last Sunday, and it is so much a part of time management, I didn't even realize!! ) (My side note :)
“Reportedly,
the president sent the consultant $25,000 for the idea, $1,000 for each
of the twenty-five minutes spent in the visit” (Teacher Development Program—In-service Series 2, 1971–72, Participant Materials, p. 58).
Poster or chalkboard discussion
Display the poster summarizing the efficiency expert’s advice, or refer to it on the chalkboard.
Efficiency Expert’s Advice
- •How can our Heavenly Father
be involved in this plan? (We should ask for his help in the use of our
time and in determining priorities.) (Prayer! We should always ask Heavenly Father to help us set our goals and to know which are most worthy of our effort and time, and which are most important and how to accomplish them! )
Writing
Distribute
a blank sheet of paper and a pencil to each class member. Have each
young woman divide her paper into three columns, labeling the first
column “Must Do,” the second “Should Do,” and the third “Would Like to
Do.” Instruct the young women to write under the heading “Must Do” the
things that they must do tomorrow, under
the heading “Should Do” the things they ought to do, and under the
heading “Would Like to Do” the things that they would enjoy doing for
pleasure. These are similar to the things identified in the object
lesson with the rock, sand, and water. Ask the young women to number the
items in the last two columns in order of their importance, since these
are the activities they can control.
Lesson Application
Have
the young women look critically at the important items they have
identified and consider how they can use their time more efficiently to
accomplish the most important activities in the last two columns.
Suggest that they follow the efficiency expert’s procedure for two
weeks. Provide time for them to report on their success in two weeks.
Encourage
the young women to kneel and approach the Lord in prayer every morning.
They could talk to him about their duties and priorities for that
particular day, ask for help and inspiration in performance, and then
report the results to him at night.
Suggested Activities
With
approval of the bishop or branch president, invite a well-qualified
person (for example, a college student, a young mother, or some other
member of your ward who is especially well-organized) to share tips on
how to make effective use of time.
I marked in red what really stood out to me. I really enjoyed this lesson! My notes are inside the lesson in black :)
More to come... I should get to bed early ;)
