Working ON It Versus Working IN It
If your life is anything like mine, it is quite full. There’s so much to do every single day. You start the day with a long to-do list that only gets longer as the day goes on. And that’s just your “work” list. Then you get home and you have a long list of things to do there too. Make dinner. Pick up the kids from practice. Start a load of laundry. Make sure you’re ready for tomorrow. Try and get some exercise. Catch up on the news. And of course, do an hour or two of the work that didn’t get done at the office.
It is so easy to spend all of our time doing the work in our life without giving the necessary time, attention, and energy to working on our life. But if we are only working in our lives, we might be on a path that’s not even the right one for us anymore. How long has it been since you took some time out to assess the big ideas of your life? Without taking the time to reflect and work on our lives, we might end up with a mere existence rather than living a life filled with purpose.
Towards the end of this past summer, I took a study break. It was still a full week of work, but it was a very different week than what my normal work week looks like. I got away for this week and I didn’t do any of my normal weekly work. I didn’t lead meetings. I didn’t have 1 on 1 meetings with our staff. I wasn’t writing or learning a talk that I was going to be giving this week.
I got away to plan all of our teaching series for 2025. It allowed me to both get ahead for next year and see how all of the topics and themes could fit into our calendar. This is a great example of what it looks like to take time out and work on your life, not just in your life.
4 Tips to Work On Your Life
Schedule at least a half-day per month to work on your life. If it doesn't get on your calendar, it’s highly unlikely it’ll ever happen. Maybe you decide that you’ll do this kind of work the last Friday of each month. I want to encourage you to go ahead and schedule this for every month, for the next 12 months. You can always adjust your calendar if something urgent comes up, but your life is worth this advanced preparation.
Throughout the month, write down questions and thoughts you want to work through when you get to the “working on it” day that you have set aside. You can use your Notes app or a Google document or even pen and paper to capture thoughts throughout the month that you want to give significant attention to when this monthly experience takes place. Writing it down means it’ll be there when the day comes and it means your brain knows it doesn’t have to keep ruminating on it every day.
Think through the various categories you want to prioritize and give some attention to each of them. Here are the categories I have for my life: faith, marriage, family, extended family, friendships, vocation (work), finances, and hobbies. While it’s easy to get consumed by only thinking about work, give consideration to your whole life. Assess how things are going in each of these areas. Get clear on what the vision is and where the gaps seem to be. Make commitments to yourself about how you’re going to close the gap.
As you think about an area you want to grow in, reach out to someone who seems to be further along in that area. If you’ve been engaging with any of my content lately, you’re probably familiar with a concept I’ve coined The Wisdom Table. If you don’t have someone seated at your wisdom table who can help with your desired growth, add someone who can. I can’t even imagine what I would have missed out on if I didn’t engage people who already knew what I was wanting to learn.
One of the best ways you can spend some time working on your life is to purchase and read Bring It Out. It’s been so fun to hear from so many people whose lives are changing for the better. Let me know if there’s a way I can be helpful.
Keep working ON it!
