Improving Our Time

I wanted to share a parable with you all from the New Testament: that of the talents. In Matthew chapter 25, Christ tells his disciples of a man who entrusted a certain sum of money to his servants before departing for “a far country” (Mat 25:14). This parable brilliantly captures the essence of the Plan of Salvation—let’s take a closer look at what it means for us.

Matthew 25:15 says, “And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.” The traveling man represents our Heavenly Father and we his servants; he has entrusted each of us with a certain degree of stewardship according to our abilities. Eventually each of us will stand before the Lord to give an accounting of how we spent our time in this life. Depending on how we managed ourselves, we will either lose our stewardships or receive additional responsibility. The latter is what we in the church call “Exaltation.” It is receiving greater responsibilities and more opportunities from our Father in Heaven because we’ve proven we can handle them.

The prophet Amulek provides an additional witness to this in Alma 34: “if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness, wherein there can be no labor performed” (Alma 34:34). But what does it mean to “improve our time?” I believe it means to develop self-mastery and learn to spend our time doing the things that contribute most to our salvation and happiness.

Let us look to our Father in Heaven as the supreme example of good self-management: He is the Father of numberless spirit children and yet He knows each by name, hears and answers every prayer, spoken and unspoken, and keeps meticulous track of their every thought, word and deed. He is the architect of worlds without number and the author of the Plan of Salvation. What is the secret to His success? It is the ability to focus on what is most important and to delegate, to share his responsibilities with others. Through a flawless network of prophets, angels, the Holy Ghost, and other inspired messengers, the Lord accomplishes His great purposes and communicates His will to the children of men. His is a life of focus, balance, and joy.

Focus and balance are essential to the life of the disciple. We are required to be in the world but not of the world, to provide for our temporal needs while living up to our covenants and sharing the gospel with others. There are numerous scriptural and secular helps to assist us in doing so. One which I would like to go over in detail from a gospel perspective is called the Productivity Pyramid, a model used by the Franklin-Covey company to help teach people the skills, habits, and mindset necessary to achieve their highest priorities. It has four levels—for the base we have our Governing Values; above that is Goal-Setting; moving further up is Weekly Planning; and at the top is Daily Planning.

Our Governing Values are our core beliefs, ideals, and highest priorities and should define everything we think, say, and do. The principals of the Gospel of Jesus Christ provide a template for sound governing values—developing our talents, pursuing greater knowledge, striving for improved personal righteousness, and so forth—as the prophet Helaman told his sons, “Remember, remember, that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation” (Hel 5:12).

Once we have defined our own personal Governing Values, we can move up the pyramid to the next level: Goal-Setting. A goal is defined as an accomplishment with a deadline. It is made up of a series of smaller steps, also with deadlines, that culminate in the eventual realization of the goal. Concerning goal-setting, Elder Ballard stated, “I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in life” (PMG, 146).

We should set goals to develop Christ-like attributes. The apostle Peter admonished, “Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 1:5-8).

Our goals reflect our Governing Values and are the focus of the next level up on the pyramid: Weekly Planning. On my mission I learned the importance of setting aside time each week with my companions to prayerfully reflect on our goals and figure out what needed to be done on a daily basis to achieve them; on the weeks we didn’t do so our efforts were more scattered and disorganized, and as a result the work suffered. Planning weekly is perhaps the single most important thing we can do to achieve balance. As a missionary, the weekly planning session lasted two hours; as regular people, however, we should spend about 30 minutes each week going over upcoming deadlines, obligations, and appointments and focusing our efforts on our goals.

The last key to achieving balance is the Daily Planning session. Ten to twenty minutes each day, whether in the morning or at night, helps us to focus our efforts on the most important tasks at hand. Preach My Gospel gives several pointers to help us plan more effectively (PMG, 150-151):

• Have a meaningful activity planned for every hour of the day.
• Accept full responsibility for your efforts. Never blame others for difficult circumstances or lack of progress.
• In your prayer at the end of the day, give an accounting of your work.

Following these patterns of self-mastery should be the pursuit of a lifetime. As we focus on what is most important we will find that our satisfaction, our confidence, and our ability to influence others for good will increase. Our relationships will bring us more fulfillment and our labors greater rewards. Our love for the Savior and His Atonement will grow, and our sensitivity to the whisperings of the Spirit will be sharpened. Of this I bear witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.