I know how frustrating life can be when you have a lot to do and you wake up with a bang, only for you to feel less than motivated during the day to carry through those things you decided to do.

 Thinking back to a particular time in church, we were considering stewardship as a theme in the Sunday school, and one of those topics we learnt under that theme is stewardship of time. That particular lesson helped me see the many things I was doing wrongly every day and also how to start investing my time well. Although I was much younger when that lesson was taught, but the lesson formed the bedrock for the time-management skill I now have.

The body loves comfort so it usually just wants to stay in bed all day, or just sit behind a TV all day without achieving those things you consider important. While it’s not a bad thing to rest the body or watch TV, the only danger in those things is the fact that we will be over-indulging our body, and more important things won’t get done.

We all want to get the best out of our day, but often times we don’t get to do just that , So, how do you lazy-proof yourself everyday?

This is a list that carries everything you’ll be doing for a day. It is best written the night before or very early in the morning before many things begin to call for your attention.

Writing a to-do list helps maximize the day and helps you deal well with the twenty-four hours each days brings.  Your to-do list has to contain the things you consider major for that day, and you can also put in time frames to help you get the best out of every moment that passes by. You should also prioritize on your list those things that are extremely important and that must be done on that day.

Your daily to-do list should contain daily steps of what is in your monthly goal or weekly goal. For example, if one of your weekly goal is to finish reading a book that has twelve chapters, your to-do list for the days in that week must include to read at least two chapters of xyz book, and you’ll discover that at the end of the week, you’ll have successfully finished that book. That same principle can be used to achieve any other goal of yours.

To get the best out of your twenty-four hours every day, identify what your distractions are and fortify yourself against them. Distractions is relative because what serves as distraction for Kunle might not be able to distract Femi. For some,  their major distractions is their phone, for others it’s a friend at work whom upon seeing each other every plan for that day goes into a ditch.

Yours might not be your phone or a friend, find out what your distractions are, and do your best to get things done against all odds.

 If your phone is your major distraction, you can decide not to switch on your data until a particular time of the day or not to even check the mail for the day until a particular time, if yours is gisting endlessly with a colleague at work neglecting the things you have to do, budget that time into your to-do list too, or you might decide to only talk with that colleague when you have done some particular things on your to-do list.

This is something we often times don’t do that makes us feel stuck in between the day and we can’t seem to get the best of each day.

To create a reward system, know something you really appreciate and then make it a kind of reward for achieving anything you say you would, or for successfully crossing out all the things on your to-do list at the end of the day.

 For example, if you have five major things on your to-do list in the morning, you can decide to reward yourself by probably buying a plate of your favorite meal or an additional fifteen minutes on social media to watch your favorite series on YouTube, or just anything whose thought can keep you motivated as you go through for the day.

We can be better stewards of the time God gives to us if only we can decide to, and with his help, we will get it done.