Introduction

Idleness and wastefulness are not according to the rules of heaven. - Brigham Young¹

Driving everywhere in 1st gear is clearly not the most effective use of fuel. No one would intentionally do that. Yet many readily live their lives in an equally ineffective manner, wasting much of their limited resources on that which is of no worth.

The fact of the matter is that time, money, and other resources are limited during this life, and you will have to choose what you will spend them on. You could haphazardly spend your resources on any activity as it comes along or catches your attention. That would be much like driving to your destination in whichever gear the car happens to start in. This approach is like grocery shopping without a list, cooking a complicated meal without a recipe, or going on a long road trip without a map. You are guaranteed to waste resources. You are guaranteed to miss something. President Monson said, “I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do.”²

When we know what we need to do, and what priority each task has, we guarantee that we won’t miss anything important, and that we are most ev more ev living ectively. Living ectively saves resources, which means we can get more done than we could have otherwise.

Perhaps the following example will show the danger of not ordering our priorities. Do you remember playing pickup games of as a kid? The team would neighborhood sports captains take turns picking which kids they wanted on their team. The captains would eagerly anticipate which kid they would pick their next turn—always the strongest, fastest, most popular left of the group. This is sort of how we pick the disposition of our resources if we don’t have priorities. The fastest, shiniest, newest, biggest, most worldly, and most fun things get all of our attention. In team-picking, as the picks go on, the captains’ attitude degrades from eager anticipation of who would be best to morosely evaluating who would be the least terrible out of those who remain. Sometimes our attitude towards spiritual matters is like the captains’ attitude towards those less-thanideal team members. We begrudgingly go to Church on Sunday because that is what we ought to do. We clock in to our routine and mediocre scripture study and prayer to check the box. Our spiritual pursuits are usually the last items on our to-do list, and are limited to the bare minimum of compliance. Not being much of an athelete, I was always left as the dregs. I know how I felt to be the dregs. I wonder what Heavenly Father feels like when we make him and his the of our life. We program dregs never see him until everything else is gone, and we look around furtively to see if there is something—anything else we can spend our energy on before we break down and read the scriptures, pray, go to the temple, magnify our calling, keep a journal, or to visit the lonely. At the slightest opportunity, we will rush o a movie, do our homework, work overtime, play video games, or waste time on the computer, and then claim we were too busy for him.

A purposeful approach requires that you take time and effort to decide what is most important in life and dedicate the greatest measure of limited resources to those A your things. purposeful approach doesn’t mean that there is no room for the good things of the earth.³ A purposeful approach simply means that these things are used with judgment and not to excess.⁴ In fact, a purposeful approach is a protection from abusing the good things of the earth, since a key part of knowing what measure of recreation is appropriate is understanding your consecrated duties and priorities.⁵

So, where do you start? The problem with priorities is that there is a negative stigma. People see priorities as a deviation from the ideal life. In reality, your priorities are based on what is truly important to you. They are not intended to deviate you from what is important, but to keep you focused on what matters most to you.

What is your number one desire? The Lord said that eternal life is the greatest gift can receive.⁶ Is it your number one desire? There is a promise available to all who place eternal life at the top of their priorities. “The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”⁷⁷ If your desire is to God, all of your actions will be full of light. They will be made holy—consecrated.

Many returned missionaries complain of the loss of light associated with the return to real life. Just about any member of the Church would probably agree that they would like more light in their life. All of us, to a degree, can increase our desire for eternal life. This desire is represented in our life by what our priorities are and how we spend our time and other resources.

Once your main goal is fixed, your life becomes like an empty box in a crowded garage. The garage represents life, with all its options. The box represents your limited resources. It is not possible to put everything in the garage into your box—it just won’t fit. There are many things to choose from in the garage. There are the clearly wrong choices. These are easy to discriminate. But even with those removed, there are still very many good choices remaining. The key is the box itself. The label on the box, “Eternal Life,” gives a clue as to what belongs inside. The dimensions of the box, the commandments and teachings of the gospel, prevent certain large objects from fitting. Now the choice becomes much simpler. This is what it means to limit your life to those priorities which the gospel circumscribes. If it does not fit within the Lord’s plan, it does not fit. There are many things in this world, good and bad, which have no place in the gospel. There are many other things which have a proper, restrained place in the gospel. Your priorities must be structured to enforce the Lord’s priorities in your life.

What are the Lord’s priorities? First, you must meet your own needs. Second, you must meet the needs of your family. Third, you meet explicit Church service assignments. After these three priorities, you work for the benefit of the world in the most eHcient way you can.

These priorities are purposefully general. Defining them specifically is a personal matter. Clearly, there will be subprioritization amongst these main priorities. Perhaps the rest of this book will help you with that. One thing is clear: as you begin to prioritize the elements of your life, you will find that every moment is useful, and even precious.

Time is so and our so that we precious, goals important, should never waste our time on actions that have nothing to do with our goals. Brigham Young said, “Every moment of human life ought to be devoted to doing good somewhere and in some way.”⁷

When we act independent of our goals, we are acting in vain. Vanity means without real significance, ineffectual, counterfeit, without effect or avail, to no purpose, hollow, not yielding the desired outcome, fruitless, lacking substance or worth, having no real substance, unsatisfying, worthless, unreal, and empty. Following after vanity is a total waste. Not only do you spend your precious time and means on things that will yield no good thing in the end, but you are diverting your means and time from productive uses. You are being doubly robbed. You are being distracted, “spend[ing] money for that which is of no worth, [and] your labor for that which cannot satisfy...”⁸

Perhaps we waste time because we think it of no value. Brigham Young said, “What have we? Our time. Spend it as you will. Time is to and when this is to the best ad- given you; spent possible vantage for promoting truth upon the earth, it is placed to our account, and blessed are you; but when we spend our time in idleness and folly it will be placed against us.”⁹

Perhaps we waste time because we procrastinate. President Monson said that “there is no tomorrow to remember if we don’t do something today.”¹⁰ Never put on for tomorrow what can be done today. Said Franklin, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuv life is made of.”¹¹

Perhaps we waste time because we think that by doing nothing we can rest from our labors. In truth, doing nothing is actually an illusion. The only true way for you to do nothing is to die. Short of that, you are always choosing to do something, even if that something is to lay on the couch and not move for four hours. Don’t be fooled into thinking that being 100% productive is to be intensely working 100% of the time. The difference between people who are productive and people who aren’t is probably not in what they choose to do when they are working, but what they choose to do when they are not. The trick in being productive is to relax by doing productive things, though those productive things may not be your top priority. Reading an informative non-fiction book, for example, can be productive even though it might not be on the top of your priority list.

Don’t ever be wasteful, even when it seems there is nothing that needs doing, or that there is plenty of time. Time is fixed, there is never more or less of it. It ticks at the same always by rate. The only thing that changes is our productivity in using it. There is always something good to be done with it. When you think there isn’t, pray and ask God what you could do to bless your life or the life of another, and he will tell you. Emerson said, “One of the illusions is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”¹² When you value your time, your time will have value. You will fill moments with productive events, and you will increase your ability to be productive during those moments. When you practice thrift of time, you will gain a return on your investment. Wasting time can lead to laxness in health, spirituality, intelligence, finances, and morals, amongst other things.

In fighting the constant trap of wasting time, it is easy to get so busy that you think less about what you are doing and more about the fact that you are doing something. It is important to learn the subtle but essential difference between making the on at time and greatest impact your goals any given wasting your time on things, even good things, which are not the best use of your time given your goals. Seeking your goals in the world of distractions we live is like driving to a destination in a snowstorm. There are seemingly millions of things designed to take focus on of what matters. your really Spending your resources wisely on those things of greatest worth is wisdom. Spending your resources for the sake of spending them (even on good things) is referred to as being cumbered in the scriptures.

When you focus on the swarming barrage of the eternally insignificant, you are cumbered. The Savior warned us to trim the unnecessary or unfruitful out of our lives when he said, “Seek not to be cumbered.”¹³ Being cumbered prevents our having focus in life. When the Savior visited with Martha and Mary, he taught this important lesson. Mary, who recognized the importance of focusing on the Savior, “sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving.”¹⁴ She was upset that the Savior did not ask Mary to help her sister, seeing how busy she was. The Savior said, “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”¹⁵

Martha to make the situation the best it struggled present could possibly be. Her sister Mary focused instead on what was lasting. The “good part” that Jesus mentions, the part that is most important, is that “which shall not be taken away from [us].” We can become so busy, even with good things, that we are blinded to what is most needful, which is always what has vect. the greatest lasting e Besides missing out on that which is really important, we may find that we are so busy that we can’t even do the marginally important things well.

What is the remedy for being cumbered? Do those things which are eternal! Those which God would have you do, and which will have the greatest effect and the greatest lasting effect.

Everything righteous has a place in the priorities of the consecrated Saint. However, not all good things will fit into the finite resources we have. So, priorities become essential. A good thing becomes a bad thing when it pushes out a better thing. Ordering our priorities makes sure first things come first. For example, it is right to think about our funds as our own personal stewardship, but if we spend them according to the best of our ability to build the kingdom prior to paying our tithing, we’ve made a mistake. Likewise, understanding that the Sabbath day is the first day instead of the last day of the week can have an impact on how we spend our time on that day and through the rest of the week. Sunday will become the day we do all the important spiritual things we may not have time for during the rest of the week, instead of the day we squeeze in all the temporal things we didn’t have time for in the preceding week. Follow the same logic with when and how we plan trips to the temple or home teaching visits. Elder Scott said

Are there so many fascinating, exciting things to do, or so many challenges pressing upon you, that it is hard to keep focused on that which is essential? When things of the world crowd in, all too often the wrong things are allowed to take highest priority. Then it is easy to forget the fundamental purpose of life. Satan has a powerful tool to use against good people, those who are committed to a worthy, righteous life, who want to do good and intend to make the most of this life. His tool is distraction. He has an extensive array of undeniably good things that are used to keep us from doing the essential ones. Have you noticed that when you begin to focus on something truly important, something of eternal significance, there often come thoughts of other good things to distract you? Satan promotes distraction. He would have good people fill life with “good things” so there is no room for the “essential ones.” Have you unconsciously been caught in that trap? (Richard G. Scott, “Finding Peace, Happiness, and Joy,” p10)

How do we follow Elder Scott’s advice and become uncumbered? Consider a fruit tree. Most fruit trees need to be culled at some point during the growing season in order to maximize the quality of the fruit. In other words, the fruit tree seeks to grow many more fruits than it should. In order to make the quality of fruit what it ought to be, the wise farmer must knock on a significant percentage of the small, immature fruits in order to allow the remaining fruit to receive a larger portion of the tree’s limited resources. our and the means By limiting goals you use to achieve them to a few specific but important ones, you will free up more of your time, money, and other resources, permitting you to invest the resources necessary to achieve your goals without spreading yourself too thin.

As a scriptural example of this principle, consider the liahona. The liahona was a ball given to Lehi by the Lord.¹⁶ It pointed him in the direction he should travel towards the promised land. It had instructions written upon it from time to time. Note that with just one ball with limited writing space, there just wasn’t enough room for every possible instruction the Lord could have given. The instructions were not randomly chosen. The instructions that appeared were limited to those needed by Lehi and his family at the time. Lehi was not instructed in how to make a rocket ship or how to do calculus. We, too, must limit the expense of our resources on those things that matter most to the task at hand.

As you prosecute your goals, you will find yourself in different circumstances. Perhaps your energy fluctuates. Perhaps you find with more or less some yourself money. Perhaps inexpected demand on your time interrupts a project. For these and other reasons, it is important to be flexible. Remember the analogy of a manual transmission car. Sometimes you can run in high gear, going very fast with not much fuel. At other times, say, when you approach a hill, you need to down-shift and drive in a lower gear. Perhaps you need to slow down at turns. Your gears of eH ciency begin with those things which are the highest priority. Then you downshift to lesser priorities as your energy wanes. No activity on the shifting list should be a negative influence on us or others. Neutral is the bottom rung. An example: in writing this book, it has been a high priority. But at times I am too tired or sick to continue, so I will study scriptures, read a biography of George Washington, or play with my children. Then, when I feel recharged enough, I jump back into writing. Perhaps, at the end of the day, I am still exhausted and might go talk with my wife about the day. I am always doing something that contributes to my goals.

The important thing is that you never give up on your goals, and you always do whatever you can today. I once heard someone say, “I wish I had enough money to retire. Then I could focus on helping other people.” The question is, what keeps you from helping people today? Sure, we all have the demands of life to meet. But who doesn’t have ten minutes out of each day to focus on someone else? Does not the same to the most logic apply important things in life? Maybe you won’t achieve your life’s ambition in one day, but can’t you at least work on it for ten minutes? Every moment counts.

We ought not to speak lightly of and undervalue the life we now enjoy, but so dispose of each passing day that the hours and minutes are spent in doing good, or at least doing no harm, in making ourselves useful, in improving our talents and abilities to do more good, cultivating the principle of kindness to every being pertaining to our earthly sphere, learning their uses and how to apply them to produce the greatest possible amount of good; learning to conduct ourselves towards our families and friends in a way to win the love and confidence of the good, and overcome every ungovernable passion by a constant practice of cool judgment and deliberate thoughts. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 9:291)

Enacting your decision to be more productive will be difficult. Your first round of changes may seem extreme. They may seem like won’t matter. But once make the they really you change, will see the difference. Your will be to new you eyes opened changes that you could make to become even more productive. As you continue this cycle, you will notice that each time your capacity to observe ways to improve is sharpened, just as an administrative clerk, by virtue of his experience with certain forms, knows exactly where to look for errors.

In organizing your priorities and making the most of time, you will have more light in your life, and will make more eHcient contributions to the kingdom of God.