5 Time Hacks to Reclaim Your Rhythm
Because burnout isn’t a badge of honor
Let’s face it: ministry is a marathon run on sprint intervals. Between emails, meetings, lesson plans, pastoral care, and sermon prep, it’s easy to feel like your agenda is running you. But what if the rhythm of your week could be intentionally designed—so that your most important work actually gets done, with space left for relationship, rest, and faith?
These five time hacks aren’t about squeezing more in—they’re about clearing space for what matters most.
1. Start Your Day with the Big Work
Do the important (not just urgent) items first thing—especially the ones needing creativity or large blocks of focus. I use this to get my sermon knocked out by Tuesday (sometimes Monday). When I’m sharp in the morning, that big task actually gets done. The smaller stuff? It often still gets done later—even if I’ve let it wait. If you want the play‑by‑play, check out my piece on Finish Your Sermon by Tuesday—it dives into why scheduling the big work early changes everything.
A solid to‑do list helps here: seeing what you're postponing—and knowing it’s okay to push aside less essential tasks—keeps you focused, not scattered. I’ve got an article about that too, How to Turn Your To-Do List from Enemy to Ally.
2. Batch the Small Stuff
Designate a block—afternoon, mid‑day, whatever suits you—for emails, texts, admin. When small tasks nibble at your attention all day, your big work suffers. But when you get a bunch done in one go, you preserve your creative bandwidth—and surprise—you often discover some of those tasks don’t even matter later.
3. Timebox Meetings (and Wrap ‘Em Early)
Meetings stretch to fill their allotted time. Flip the script by setting them at 25 or 40 minutes instead of 30 or 60. It sharpens the focus, honors people’s time—and ending early gives bonus minutes back for prayer or reflection. A shorter meeting can feel like a gift.
4. Use Templates to Save Mental Energy
From sermon outlines to board agendas to pastoral emails—build reusable frameworks. Not rigid scripts, but scaffolding that frees your mind. My sermon prep follows the same loose architecture each week. It keeps creativity flowing, instead of bogging it down in formatting or structure decisions.
5. Say No to Protect Yes
Time is your most precious and limited resource. Every yes is a no to something else—whether that’s sermon work, family, self‑care, or silence. Before saying yes, ask: “Are these 30 minutes here worth 30 minutes less over there?” If not, it’s okay—and often wise—to decline. If you say “yes” to every request for your time then you either have lots and lots of time, or very few (if any) priorities.
Wrapping It Up
These aren’t hacks to hustle harder—they’re strategies to shape your space, energy, and attention around what truly matters. Put the big work first. Batch the small things. Guard your meetings, your templates, and even your time itself. What you protect determines what you produce.
What’s your next move? Pick one hack to test this week. Let it shift your days. And when something clicks—or you need a tweak—let’s talk. This work of ministry deserves your best energy and your best boundaries.