Yes, I know football season is over. Baseball season is right around the corner. I will offer my apologies now to any fans of hockey, basketball, soccer, golf, badminton, curling … oh, wait a minute. When I started thinking of other lesser sports, I got carried away. (Please remember I apologized first).
While I have an appreciation for all sports that do not involve style points and judges, there are really only two professional team sports that I pay much attention to. Besides the fact that I only really pay attention to football and baseball as a fan, those two really have the only useful metaphors that I use as a writer.
That brings me to the two-minute drill. You know how it works. The offense takes on a whole new look once the two-minute warning has sounded before the end of each half of the game. The objective is to move the ball as effectively and quickly as possible in order to score points before time expires.
Teams practice their two-minute drill from the very first part of training camp, in the hopes that they will move like a well-oiled machine when the game is on the line in the playoffs. Do I need to remind you of how Aaron Rodgers broke the hearts of all of us Cowboys fans just a few weeks ago?
So, maybe it’s time for all of us to work on our two-minute drill.
What’s our two-minute drill? I don’t know what yours looks like, but here’s what it looks like for me. I have a pretty full life – work, family, ministry, personal interests, dreams. I don’t spend a lot of time sitting doing nothing. And as I look around my house, my office, and any other place where I hang out, I can see more things that need doing than I have time to do them.
Little things pile up until they become big things. To-do lists get longer and longer. Requests keep coming. The back burner gets completely overloaded. Have you been there? Are you there right now?
Little things pile up until they become big things. Click To Tweet
David Allen, in Getting Things Done, talks about the two-minute rule. To paraphrase, when you are looking at your lists or considering a request, ask this question: Can it be done in two minutes? If so, do it!
Many of the things we have listed as tasks are really projects that require multiple steps. Some of them, however, could honestly be handled in two minutes or less and there is something about getting a few of them done that creates positive momentum and energy.
What if you devoted 30 minutes a day to complete a batch of two-minute tasks and then devoted the rest of your day to deeper work, deeper conversations, and intense focus? What might your prayer time look like without all those little distractions? How might your marriage be strengthened if you were able to spend more focus on conversation and less on little honey-do’s?
Our lives matter to God. It doesn’t even take a full two minutes to celebrate that.
