God knew what he was doing when he gave us the commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day. He didn’t tell Moses to “try to go to church once a week.” No, he was quite specific that we were to honor and worship him on the Sabbath day. This is because God knows we have a little time management problem. We are easily distracted and prone to overwhelm. So he made rules that are non-negotiable. In fact, he felt so strongly about the Sabbath day ritual, that he had this message carved in stone along with his other highest laws.

It’s interesting how, even centuries later, human beings still hold that ritual sacred by spending Sunday mornings in worship. I have a feeling if God had been a little less structured, we might not have the same loyal church-going practice in place. Imagine yourself saying, “Gosh, I really need to figure out how to find time to go to church this week.” Or, “Wow – it’s been such a crazy week and I’ve meant to get to church but I just couldn’t fit it in!” No, God knew what he was doing by establishing a specific time for worship and creating the expectation that we set that day aside and plan everything else in our lives around it.

The same practice holds true in establishing routines in our businesses. As entrepreneurs, we have long lists of things we “should” do, including marketing, staying in touch with customers and making strategic alliances. But unless we set up a system, these things tend to get pushed to the bottom of the “to do” list. This is a recipe for creating the “Feast or Famine” cycle that most self-employed professionals have experienced. We market our business to get clients. Then we work with clients and forget about the marketing. Then we wonder why we don’t have any new clients. But dedicating one day a week to marketing (or whatever other task is a business priority) can help create a consistent flow of clients, and a business ritual that you will honor every week. [Read more...]