At the end of the week I just want to sleep. I’m tired and on my days off I look to relax and refuel. I love youth ministry and to stay in this calling I know I need a healthy pace, a strong vision and a reasonable workload.

Youth ministry is grueling because you are constantly engaged in spiritual battle. You are dealing with people, programs and systems. While you’ll have seasons of business you need to make sure that they do not become the norm. This happens when you are doing too much. You put yourself at risk of losing sight of your ministry’s vision. To lighten your workload and be as efficient as possible be sure to:

  • Delegate Your Weaknesses: As a leader you need to make sure you are exploiting and owning your strengths. Your workload might be overburden because you are doing too many things that you are not good at doing. Find people who enjoy those responsibilities and give them away. Find the right people for certain responsibilities. If you have a good team around you, it will lighten your workload.
  • Rearrange Your Work Flow: If you do not track your time at work you are wasting valuable energy. When you keep a schedule you can manage your workload. You will be able to avoid scheduling back to back to back meetings. You’ll know when you can be creative and when you just need to produce. By counting your minutes you’ll create a very efficient workweek.
  • Keep It Simple: You might be doing too much. By doing less you can do more because you’ll give yourself more energy and margin to perfect what you are taking on. Cut back on bells and whistles, leave room for breathing room and do not fill every minute. You don’t have to do it all, you just need to do what you can as efficiently as possible.

Lightening your workload doesn’t mean laziness, it means being more efficient. If you can do what you are supposed to do, delegate and eliminate everything that slows you down then you’ll be able to lead at a higher rate. Take the time to review your schedule and responsibilities and start lightening your workload.

How do you work to be more efficient?