Surviving the Weekend Hangover

I thought I would go for a nice long run yesterday, but then I remembered it was like 100 degrees in Baltimore and my muscles were aching from a lack of sleep, long bus drive and an emotional draining experience.  We took students to the Franciscan University High School Conference in Ohio, which is such a powerful experience for young Catholic students.  And even though it was energizing, it was draining at the same time.  But I've been able to recover quickly because there is a little more margin in my schedule; however, if this were the fall (our busy season), it would be another story.  When September hits there will be a lot of weekends that will be draining because of all the energy that gets expedited, especially when it comes to getting things started and keeping things going. So when there is a little more margin, like in the summer time it's important to plan for the year ahead by:

1. Creating Deadlines: Deadlines will help your team create margin to not only plan week 1 but week 2, 3, 4 and so on will help them see the big picture. If you only spend time on week 1, you'll find yourself scrambling, disorganized and falling flat before week 2 even hits.
2. Delegate Responsibilities: Passing off the "small stuff" so you don't get carried away with the details, is essential. Everything is important, but if you (the ministry leader) find yourself uploading music to an Ipod instead of preparing for a message or making copies of a handout instead of communicating with leaders, then you'll not only get overwhelmed, but miss out on opportunities to connect with potential ministers and students.
3. Be Your Ministries Biggest Fan: Set yourself up in a position where you have the energy to cheer your team on. No weekend is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, people will beat themselves up if something doesn't go according to plan. 5 secs - 24 hours after a program is not the time to critique and magnify any short comings. Wait a day, reflect, let the emotions calm down and then celebrate the wins before you think about what went wrong. This is a marathon that we are running and if you are hard on yourself after one week, then you might as well forget the rest. Ministers need their leaders to pick them up, especially when they are fresh off the battle field.