This past Sunday we celebrated Family Christmas at our church. It’s an annual event where we honor people who lived out the Christmas story during the past year. We had a big crowd. So much energy in the room. Everything was perfect.

Later that afternoon, sitting on the couch watching the Lions pound the Saints, I glanced at my calendar for the upcoming week. Four consecutive twelve-hour days stared me in the face. Seven appointments on Monday. While driving to my first meeting Monday morning, a wave of exhaustion hit me. “What have I done?” I wondered. “How did I let the schedule get so crazy this week?”

Why do we overschedule? Our first response might be: “Well I’m a responsible person. I have to get stuff done.” Or, “I love what I do!” Good answers. I’m not encouraging irresponsibility or discouraging you from doing what you love. But there are other less noble reasons we stuff our calendar. Let me give you three:

FOMO

FOMO is the fear of missing out. When I was a kid, I hated having to go to bed early, because I thought I would miss something. FOMO is a challenge for pastors. Sometimes we pack our week because we fear we won’t have enough. We fear not growing as fast as other churches nearby. We fear others’ perceptions of our work ethic. We fear being thought of as a failure. Maybe we’re afraid of disappointing God. And perhaps ultimately, we fear what will happen if our current gig doesn’t work out.

OMO

OMO is overestimating my output. Pastors tend to overestimate how much they can get done in any given day or week. Scheduling seven appointments the day after a huge church event is example A. I knew an enormous amount of energy would be spent on Sunday—how did it not dawn on me that a packed Monday (by my own choosing) was a bad idea? Our lack of realism when it comes to scheduling is mystifying at times. We bite off more than we can chew. We often overestimate our capability and underestimate our need for reasonable scheduling.

DOMO

DOMO is disorganized method operation. Disorganization contributes to crammed schedules. Let’s face it: Some of us lack basic organizational muscle. We lead by the seat of our pants. We work hard, but not productively. Hard work is noble, but if we produce little, how noble is it? God’s more interested in fruit than He is frenzy. Disorganized pastors often work hard with little to show for their effort. Here’s the good news: We don’t have to become organizational gurus to effectively pastor a church. We do however need to learn to some level of functional organization. And fortunately, most of us can.

If you suffer from FOMO, OMO, or DOMO, what can you do? Here’s three ideas:

Get to the root of your fear(s)

When you’re chronically overscheduled, ask yourself: “What am I afraid of? What fear is driving me to choose this insane pace?” Ask God and trusted friends to help you sort this out. Learn to work out of love instead of fear. If you’re a Jesus-follower, you’re loved unconditionally by Father God. Your accomplishments don’t cause Him to love you more. Your failures don’t cause Him to love you less. You have His stamp of approval. Work and lead out of that understanding, and I suspect fear will lose its grip… and your calendar pressure will be reduced.

Get in touch with reality

You have limitations. There’s not enough time or energy to implement every idea in your head. Or connect with every person you need to meet. Stop lying to yourself by thinking you can work 60+ hours every week and stay healthy. Admit you can only blow by your day off for so long before you’ll start making a mess out of your life. It doesn’t honor God when you regularly over-fill your schedule. In fact, it’s possible overscheduling is dishonoring to Him. When we deny the reality our human limitations, when we stuff our calendar like a Thanksgiving turkey, and week after week overcommit—is it possible we’re acting as though we’re more important than God is in the pastoral equation? Give yourself a reality check.

Get near organized people

I was disorganized early in life. Becoming the pastor of a large youth group brought this weakness front and center. So I searched out the most organized person I knew, threw myself at his mercy, and asked him to teach me how to improve. I read books to help me grow (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey; Focus by Al Ries: Execution by Larry Bossidy); these were a few books I devoured to get better at organization. You can learn to be organizationally literate without having to become an expert. The better organized you are… the less wasted motion you have. And the more control you’ll experience with your calendar.

So pastor: What does your calendar look like this week? Packed like sardines in a can? Are you feeling the negative effects of FOMO? OMO? DOMO? Stop the madness. Get in touch with your fears… with reality… and if disorganization is your Achilles heel… hang out with organized people. The smarter you get calendar-wise… the sooner you stop the madness… the longer you can do what you love.

I’m rooting and praying for you!