Tag: Time

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Steps for Pursuing Purpose

More Art than Science

If we were created for purpose, why do we struggle recognizing it?

Finding my purpose hasn’t been easy and I don’t think I’m completely there. Instead of knowing my purpose, I feel like I pursing it.

Many excellent resources are available both online and offline to help with purpose and values discovery. Some of the resources can be quite expensive, even offering retreat experiences. Other resources, such as blogs and online articles, are free. Coaches and gurus will help us as well.

Finding resources will only get us so far. Our environment plays a vital role as well. We can have the best resources, but being able to focus and limit distractions can make or break our ability to discern our purpose.

Here are some important steps which aid in our pursuit of purpose: Continue reading “Steps for Pursuing Purpose”

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How to Schedule Creative Work

In a previous post, I wrote about managing energy instead of time. This article addresses how we can schedule our day to maximize our creative work.

Maker and Manager Schedules

Paul Graham is a programmer, writer, venture capitalist, and extremely smart with degrees in philosophy and computer science from Cornell and Harvard. After reading his 2009 Article, “Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule”, I began to realize that energy wasn’t the only consideration when viewing my work and schedule.

In his article, Graham asserts that those who manage and those who make (create) view time and schedules differently. A manager’s schedule is a series of hour, half-an-hour, and sometimes even 15 minute time blocks. Such a schedule works well for a manager because meetings can easily fit within those time blocks. Continue reading “How to Schedule Creative Work”

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How to Produce Your Best Work

NOTE: This is part one of a series covering how to do our best work. This article addresses time and energy management. The next article covers two scheduling concepts.

Hats Galore

As a pastor, I wear multiple roles or “hats” if you will. I am a communicator, a teacher, a leader, a manager, a facilitator, a coach, and a follower. At times I encourage and other times re-direct. I am a writer, both of sermons, newsletters, blogs, and studies. Sometimes I am a community organizer, counselor, spiritual director, and listening ear. I am also an administrator and a strategist. I’m a prayerful presence in a hospital room and a vocal presence for justice. I’m called on for my opinion in many different matters whether I am trained, educated, or familiar with those areas or not. My StrengthsFinder results indicate that I am a learner. I’m also a father, husband, brother, uncle and to some a friend.

For those who wonder what pastors do during the week, take your pick!

 

Continue reading “How to Produce Your Best Work”

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How to Determine if Your Life is Off Course

Two important areas of Continual Improvement are time management and energy management. Time Management usually gets the most headlines, but energy management is more important. If we have managed our time well, but not our energy, we may have time to do something, but not the energy.

An INC Magazine article gives five ways to know if your life is more off course than you think. Most of these factors have to do with how we spend our energy. The first one, too busy to get organized, deserves to be at the top of the list. If we don’t have time or energy to get organized, whether it be our desk or day, we might not be able to move forward.

If our life is packed full and we haven’t addressed the “leaks” in our life, we may never realize our vision of who we can be or who God has called us to be. We may have multiple action plans for multiple areas of our life, but, if we can’t get major components such as health, time, relationships, environment, and organization under control, we don’t have much hope of staying on course.

You can find the article here: If You’re Too Busy for These 5 Things your Life is More off Course Than You Think

Action Steps

  • Read the Article
  • Choose one area to focus your attention
  • Determine your Next Step for that area
  • Repeat 😉