Tag: productivity

Posted in productivity, Through the Bible Devotions

What have you been doing?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Jeremiah 9.

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23,24)

Have you ever met someone who boasted, “I know and understand God”? Yeah, me neither.

Instead I hear, “I don’t understand why God would do that.” Or, “I don’t know why God would allow that to happen.”

When someone asks, “So what have you been doing lately?” I never respond, “I’ve been getting to know God.” Instead I mention what I’ve been reading, the workouts I’ve been doing, all the things I’ve been writing about, places I’ve gone and things I’ve done, plus all the cooking and baking I’ve done.

Does that qualify as boasting? I don’t like to think so. After all, you asked. But I certainly don’t want to answer, “Not much.” I still fall prey to the notion that I must be productive. So I have to make sure you know that I’ve been doing something, something worthwhile, something that justifies my taking up space on the planet.

After I’ve shared my recent activity, it feels so good to hear, “Wow, sounds like you’ve been busy!” I love to hear that. It makes my day.

In Jeremiah 9, invading armies and widespread destruction are on the way because God’s people didn’t get it. They lived their lives as if they didn’t know God at all. Everything they learned, earned, and accomplished would mean little when Jerusalem was a heap of ruins and the cities of Judah were desolate and uninhabited (9:11).

I suppose there’s a lesson to be learned here. There always is. What if I asked, “So what have you been doing lately, God?” I’ll bet I’d be amazed at his response. Maybe I would exclaim, “Wow, sounds like you’ve been busy!”

Posted in productivity

One percent

Posted on by William Douthwaite

This is a response to the WordPress daily writing prompt, “What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?”

I love the one percent goal. If you become 1 percent better at something each day, you will be 37 times better at that in a year. Those small incremental increases pay off in a big way.

What does that one percent look like? Read one more sentence in a book than yesterday. Or increase the weight you lift in a workout by one percent. Write one more sentence in your journal than yesterday. Run or walk one percent further than yesterday. Drink one percent more water each day. Practice your instrument one percent longer.

It doesn’t have to be a daily goal. Save one percent more money than last month. Run one percent further than last month. Read one percent more than last month. Whatever. Before you know it, you’ve leveled up your life through small, insignificant improvements.

I’ll often ask myself, “What’s my one percent today?” I don’t have to improve everything every day. But there is always something I can strive to improve by one percent.

Posted in creativity, Devotions, Through the Bible Devotions

“That looks pretty good”

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Andrey Novik on Unsplash

A “through the bible” devotion from Genesis 1.

Last Monday, I finished up Revelation and started with Genesis on Tuesday. The words that grabbed my attention in Genesis 1 were, “And God saw that it was good.” After speaking land, plants, heavenly bodies, birds, fish, and animals into existence, God saw that it was good. Once he added people to his creation he saw that it was very good.

I jotted that down in my journal, thinking about how satisfying it is to create something. It could be something I make with my hands, some words that I write, a picture I draw, food that I cook, or some music I play. It feels “good” to create something. I believe that’s part of being created in the image of God.

There is a downside to being a creator. I am very critical of my work. When I say, “That’s pretty good,” I’m fully aware that in some way I could have done better. I see every flaw in a paint job, hear every note that wasn’t quite in tune, and know that I should have taken something out of the oven a minute sooner. There is always room for improvement.

As a creator, you keep creating. You don’t have much of a blog if you don’t keep creating content. Music is gone in a moment. If you want more, you must play more. Recording artists are always working on their next project. Once you’ve preached a good sermon, you get to work on next Sunday’s message. After you’ve eaten all the cookies, it’s time to create a new batch, right? When the kids grow up (and they grow up so fast!), you’ve got no more babies – unless you make more.

On the one hand, God rested on the seventh day because he completed the work of creation. And yet he still creates. He graciously creates a clean heart in us (Psalm 51:10). If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). We are looking forward to the new heaven and earth that God will create (Is. 65:17).

I look forward to daily creating content for this blog. I enjoy creating a loaf of bread, memories with family, space in the house by decluttering, and a little music with my guitar, too. What a blessing it is to both know the Creator and be a “creator.”

Posted in productivity

What do you do when you can’t do it all?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I’ve been digitizing my old journals and came across this note from January 7, 2012: “What do you do when you can’t do it all?” There’s not much context to go with that, other than another line, “My to-do list is huge.”

In other entries I wrote down that my to-do list was more than a page long! I know I rarely got everything on my list done. In fact, some things on the list never got done. Not every day was like that, but enough were that I became of student of productivity.

There are two ways to tackle an overwhelming to-do list. One, just work on the first thing until it’s done. Then work on the next thing. And so on. Or, cross off a bunch of items until the list is manageable.

Actually, it wasn’t that hard to get a handle my daily tasks. I adopted a system of 1-3-5 and Kanban. I reduced my to-do list to one important thing, three less important tasks, and a few less-than-urgent activities. When a to-do list is just one important task, it isn’t overwhelming at all.

In the process, I learned that many of the things on my to-do list didn’t need to be done. I guess they needed to be done at some point, but the world didn’t come to an end if I handled them some other day. Other to-dos were done by someone else. Those tasks were on others’ to-do lists, too. And some things just never got done. Oh well.

Now I’m curious. What things on my to-do lists did I never actually do? I’ll keep an eye out and let you know what I find.

Posted in communication, Life

You better check your email

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Stephen Phillips – Hostreviews.co.uk on Unsplash

At the beginning of my online bible study group, the leader reminded us of an email he had sent out a few days before, telling us that we would have to cover two lessons to stay on schedule. However, we would not have time to discuss two entire lessons in our one-hour time slot. So he sent out some highlight questions from each of the two lessons.

One group member entered the Zoom room about five minutes late, and was surprised at how far along we were. The leader explained that we were fast-tracking each of the two lessons, as outlined in his email. This member replied, “Oh, well, I’m only on my email once every couple of weeks, so I didn’t see that.”

That comment got my attention. He only checks his email once every two weeks? I check mine at least twice a day. I’ll bet many check it more often than that.

So I’ve been wondering if it’s better to check it more often or less. I can think of pros and cons for both.

If I check my email more than twice a day, I end up spending a lot more time online than I want to. A few newsletters bring me up to date on current events. Merchants I’ve purchased from send along coupons and discount codes so I’ll return to their sites to shop for more. I get weekly updates about activities at church and in the community. I receive notifications about recent purchases and upcoming deliveries. I get appointment reminders. All of these beg for my attention, tempt me to click and read more, eating away at my day one little bite at a time.

But if I go more than a day without checking my email, I’ll have over fifty unread emails. If I skip a week, my inbox will be filled with hundreds of emails. And that doesn’t include all that go immediately into the spam folder. When the list of unread email is more than several pages, I’m sure to miss something I need to know or communication from someone close to me.

On the other hand, I don’t get much email from those close to me. Most of my personal communication comes via text message. Family photos are mostly shared on social media. Important official correspondence comes in the mail.

But I depend on email to find out about local events. I get receipts from recent purchases and updates on travel arrangements. One Sunday morning, I was alerted to a detour I’d have to take to get to church. The library sends me a list of books I’ve checked out by email, too.

I remember when email was a new experience. We were all thrilled to read, “You’ve got mail.” Once, someone called me to ask, “Did you get my email?” Lol. You could have just called me. Twenty years later, the shine has worn off. Too much spam. Too many promotions. Too much junk.

Twice a day should be plenty. Productivity experts say don’t check email till 11 am and never after 8 pm. I can do that. But once every two weeks is a bit much for me.

Posted in Moments of grace

Lessons on focus from little ones

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Joe Smith on Unsplash

I got invited to a virtual tea party the other day. I joined my grandchildren in Texas for a few moments as I had a cup of coffee and they ate homemade cookies and drank some tea with plenty of milk and sugar. As I watched them enjoy their afternoon snack, I was impressed by how focused they were on the task at hand. 100% of their attention was focused on eating freshly baked snicker-doodles. I sipped my coffee, chatted with my daughter-in-law, took note of a message that popped up on my phone and tried to snap a few screen shots of our long distance time together. For the little ones, though, it was as if nothing else existed except those cookies.

I am jealous of their youthful ability to focus. I think I’ll enlist them to be my productivity coaches! My world is filled with distractions as I try to get things done. I’m often trying to do too many things at one time. I eat while watching TV, clean while listening to music, talk on the phone while watching the dog. Even though preschoolers can have a short attention span, I took away these lessons on focus from that occasion.

Just have one thing in front of you. They had nothing in front of them except two cookies on a paper towel and a cup of tea. No crayons, books or toys. Just the snack. And they enjoyed every bite. It wasn’t till after they were done that we chatted.

Set a time. The tea party was scheduled for 4:30 pm, so that’s what we did. Block out the time. Put your task on the calendar.

Have a goal. Know what you need to get accomplished. Eat two cookies. Drink one cup of tea. For me it might be writing a certain number of words or making a certain number of phone calls or making a lesson plan.

When you’re done, you’re done. When the cookies are gone, it’s time to play. Or color. Or build legos. Finish one task, then move on to the next.

Be in the moment. They savored every bite and sip. They had just one thing to do: enjoy the snack!

I don’t know how many articles and books I’ve read about focus and productivity. I’ve learned a lot from many sources. But lately, I’ve learned even more from the little people in my life!

Posted in productivity

Two projects

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I believe that every homeowner like myself has an endless to-do list. Home ownership comes with plenty of maintenance, decorating, repair and remodeling projects which must be done in your spare time, when you aren’t working. I had a eureka moment the other day as I lamented that my list never seemed to get shorter.

I decided that I would set a goal of two projects per week, one inside and one outside. The projects would be in addition to weekly tasks like lawn work, cleaning or shopping. Each project would take less than two hours. Just imagine: if I did this for a whole year, I would get 104 projects done!

To do this, I would have to break some of my bigger projects into smaller chunks. I can’t paint every interior door in two hours, but I can finish two. I might not be able to make every garden look perfect, but I can spruce up one of them in a few hours. I can power wash the driveway or clean some windows or clean out the gutters. In the course of a week, I can always find a few hours to do something and thereby always feel like I am making progress.

My idea is not new, of course. It is my rendition of eating the elephant one bite at a time. But it is a newer approach for me. I won’t feel like I’m always working on projects. But I will also feel like I am getting something done. A win-win with myself!

Posted in Ministry, productivity

Do more or pray more?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

There’s a fork in the road when ministry heats up and life gets busy. Either you do more, or “you pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37). Guess which one I do more often?

If you haven’t guessed, I confess that I conclude I need to do more. I need to spend more time helping more people using my gifts in the service of God. Intuitively, this makes a lot of sense. Spiritually, though, that’s not the path Christ blazed.

That’s the temptation, isn’t it? When you feel like you are in over your head, you should spend more time working harder to get more done and emulate those who do the same. Yeah, like those who brag that they work seventy or eighty hours a week.

Wait a minute. I’m not following them. I’m following Him. And when Jesus needed help, he enlisted the pray-ers around him. “You better pray that God sends some help.” He wasn’t going to put in overtime. He wasn’t going to make the ministry happen. Nope, his approach was different. “You guys better pray for some help.”

That’s my new mantra. When a can’t keep up, can’t carry the load, can’t possibly do it all, I’m going to come clean. “You guys better start praying for help.”

You know, it took me about thirty-five years of ministry to learn this lesson. I learned that I can do a lot. I can do more now than I could before. I can learn new skills, manage my time better, be more productive and optimize my time. But I’m also tired. I’m not the Christ. And not even he tried to do it all. He didn’t bear the burden of saying all the prayers.

Bottom line: “You guys better start praying for help.”

Posted in creativity, productivity

Creative moments

Posted on by William Douthwaite

danielle-dolson-322889-unsplash
Photo by Danielle Dolson on Unsplash

A couple of times this morning, I had surprisingly creative moments. First, very early, while free writing after some scripture reading, the themes for my Christmas Eve and Christmas Day sermons popped into my head. Later, as I sat in my office to begin working on sermons for the next two Sundays, the themes and outlines fell into place in just a few hours.

After those few hours of door-closed, phone-in-airplane-mode, no distraction work, I paused to capture what made the morning so productive with what seemed like so little effort. You see, I want to be able to recreate such moments. As any writer, artist, composer or pastor knows, it’s not always that easy. Sometimes you close the door, turn off the distractions, pray, struggle, work and sweat, only to come up with nothing useful. Was there anything specific about today that I can replicate in the future?

One might suggest divine inspiration, and that may be a part of it. But there’s no way to predict when that might happen or turn it on like a faucet. God’s Spirit is like the wind. There’s no way to predict when you’ll feel the breeze. You just enjoy it when it blows.

I thought of a few things that might have contributed to an especially creative morning. First, I was as far away from Sunday as I could be. No pressure, no imminent deadline. I didn’t have to come up with any ideas. That reality freed my mind to wander, imagine, visualize and come up with all kinds of crazy ideas.

I’ve also begun drawing pictures in my journal, images that I find on the pages of my morning devotions. I’ll bet doing something artistic wakes up the right side of my brain, the creative side.

I believe reading helps, too. If I just read some devotional stuff, some fiction, a mystery, anything that takes me away in a story, and my mind begins to generate ideas. Out of nowhere. They just start to grow. Ten to fifteen minutes of reading opens a window into parts of my mind where really cool ideas otherwise lie hidden just out of sight.

I may not always be as productive as I was this morning. But I am going to try making every Monday morning such a creative time.