Terry Linhart's Blog, page 23

The Productivity Secret: Do things even when you don’t “feel like” doing them

Our teenage years was spent learning how to do things we didn’t feel like doing. Depending on our parents’ parenting style, some of us excelled at this earlier than others.

As a college prof, I still see students wrestling with this basic life function, putting off important work until it’s too late and then turning in sub-par work, if turning in work at all.

I see this in the field of Christian leadership, belief it or not.  We sign up to be youth workers, senior pastors, children’s workers, or other ministry roles and we quickly work to find ways to avoid doing what we don’t like to do…. even if that is spending time with the people in our groups!

Here’s the productivity secret:  LEARN HOW TO DO THE IMPORTANT WORK EVEN IF YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE DOING IT.

Sounds simple doesn’t it.

It kind of is.  It kind of is.

But it’s what perpetrates the good leaders from the others:  Some just do it.  It’s what made a former student of mine, Joel Runyon, so successful in his work of helping people “Do the Impossible.”  (You need to check out his story). He helps people create disciplined patterns, take on challenges, and realize a potential beyond their perceived limits. In the end, they do what they once though impossible.

One way to make sure you do this is to schedule in what I call this, the “grunt work” and then be sure to use a weekly tracker to keep track of how you did “getting it done.”  I think that intense physical exercise 3x a week serves as a personal symbol and reminder of what discipline feels like.  Good workouts push us past our self-imposed limits every time … and then we line up and do it again in 2 days….. and again… and then next week ….. and we keep on doing it … and we keep on pushing past those limits ….  and again…..

List the three things in your week that you do not usually feel like doing. Then put them on your calendar. When that time comes … do them.  Then, when your time is up, YOU’RE DONE!  And you can focus on the work that motivates you.

And now I get back to the work that I don’t feel like doing… so I wrote a blog post about it.

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The Weekly Tracker: An important productivity tool

One of the blessings in my early leadership days was that I got my youth ministry start with Ft. Wayne Area Youth for Christ. At the time it was one of the largest chapters in the US and I would still argue that the 27 staff members I served with during those eight years comprised one of the most talented teams of youth workers I’ve seen.

The real blessing for me was the supervisory structure during the first three years in youth ministry (more on this another time).  Each week my supervisor and I would go to lunch at the Venice and go over my schedule for the coming week…. and review the prior week’s schedule.  Yes, I had to keep track of how I spent my week and the go over it with my supervisor.  And it was this accountability that coached me on how to be productive.

These appointments were positive, focused on helping me maximize my work time, make sure I was having family time, and yet helping me make sure I was doing what youth workers are supposed to do:  SPEND TIME WITH YOUTH. 

So, we used a Weekly Tracker that I would recommend to you. Keep track of what you do every half hour.  Be specific (“office” doesn’t show what you did in the office or if social media interrupted 15 of those minutes).

Then the following week look back and go over how you spent your time.  Figure out your most important work categories (the “big rocks”) and use those to group your work. Total up your hours (i.e. how much time spent with youth outside of the weekly program) and you’ll be surprised where your time was spent.

Most of us don’t do this kind of evaluation because we don’t want to know. 

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“Big Rocks” Matter More than Ever: Be Productive in a Noisy World

One of the greatest productivity skills that I’ve learned in the last 10 years has been to put the “big rocks” into my weekly schedule first. Developed by Stephen Covey in his book, First Things First, the concept is that you need to put your most important activities into your weekly schedule first. These “big rocks” take up the most space, but also are large because they’re the most important functions you do.

And now it’s more important than ever to do this.

Our noisy and busy world wants to fill our week with sand and pebbles, less important functions that can easily fill our time and take up room.  At the end of the week, the important matters are then left undone …. or when we have time to do them we’re so beat up and tired that we easily put them off.

Which is why we then stress and press to be productive in meaningful ways.

What 4-6 functions this week are most important for you?  Schedule them first and then leave a bit of room for the pebbles and sand that come along. Leave some margins (one of my words for 2013) in your life for relationships, reflection (and under-discussed component for personal growth and effective leadership), and even rest.  But, first things first…. the big rocks.

Here are the big rocks I put in for a healthy week:

Spiritual renewal – morning Bible and devotional reading and prayer.  This crucial part of my day, often early and accompanied by Casi Cielo or Intelligentsia coffee (2 of the 3 best coffees in my world), is probably the most important thing I do.  This practice helps to remind me that my day is not about me and, strangely, I’m a nicer person to be around when this is a regular component.
Physical exercise – my 3 times each week where I’m doing what’s necessary to maintain physical health.  Which usually means CrossFit with colleagues at work. I’m becoming a bit of an apologist for this as necessary, especially when teamed with proper nutrition and sleep.
Creative time – Since my job is being a resource person through teaching, speaking and writing, I need (rather large) spaces to develop that content. I’ve learned that if I’m not developing a project of some sort and exercising my creativity, I’m not exercising my main gifting.  So, I make sure I’m creating on a regular basis in a way that’s matching my mission and calling.
Focused work – Another part of my job is to give leadership and oversight to multiple groups.  Since I think leaders lead from the middle, these are crucial to schedule in my weekly schedule and make sure the creative side doesn’t overrun the administration.
Grunt work – Every job has elements that aren’t what we especially like to do, but we have to do them.  So, I put those on the schedule and make sure I’m ready to sit down (or stand up) and do them at those times … whether I feel like it or not (a crucial skill needed to be productive).  The nice thing about this rock is when it’s over it doesn’t loom over your head.

Now you Covey devotees have noted that I treated the big rocks slightly differently and haven’t listed them as what we do in relationship to others.  Others of you can see that family isn’t on the list.  Anyone who has been around us for any period of time knows that family is a given and is an even bigger rock than these five.  Also you may note that I’ve used (purposefully) fairly generic titles.

Again, I can’t emphasize any more how important I think this productivity tool is for leaders, parents, students, and managers.  Our world presses in so tight, social media steals so much time in the work place, and we can’t take advantage of the ample leisure time that we have because our work has spilled over to do poor self-management.

Join me today and put the “big rocks” in your week’s schedule first.

 

 

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Key words for your 2013

At the end of each year, Kelly and I reflect back on the year and fill in this blank, “This was the year of _______.”   We’ve completed it with all sorts of words – blessing, birth, transition, pain, death (not the most fun year), romance (ok, that was a fun year), growth, and opportunity (2012′s word).  Chris Brogan, one of the leading internet bloggers, looks ahead to each year and crafts three words that will frame his work and perspective.  In 2010 they were ecosystems, owners, and kings.  2011 saw him focus on reinvest, package, and flow.  He picked temple, untangle, and practice in 2012 and for 2013 his three words are Walt, Ender, and Monchu.  

I like Chris’s concept better than resolutions.  These words provide positive prompts forward, not lines in the sand where the moment you break them you feel like a failure and give up. [If you haven't read Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck yet, put it on your 2013 list]  I like Chris’s concept of ecosystems – finding the 3-4 buckets that our work needs to fit in.  That’s helpful for everyone, but especially those who have a multi-faceted schedule each week (yes, like youth workers!).  I’ll talk more about ecosystems later.

So, if you were to pick 3-4 words for you for 2013, what would they be?  What 3-4 ideas do you want to marshal your work around for this year? As you can see by the ones Chris picked for 2013, they can be unique and are usually quite personal.

Here are my four for 2013:

MARGINS – In 2012-2013 I discovered the margins to my work capacity.  I couldn’t do more in my work hours each week and I couldn’t work more hours.  It wasn’t a stressful year, but it was a very full and busy year.  I learned that there are margins to what can be fit into a calendar year and I can’t go past them and be healthy.  MARGINS prompts me two ways – make sure I do what I need to do within the margins and then make sure I make the most of that margin space.  It can’t be squandered.   More on margins later.

CHARACTER – This isn’t the most creative word, but it’s survived the first two weeks of the year as I’ve thought about it.  I want to continue to grow and mature, developing foundational qualities in my life that affect my life and seeing character in action.  CHARACTER means that I’ll be reading more intentionally, working with greater precision, and diving deeper into my relationship with Jesus Christ so that I reflect his love and grace and character in appropriate ways.  More on character later.

ARTISTRY – I can’t draw.  Ask any student that’s seen my in-class illustrations; it’s not pretty.  But I understand the need for illustration and so I continue on.  I want to work on my artistic flare this year, to push into new ways of seeing the world and communicating with others through word and image. I’m excited for the iPad app Paper to help me doodle better and more often. (I am also excited to try a few of these creative apps too)  ARTISTRY means that I will develop my creativity, something I’ll need with three manuscripts on the schedule for the year.  More on artistry later.

FRIENDSHIP – It took the passing of a mentor and friend to remind me (again) of how short life is and how work is secondary to community (though it’s difficult for Americans to live that out).  And I’m “blessed” with the most individualistic of all personalities, an INTJ, so I’m just pedal-to-the-metal working and missing the larger connections.  And I work with the people I like most – at Bethel, at YS, in my various organizations, and at my local church.  FRIENDSHIP means that I’ll spend more time with friends!  Simple, eh?  So, why don’t we do that more then?  Don’t wait for a dear friend to pass away for you to make this happen.  More on friendship later.

Ok, those are mine. What are yours?  What 3-4 words will serve as prompts for you this year?

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Caine’s Arcade: An illustration of what youth and children’s workers do

By now, you may be familiar with the Huffingtonpost story on “Caine’s Arcade.”  It’s the story of a super talented boy who build an intricate and spell-binding cardboard arcade at his father’s business.    Few noticed.  Until a filmmaker Nirvan Mullick spotted it and put the video online.  Nirvan also decided that a $1 per person donation would help Caine take his obvious engineering intellect to a proper college.  Over $65,000 later (and growing..  follow @CainesArcade), that seems to be a reality for Caine.

Well, the story is better told through that video:

 

 

I want you to think about the posture of the filmmaker.  He discovered Caine’s story and then celebrated Caine’s God-given talent.

Compare that to the posture of many youth and children’s workers.  We work hard to get kids to come to our events, to conform to our standards, and even to admire our talent (or leadership).  Some of us work hard through social media to get recognition among other youth workers.  While the youth and children in our ministries are actually participating for us to recognize them! 

Even more critical to ask ourselves:  How many kids like Caine exist in our community who aren’t interested in coming to one of our events, but they are amazing people and need us to encourage them?

I am thinking of the youth workers whose attendance is meh and the teens barely interested.  What if they didn’t focus on trying to make their program more attractive so that more kids would come, but instead invested that energy in making short movies about the talented kids in their youth ministry?  What if the group went out to find other youth in their community, each of who already is talented in his or her unique way?  WHO gave them those gifts?

What if we lived out our youth ministry so that each teen could say, “That made my day!”?

I’d like to discuss that actually because I have some ideas as to why we don’t do that often enough. I’d like to hear yours.

Caine’s Arcade reminds me of the talk Kenda Creasy Dean gave at the National Youth Workers Convention in 2011 where she shared the video of a surprise wedding reception.  She closed by saying, “This is what the Church should be doing!”   I look at what Nirvan’s video of Caine and think has done  the same:  This is what youth workers,  and what children’s workers, need to be doing.  We need to return to the missional heritage of youth ministry and adopt (again!) a youth-oriented approach to what we’re doing.

Sounds like a “sending” ministry posture to me.  Sounds pretty biblical. Sounds like what Jesus did.

What is one practice you could adopt this year that would reinvigorate your ministry to reach out to teens in your community?

 

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Christmas Eve – O Holy Night

The Advent season captivates my heart more and more each year.  It stuns me what God has done, that He came and dwelt among us men and women.  His love is so Good, beyond our capacity to grasp.  And in God’s love story, our own story finds meaning.  Part of my heritage comes from the Norwegian tradition, and few cultures celebrate Christmas better.

So, on this eve, this holy night, I share with you one of my favorite renditions of O Holy Night:  Sissel’s O helga natt.

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Songs about the Hobbit

It’s Saturday, week’s end of a busy week at work and a very sad and tragic week around the country.  Perhaps overshadowed in the nation’s grief has been the release of the movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, based on the book by J. R. R. Tolkien.  In fact, you may be curious as to where the Lord of Rings has shown up in pop culture.  Before Peter Jackson’s movies ever appeared, there were songs about the Lord of The Rings.  I thought I’d post a few here.

My first encounter with the Hobbit was the cartoon version in 1977.  Then I read the book.  Here is a ‘trailer’ for that movie posted on YouTube:

Of course, arguably most people were introduced to Bilbo’s story through Led Zepplin and their fascination with the Lord of the Rings.  You can check out their Battle of Evermore.  However, their most famous one was Ramble On: 

Thanks to Chris Davis at Youth Ministry Geek, here is a ‘classic’ Leonard Nimoy song (Chris says it’s the “Best Hobbit Video Ever”) about Bilbo Baggins:

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but am very anxious to do so. And I’m hopeful that the Lord of the Rings stories inspire people to read and write well  and to think deeply about good and evil.  And to enjoy that which is good, fair, and true.

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Procrastination creates unnecesary stress

You see this all of the time.  A person will be rushing around to get ready for work or an evening out.  He/she is bustling and a bit worked-up about it, but they spent the prior hour checking Email and doing tasks that weren’t needing to be done then.  Or what about the college student at the end of a semester who had weeks to complete a paper yet waited until the last two and then is “so stressed out” by all that they have to do.

We all put things off, well I assume we all do, but we don’t have to do that.  Recognizing why and how we do is an important first step to overcoming this pattern.  The second is an old-fashioned idea that still works:

Make a schedule of your week at the beginning of the week.

Write in all that you have to do, including time(s) to complete projects.

Then do that.

And don’t get distracted.

You’ll find that A) there is more time in a week to complete your work than you realized and B) we waste a lot of time on unnecessary matters each week.  And then we stress, miss opportunities, and usually fail to do our best work because it’s hurried.

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Distractions are keeping us from …

Oh, sorry forgot to finish that title. I’ll get to it later.  Anyway, what I was saying was that we’re so distracted these days. It’s very difficult for us to focus on something that isn’t stimulating for a long period of time.

Blog posts like this just cater to the abbreviated type of reading that USA Today popularized in the 1980s.

See how long you can work or focus on something before you are distracted and do something else, like checking your phone.

Go.

It will be more difficult than you think.

Oh, and report back here how it went.

 

 

 

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Our goal for advent? A Sunday hymn “Nearer, My God, to Thee”

I was listening to some instrumental music this week and the old hymn “Nearer, My God, to Thee” came on.  Survivors of the Titanic reported that it was the last song played on the ship before it sank.  However, it struck me that we so emphasize God’s coming to Earth that we often overlook God’s ultimate goal for his coming:  That we would be nearer to him.  Jesus’ atoning work would again make it possible for man’s dwelling to be with God.  Jesus invited us to abide with Him (John 15) and the Holy Spirit is our Guide and Comfort.

So, the question for me (and for us) this advent is, “Am I drawing nearer to God?”  It seems like it should be a mark of a growing familiar friendship with God.

Here are the lyrics of that hymn:

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,

Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain

Nearer, my God, to Thee,

Nearer to Thee!

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,

Darkness be over me, my rest a stone.

Yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God to Thee.

Refrain

There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n;

All that Thou sendest me, in mercy given;

Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain

Then, with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,

Out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise;

So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain

Or, if on joyful wing cleaving the sky,

Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I’ll fly,

Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain

There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest,

There in my Savior’s love, perfectly blest;

Age after age to be, nearer my God to Thee.

Refrain

And now, for one of the more modern versions of it on the Internet, The Piano Guys’ version (for 9 cellos):

 

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