What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done

by Matt Perman

Don’t just say “we’re doing less now as an organization.” That’s a cop-out. There is so much to do and the needs of the world are so great that we need to be doing more, not less. Don’t bail on us, please! Do less truly in order to do more.

There are four main ways to reduce the amount of things you have to do: 1. Delegate 2. Eliminate 3. Automate 4. Defer

Drucker gets at this well: “As usually presented, delegation makes little sense. If it means that somebody else ought to do part of ‘my work,’ it is wrong. One is paid for doing one’s own work. And if it implies, as the usual sermon does, that the laziest manager is the best manager, it is not only nonsense; it is immoral.”

But here is the point: Our aim in delegating is not simply to make our own lives better and free up our time. It is also to build up the other person. This is the aim we are to have in everything we do: “Always seek to do good to one another and to everyone” (1 Thess. 5:15). “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do [even delegating!], do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). And, as we saw earlier, doing something for the glory of God involves doing it for the good of others, not just yourself.

It implies that most of the time we should practice stewardship delegation rather than gopher delegation.

Stewardship Delegation versus Gopher Delegation

Stewardship delegation, on the other hand, has the aim of not just getting tasks done, but of building others up through the accomplishment of tasks.

Stewardship delegation delegates the task — or, more often, an area of responsibility — and allows the individual to determine their own methods for accomplishing the tasks.

Five Components of Effective Delegation

Desired Results

Guidelines

Resources

Accountability

Consequences

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“So for pastors who are overwhelmed and don’t know what to do or where to start, I’d say to start with one or two people. If you have only enough time to invest in a couple of people, start there and slowly build.

The best strategy for elimination is to use the 80/20 Principle together with Parkinson’s Law.

Likewise, procrastination can be a form of applying Parkinson’s Law. By waiting to do the task, you shrink the time available and make it more efficient.

I agree with C. S. Lewis, who says that interruptions often are our work. As he puts it, “The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life — the life God is sending one day by day; what one calls one’s ‘real life’ is a phantom of one’s own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight: but it’s hard to remember it all the time.”

Listen to this perspective of one senior executive: “What you are calling ‘interruptions’ is my work. From the beginning of my career, I have seen my job as being able to facilitate, troubleshoot, run ideas by, solve problems, and just be a presence. If I had an urgent deadline, I would go into a conference room and shut the door. But that rarely happens.”

But we should not see people as the enemy, and we should be careful not to limit emails, phone calls, and discussions too much. There is much benefit in them — even in the ones that wouldn’t pass muster as “important.”

Execution boils down to a three-part process that, in honor of the iPod, you’ll notice spells the acronym POD: 1. Plan. Define your priorities for the week so your direction is clear and you aren’t tossed to and fro by everything that comes your way. 2. Organize. As new input — reference material, action items, projects, steps to take on your projects, and so forth — comes your way, know how to slot what you can’t do immediately into the right places so you can get it done at the right time. 3. Do. This is where the rubber meets the road. Execute your priorities and take action, doing this in accord with your overall mission, aims, roles, and goals so that you don’t just get things done, but get the right things done.

STEP 1: PRAY AND REVIEW

STEP 2: DEFINE YOUR PRIORITIES FOR THE WEEK

Get creative about doing good. Being proactive in doing good for others should be implicit in the brainstorming you did based on just reflecting on your week and reviewing your roles, goals, and projects. But it is also important to give special focus to it by asking questions like these: 1. What actions can I take against injustice this week? Isaiah 1:17 says, “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” Don’t just leave that at the level of good intentions. Translate it into your life by thinking concretely, on a regular basis, about things you can do to fight injustice and correct oppression. 2. Who is in need, and how might I be able to help? 3. What can I do proactively for the good of my family, my neighbors, my coworkers, and my community? 4. What action can I take, even if small, in the fight against large global problems like extreme poverty, lack of access to clean water, lack of shelter, communicable diseases, and the advancement of the gospel?

This also helps unleash creativity in the cause of fighting large global problems, because you now have a consistent tool for brainstorming and prioritizing initiatives for the good of others.

STEP 3: ORGANIZE YOUR PRIORITIES IN A WAY THAT MAKES THEM EASY TO DO

STEP 1: COLLECT