energy management

Time management is a subject that peaks our interest. I think it is a line that grabs us because we find time so scarce. Most of us long for more hours in the day. The concept of getting better use of our time appeals to us. However, a book that I recently read challenged my thinking on time management. The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr, Tony Schwartz is a book that emphasizes energy management. They suggest building routines and habits throughout your day that will increase your energy at key points.

As ministers, our days are often gobbled up by the demands of our tasks, conversations, and people. We often fail to prepare ourselves for the most crucial tasks and come to these tasks with insufficient energy. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to maximize their performance.

Using their impressive work with athletes and corporate executives, Loehr and Schwartz lay out the new rules for getting exceptional results in any performance context. Instead of managing time, manage energy between performance sessions to maximize emotional recovery for the next time you push your personal limits. Don’t rely on discipline alone; it takes too much effort to micromanage at every moment. What’s needed are routines–effective and even rigid practices that optimize recovery between performance sessions. – Audiofile

For me, this book transformed my weekly schedule. It helped me see that more hours do not mean more productivity. In fact, the opposite may be true.

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tech time trap

I have recently been reading a book entitled Time Traps by Todd Duncan. It is book written for salespeople to help them avoid being trapped by the less productive time demands. He encourages them to take charge of their time and intentionally spend more of it on the tasks that will bring them the most sales. In ministry, we too are often trapped by tasks that could be delegated or not completed at all. We too are guilty of not giving our time to the most important items. I would recommend this book to anyone feeling overwhelmed and unable to spend the necessary time in the areas of top priority.

A chapter in the book entitled The Technology Trap really struck me today. Allow me to outline the chapter and point you to the book.

The premise is that technology can assist us in becoming more productive. However, many of us have allowed these devices to rob us of the time we are attempting to save. If you follow the advice in the book, you can free up a significant portion of your day. Nevertheless, you can squander that time on technology if you are not careful. He gives five worthwhile suggestions:

1. shorten your technology leash
the point here is turn off you cell phone at times, check your email at certain times, and don’t allow these communication vehicles to rob you of rest and recovery. Being attached to work 24 hours a day is not helpful, in fact it is detrimental.

2. substitute technology devices, don’t stockpile them
Duncan says:

If you have to buy a new piece of equipment, get rid of your old one; don’t try to use both…Technology can save time, but there comes a point when the more you have, the less time you save.

3. Ask directions
you can spend more time trying to figure out a new device than it can save you. Many times, we begin our time saving efforts by wasting time. Simply asking for directions or walking through a tutorial can be well worth the effort.

4. Test your tools efficiency
make sure that the device that you are using or recently purchased is doing the job. If it proves to be more of a time waster, chuck it.

5. Go backward to go forward
Duncan says:

Sometimes technology isn’t better. It’s just prettier. I know that there’s a subtle pressure to have the hippest tools available. But if you can accomplish something more efficiently without a tool, don’t get a gadget because everyone else has one. Besides, retro is in these days.

These are great tips to keep in mind when pondering that new technology purchase. As one who loves technology, Duncan’s book is a healthy reminder that we need to think more about efficiency than what is hip.

If you want to read further, check out Todd Duncan’s Time Traps.

getting things done

One of the books that revolutionized my personal organization is a book by David Allen called Getting Things Done. Allen provides a method to organizing commitments and to dos that is innovative, practical, and easy. He begins with the premise that we all have a limited amount of what he calls “psychic ram.” When our ram gets full, we get stressed out. With the multi-dimensional life we lead as ministers, we tend to keep our ram full.
I will offer various tips on this site that are spawned from Allen’s book. There are websites, seminars, and communities of learning focused on the principles in his book.

I would highly recommend his book for anyone in ministry. Allen writes from an Eastern religious perspective having studied Zen. However, the concepts in this book are not contradictory to Christianity. This book inspires you to get your life in order. I know that when I finished the book, I was cleaning out file cabinets, setting up systems, and calendaring more intentionally.

Implementing the principles in this book will lead you to be a more reliable minister. If you have ever been criticized for lack of organization, give this book a shot.

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