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Why wait?

My father (the real Don Johnson) shared a simple (but incredibly important) lesson with me the other day.  We were having lunch when he mentioned something he had learned from one of his business partners years ago.  He said, "One of the things I learned from Ben was to act on what you're thinking about immediately.  We would often be in a conversation and I would mention, 'Hey, we should get a hold of _______ (blank) about _________(blank)' and Ben would hand me the phone and say, 'Call him.'" 

Like I often say, "Simple is not simplistic. In fact, the most powerful things in life are simple."  This was one simple lesson, but oh what power.  Just think about it.  How many things have you thought about doing this week, but didn't act upon?  How many phone calls did you not make?  How many decisions did you put off?  How many letters did you not get around to writing that you thought about writing?  How many great ideas did you think about that you haven't executed yet?  How many projects did you think about but didn't do anything about? 

Procrastination kills all of us.  Every day we're confronted with a slew of "to do" items that would bury most people.  And because we're often overwhelmed, we often waste time debating what we ought to do so that we never get around to actually doing what we know we ought to do.  So, what do you need to do immediately before you read another blog?  What have you been putting off doing today? 

Maybe, that simple lesson from Ben Kendig isn't so simplistic after all, is it?  I know for me, that simple lesson has changed my week and productivity!  Hopefully it'll do the same for you!  (By the way, why are you still reading this!!!)

Stop Doing List Part II

On Wednesday, I talked about "Creating a Stop Doing List" out of an audio recording by Jim Collins (if you haven't read that post, just scroll down below this post to read it).  Having read that, the natural question most people ask  is, "How do I do that?"  In other words, the idea that we need to stop doing a lot of what we're currently doing so that we can focus on those few things that matter most to us and our life, makes intuitive sense.  But how to define what activities I need to reduce or alleviate from my life—well that's often a whole different story.  So let me share with you a common practice i use to do that.

At least once a year (and frequently multiple times per year), I take out a sheet of paper and make a traffic light on the left hand side of the paper (you know, a long rectangular box with three circles inside it) about nine to ten inches long.  Inside each circle I write the color that corresponds to that circle on a traffic light (i.e., red, yellow and green).  Red represents those activities that take energy from me.  Yellow represents those activities that I'm neutral towards (neither take or restore energy, they just are).  And then green represents those activities that restore or replenish me.

So, after I write in the words, "Red, Yellow and Green", I then begin to write down all of the activities I'm currently engaged in and then fit them into the appropriate section.  For example, as an INTJ, being around lots of people is a red light activity for me.  Whereas times of solitude (like when I'm writing or reading) are green light activities (again, for me). Solving problems is green light, managing a process or program is red light.  Creating something new is green light, reading resumes is red light.  You get the idea.

Now, here's the benefit of doing this each year, because chances are, your "Stop Doing" list is probably found in your red light category.  At that point, you may say, "This year, I'm going to stop doing x, y, and z and to do that, I'm going to need to delegate x to Joe and y to Ally and then on z I'm going to need to pray and ask God to bring someone into my life  who can take over z."  In this way, year by year, you'll reduce the amount of red light living you have to encounter (because we all still have to encounter some red light activities in our lives) and increase the amount of green light living you get to do—and that will be a good thing for you and all of those around you!

However, that said, I do have a few more thoughts about this.  If you're ever feeling stressed or burned out, immediately do a traffic light analysis.  Chances are 60-80% of your time is focused on red light activities (not a great way to live). Once you make your list, reduce the red light activities.   Secondly, your traffic light analysis will probably flow out of your personality.  So, the more you know about your personality type, the easier it will be for you to determine what to keep doing and what to stop doing.  And finally, and this is the hardest thing of all to do, in order to focus on what you do best, you may have to stop doing some green light activities as well.  In other words, as I mentioned the other day, you cannot become great by doing more and more of what you are good or excellent at.  You attain your full God-given potential by focusing on what you do best—what you are exceptional or a genius at.  So, have you made your "Stop Doing" list yet?  If not, why don't you do a traffic light analysis today and use that to develop your "Stop Doing" list . . . NOW!

Creating a "Stop Doing" List

Do you ever get frustrated with feeling like there's too much to do and not enough time to do it?  Well, if you have,  Jim Collins just might have a possible prescription for you.  As i mentioned last week, Amazon had a number of their favorite authors record something as a "bonus" for their 10 year anniversary.  In the case of Collins, he chose to expand on an article he had written back on December 30, 2003.  Note: If you're an audio learner, click here for the Amazon audio or if you're a visual learner (like me), click here for the original article that the audio version was based on (and scroll down to December 30, 2003).

The basic storyline is that early on in his twenties, Jim took a course in creativity with Rochelle Myers at Standford.  Afterward he stayed in touch with her.  As a young, energetic and driven individual, Jim regularly planned out his life.  He had his fifteen year BHAGs, then his five year goals, and then his top three one year goals that he used to guide his daily life.  Yet in the midst of all that organized planning, Rochelle said to him, "Jim, I notice that you are a rather undisciplined person."  Obviously, that shocked Jim.  However, she continued,  "Your genetic energy level enables your lack of discipline.  Instead of leading a disciplined life, you lead a busy life."

She then challenged him to what Jim now calls the 20-10 assignment. "It goes like this: Suppose you woke up tomorrow and received two phone calls. The first phone call tells you that you have inherited $20 million, no strings attached. The second tells you that you have an incurable and terminal disease, and you have no more than 10 years to live. What would you do differently, and, in particular, what would you stop doing?"

That assignment was the turning point in Jim's life.  In fact, it's what led him to make a right corner turn in his life and leave HP and take a job as a teacher/professor/researcher (since he is, as he says, "constitutionally unemployable"—I love that phrase)—and we are all the better for that choice.  Since that time, the most important question Jim asks of himself each year is, "What do I need to stop doing?" 

I love that question.  It has a very Pauline ring to it, doesn't it?  For Paul regularly argues that for change to occur, you first need to "take off" the old and "put on" the new.  Or, to put it in more mathematical terminology, "You need to subtract, before you can add."  Anyway you put it, the question that Collins asks is a question all of us, as leaders, need to regularly ask, "What do I need to stop doing, that I'm currently doing, so that I can focus more of my time and energy on the things that matter most and will create the greatest impact over the course of my life and time?"

So how are you doing?  If you were to do an inventory of your time, what percentage of your day or time, would you say, is spent on doing those things that matter most?  That have the greatest impact?  That you're passionate about? That fit your genetic encoding?  If, according to Collins, you're spending less than 50% of your time in those areas, then your "Stop Doing" list, may be the most important list you could make this year—or today!  In fact, don't go to bed tonight without making one up.

Are You Doing What You Love?

Believe it or not, this Saturday marks the 10 year anniversary of Amazon.com.  In fact, they're having a big celebration that you can read about [here] which includes a free live streaming concert of Norah Jones and Bob Dylan as well as their all-time customer-favorite authors and filmmakers. Starting at 5 p.m. PT on Saturday, July 16--the 10th anniversary of the day that Amazon.com first opened its virtual doors for business--the concert will be streamed live on the Amazon.com homepage.

In addition, there are links in this section to their favorite authors—some of whom have recorded short video or audio statements—including one by Marcus Buckingham.  In the short video segment that he records, Marcus states, as he often does, a simple statement about working from our strengths.  Now, we all know we're supposed to work from our strengths.  In fact, most of us have probably preached on numerous occasions, "Do what you love and love what you do."   But rarely do we actually sit down and analyze if we're actually following that principle ourselves.

Now catch this.  In this short video segment, Marcus reveals that he did a survey on how many people actually feel like they spend the majority of their day doing work that they love.  He knew the number wouldn't be 70 or 80%, but he wasn't prepared for the actual answer, which was 17%.  Did you catch that?  Only 17% of us feel like we spend the majority of our time doing what we love.  So much for "Do what you love and love what you do!"

So how about you?  Are you spending the majority of your time doing what you do best?  Dan Sullivan, in How the Best Get Better, talks about four levels of competency.  The first level is what we're not competent at, the second level is what we're competent at.  The third level is what we're excellent at.  And the fourth level is what we're a genius at.  The problem with most leaders, according to Sullivan, is that they spend too much of their time doing what they're competent at and/or excellent at.  But to go the next level, they need to focus their time and energy on what they're a genius at (what only they can do).  Excellence is one level too short for greatness.

So, what are you a genius at?  God has wired you for greatness.  So, what are you great at?  Once you define that for yourself, focus on it—and delegate everything else you possibly can (even if it takes you years to divest yourself of all the things you're now doing that you shouldn't be).  By definition, you cannot become great by doing more of what you're good or excellent at.  You can only reach you highest God-given potential by focusing on what you are great at!

P.S.  I just visited Terry Storch's blog and he posted the other day about creating your dream job, which includes a template for designing your own dream job.  This may help provide you with a starting place.

P.P.S.  Another resource I've found helpful in my transition is a book by the Tieggers, entitled, Do What You Are, which takes a look at your Myers-Briggs Personality Type as a template for finding the right career for yourself.  It's worth a read!

Bird by Bird, Step by Step

One of the great joys of blogging is that the blogosphere is filled with delicious morsels that pop up in unexpected places.  The other day, I was flowing a series of blog links when someone mentioned a book by Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird, which isn't about birds, but writing.  In fact, the subtitle of the book is, "Some Instructions on Writing and Life." A week later, I was in Borders when I came across this little book and, because I had read something positive about it in a blog, picked it up and started to read it.  And have found it to be a delightfully wonderful, thoughtful and inspiring book.

Now, as to the title, it comes from an experience her brother had with their father.

"Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he had three months to write. [It] was due the next day.  We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead of him.  Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy.  Just take it bird by bird."

What a great image and phrase for those of us in ministry.  The hugeness of the task ahead of us can be immobilizing.  Trying to build a life-giving church is a daunting task.  Rarely does a plan ever work out the way we intend it to.  People are people.  Budgets are budgets.  Ministry is ministry.  Expectations are expectations.  Satan is Satan.  Evil is evil.  Conflict is conflict.  And the great commission still lays in front of us every day.

So, how do we overcome the feeling of being immobilized?  Well, one way is to think, "Bird by bird."  Books are not written as books—they're written as words that form paragraphs that form pages that form chapters that form books.  The key to writing a book, says Anne Lamott, is thinking, "Bird by bird."  Don't worry about the whole.  Just do the small task in front of you.  Likewise, successful ministries aren't built overnight.  They're built "bird by bird."  So, whenever you're feeling overwhelmed with having too much to do, maybe you might like to forget thinking about the whole.  And instead think, "Bird by bird I can do this."  Because you can.  Hang in there!  God is faithful!!

Make the List

If you're leading a church, chances are you're overwhelmed—there's simply too much to do. Just think about it for a moment.  In addition to preaching and teaching issues, you've got assimilation issues, board issues, children's ministries issues, care and compassion ministries issues, community involvement issues, computers and IT issues, correspondence and e-mail issues, counseling issues, denominational issues, evangelism issues, facility issues, financial issues, leadership issues, marketing issues, ministry issues, missions issues, planning issues, prayer issues, programming issues, spiritual formation issues, staffing issues, web issues, writing issues, young adult ministry issues and youth ministry issues. It's enough to depress anyone.  And even worse, you'll be held responsible for anything that doesn't go right and have to pass on the credit for anything that does go well (it's a great job, eh?). 

So what should you do?  Well, David Allen, in his classic book Getting Things Done (who also keeps a blog at [link]) suggests that the first step is to do a data dump and put everything that's in your head down in one place and on one list.  Why? Not because you'll get it all done.  But because it'll free you up emotionally.  In other words, when we're overwhelmed and we know we have too much to do, we never feel emotionally free.  We continually have that nagging feeling in the back of our heads, "I know I have more to do, but I can't remember what it is," or "I hope I don't forget this," or "I don't know what to do first." 

Now, the first time you do this, it may be overwhelming to see everything that's in your head on one piece of paper.  But, it'll also be freeing because now you won't be worrying that you might be forgetting something. For example, earlier today, I had to make one of these lists up for the next month.  I'm taking my wife on vacation next week so I wanted to make sure everything that needs to get done over the next few weeks gets done.  I have some other categories (other than those listed in the first paragraph above) but those categories should give you a running start of some of the categories you might want to use to organize your list.  Now, I'll admit, I'm an obsessive list maker, so mine (for just work) came out to three pages, three columns, 10 point type.  Yours may be much shorter (prayerfully).  That's fine (you might actually have a life).  What matters is that you get everything in your head out into one place.  Then once you have everything written down, you can make better choices about what you're going to do and what you're not going to do.  But you won't be worrying any longer if you've forgotten something.  It's a simple technique.  But for leaders of life-giving churches, it just might bring a little life back into your life.