Patching Cracks
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I deal with a handful of hard deadlines every week. By Sunday morning, I have to have a sermon written. By Monday morning, I need to complete two articles and a column. Monday through Thursday I have to have the kids out of bed, dressed, fed, and out the door by 7:30 AM. There are a few others, but I suspect most people deal with similar hard deadlines and goals. The thing is that these deadlines don’t necessarily coincide with the larger objectives of my work and personal life. They are important, but I have to do lots of other things in order to move closer to the goal line in other areas of my life. One of the things I noticed last week is that it is very easy to be busy on things that need to get done, like cleaning my office or emptying the inbox of my email account, without actually moving forward on goals that really matter. I could spend several days organizing the books in my office without accomplishing anything that is meaningful in the big picture. This doesn’t mean that organizing books doesn’t matter. Rather, it means that it matters less than my counseling appointments, meetings with leaders, visits with members, studying, etc. My point is that it is really easy to be busy without getting anything meaningful done. I may feel productive and accomplished in the moment, but that feeling is an illusion created by the sense that I am in motion. Busy work is a little like a rocking chair. It’s comfortable and it gives you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere. Perhaps the biggest problem with this kind of work is that it robs us of time that would be used well simply sitting and thinking. It is only when we sit still for a bit and consider our priorities and larger goals that we can transform effort from busyness to productivity. Productivity involves working in a direction that fulfills our larger objectives in life. I may want a more organized office, but in all honesty, I have to admit that organized books contribute very little to my larger goals as a pastor, father, husband, or man. The same time spent reading a book or identifying my priorities would feel less busy but accomplish more in the long term. Part of the problem is that we often buy into the idea that being busy is virtuous. It isn’t. It often makes us feel better now, but wastes time that could be used more wisely. There are all sorts of tools out there to help identify big picture goals. I am a firm believer in simply listing our major life goals out exhaustively and then breaking them into groups like: “matters most” or “would improve life in the short term” or “has to get done by a deadline.” After identifying the things that matter most, we can more intelligently approach them. Learning and growing as a person rarely checks boxes in the short term, but is often a necessary component of accomplishing long term goals. Another useful tool for task management and prioritizing is the Eisenhower Matrix, which can be found with a simple Google search. It is a way of prioritizing urgent and important tasks so they get done first, while shifting less urgent and less important tasks down the to-do list. In the end, whether you use a priority list or not, simply taking time to consider what really matters versus what is just a way of staying busy will improve your odds of making progress in life instead of spinning your wheels and getting nowhere.
