Dear steward,
Here’s your weekly roundup of resources and insights to help you on your journey to becoming a more productive Christian.
In Today’s Issue:
- How to create an effective weekly schedule
- The importance of thinking little
- A checklist for church shopping
- When you should quit a goal
- Combining focus and direction
The best links I found this week
How to Create an Effective Weekly Schedule (3 mins)
Isaac Smith / The Sweet Setup
I always like seeing behind the scenes how others plan their days and weeks. Isaac’s process is not all that different from my own.
What I like about his routine:
- Takes just 15 minutes each Monday
- He does it before checking email or notifications
- It sets him up to focus on what’s most important for the week.
What he does during this process:
- Checks the calendar for appoints he’ll need to work around
- Lists two or three projects he wants to make progress on this week
- Defines the tasks he’ll need to do to move them forward
- Writes down what “done” means so he has a specific target to aim at
“For me, this has been my single greatest productivity routine. Before being sucked in to the myriad of inboxes and notifications, I take a brief moment to identify and plan what is truly important for the week ahead.”
It always surprises me how few people plan their weeks or even their days. But if time is part of our stewardship as Christians, I believe it honors God when we carefully plan how we’ll invest it.
Think Little (3 mins)
Darryl Dash / Dash House
“The problem isn’t our desire to do something great with our lives. The problem is with our definition of greatness. God put is in a particular place at a particular time. We can’t be everywhere at all times; we can only be here at this moment. God’s given us, in the words of William Faulkner, our own ‘little postage stamp of native soil.’ Cultivating that space in our time has more power than we realize. It’s what God put us here to do.”
A Checklist When Church Shopping
It can be a difficult and confusing process to find a new church when you move. So I appreciated this checklist to help make sure you’re not overlooking anything when evaluating if a potential church is solid.
The Art of Moving On: When and How to Disengage From a Goal (7 mins)
Brett & Kate McKay / The Art of Manliness
Having recently quit some long-term projects myself, I found the advice in this article sound and helpful.
“We only have so much time and resources to direct toward life projects. If we spend that limited time and resources on goals we can’t achieve, we’re setting ourselves up for massive frustration. We’d be better off redirecting our limited time and resources to a new achievable goal.”
🖋Quote of the Week
“Instead of making just a millimeter of progress in a million directions, make significant progress in the things that matter most.” – Greg McKeown, Essentialism
✨ New on Redeeming Productivity
5 Steps to Break Free from To-Do List Overwhelm (9 mins)
Learn to schedule essential tasks to experience a greater sense of progress and the confidence that you are honoring God in your work habits.
