Reagan's Roundup

Every Decision Is a Tiny Murder

May 20, 2021by Reagan Rose5 min read

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Happy Thursday!

It’s been fun getting back into creative mode this week. I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been working on.

🙏 A big thank you to everyone who replied to last week’s newsletter with topic ideas. You have no idea how helpful that is!

My goal is to serve you, so knowing what you’re interested in and where your pain points are when it comes to personal productivity is invaluable to that mission.

⏰ It’s been a pretty productive week for me.

Here are the things I’m most excited about:

The new season of the podcast on “The Essential Habits of the Productive Christian” (subscribe if you aren’t already!)
This video about my experience with deep work
This essay on decision-making.

And as always, there’s a big roundup of links on productivity and the Christian life in this newsletter.

So make sure you read to the end!

Let’s go! 👇👇👇

🗓 This Week on Redeeming Productivity

I made a video about the lessons I’ve learned over the past couple of months spending my days doing deep work pretty much exclusively.

Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you aren’t already. Lots more video content coming.

PODCAST: The Christian Approach to Habit Formation

This first episode in the new podcast format introduces Season 1: Essential Habits of the Productive Christian. Reagan looks at the specific instructions the Bible gives for how Christians are to eliminate bad habits and cultivate good ones.

ARTICLE: Every Decision Is a Tiny Murder

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I couldn’t make up my mind.”

Why is it so hard to make decisions? Because deep down we realize that every decision is actually a tiny murder.

Decide literally means to kill or cut off “because when you make a choice, you cut out all the other possible choices.”

To decide is to put all other options to death.

✍️ Quote of the Week

“Optimism hopes for the best without any guarantee of its arriving and is often no more than whistling in the dark. Christian hope, by contrast, is faith looking ahead to the fulfillment of the promises of God, as when the Anglican burial service inters the corpse ‘in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

“Optimism is a wish without warrant; Christian hope is a certainty, guaranteed by God himself. Optimism reflects ignorance as to whether good things will ever actually come. Christian hope expresses knowledge that every day of his life, and every moment beyond it, the believer can say with truth, on the basis of God’s own commitment, that the best is yet to come.”

– J. I. Packer, Never Beyond Hope: How God Touches & Uses Imperfect People

(Thanks to Ben for the tip)

🧑‍💻 What’s Happening on the Web

Now for some links from around the web that I think will be helpful in your journey to become a more productive Christian.

How to set an effective growth goal

Some great thoughts on effective goal-setting for spiritual growth.

Because we’re seeking to grow in our understanding of the Lord, His plans, and purposes and how these relate to you, an effective growth goal means meaningful engagement with God’s self-revelation to us in His Word.

The Difference Between Amateurs and Professionals

Our spiritual habits are critical to the vitality of our relationship with Christ.

There are more and more people leaving the church and never coming back. And the growth of the so-called exvangelical movement (those who leave Christianity very loudly and blame everyone else for it on the way out) has only cast a brighter light on this problem.

For the first time since the Gallup organization started to track the data, fewer than 50% of Americans now belong to a church, synagogue or mosque.

I appreciated the linkage this article/podcast made between habits and apostasy.

The truth is there is a relationship between what we do each day and our relationship with Christ. We are saved by grace through faith, but our spiritual habits ARE our walk with Christ. When someone announces they are walking away from the faith, it is always the case that they had ceased walking with Jesus in prayer, Bible reading, and other spiritual habits long before. Leaving the church is only the last step.

While true believers will never permanently fall away from Christ (1 John 2:19), spiritual disciplines are how we ensure a growing and life-giving walk with our Lord.

(H/T James for the recommendation)

Notion API and Zapier: A 10-step guide to creating your first zap

I’m a big fan of the productivity app Notion AND of automation in general. So I was excited to hear that they finally released an API, which means other apps can “talk to” your Notion database. This opens up a whole host of powerful automations.

Here’s a guide on how to get started with some simple integrations using Zapier.

Otter Assistant Will Transcribe Your Zoom Meetings

Over the past year, Zoom calls have become part of the average work day, so it’s totally understandable if you are experiencing Zoom fatigue. But now, with Otter’s new Zoom transcribing feature, you can tune out and get the recap later.