Happy 2022, stewards!
It’s good to be back with you after taking last week off. I’m looking forward to bringing you more resources to help you on your journey to becoming a more productive Christian in 2022!
To that end, I’ve teamed up once again with my friend Dr. Darryl Burling to offer another free live training TODAY, January 6th at 3 pm EST.
We’ll be talking about 3 Secrets to Experiencing Dynamic Biblical Growth in 2022 Without Giving Up.
In this free training we’ll help you:
- Understand why devotions are critical
- Make it a habit regardless of how you feel
- Go deeper in your devotional time
(Browser readers: Check the email version of the newsletter to register for this event)
Hope you can join us!
Lastly, my book A Student’s Guide to Gaming comes out next week. You can pre-order it on Amazon for $3.99, or on Christian Focus for $2.99 + shipping (a good option if you want to order a bunch of them).
Okay, let’s get into the first Roundup of the year!
✨ New on Redeeming Productivity
▶️ One Month with a Minimalist Dumb Phone | Light Phone II Review (14 mins)
I thought I could be a dumb phone guy, but I failed. The benefits for my focus and creativity were significant, but after just a month I went crawling back to my iPhone. Here’s my review of the phone I tried and what went wrong in my dumb phone attempt.
🎙The podcast will return next week for season 4
Make sure you’re subscribed to the Redeeming Productivity Show so you don’t miss an episode.
🧑💻The Roundup
Endangered Attention: How to Guard a Precious Gift (6 mins)
“How then can we steward our limited, precious, endangered attention? In short, by living as humans made in the image of God, rather than as gods made in the image of the Internet.”
(Scott Hubbard / Desiring God)
The Zwicky box: a powerful method for problem solving and creativity (7 mins)
I find frameworks like this so helpful in the creative process.
“Whether you are trying to create an online course or write an article, it can be hard to generate good ideas. Whenever you feel stuck, it can be helpful to boost your creativity with a systematic approach. The Zwicky box is a simple and effective way to create many unique ideas by breaking the problem down into categories, adding values to each category, and combining these values to create unique answers.”
(Haikal Kushahrin / Ness Labs)
Build Spiritual Habits in Just a Few Minutes (3 mins)
I loved this list of spiritual disciplines organized by how much time they take, from 30 seconds to 15 minutes. We have more time to grow in grace than we think.
“While you are putting on your jacket and grabbing your car keys, you could be growing in grace.”
(Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra & Megan Hill / The Gospel Coalition)
Staggering stat: 87% of U.S. teenagers have iPhones (1 min)
“The economy is going mobile as the next generation of consumers shops for clothes, watches TV and meets romantic partners almost exclusively on their phones.”
(Erica Pandey / Axios)
The Squiggly Line of God’s Providence (2 mins)
“As Christians we know that God’s sovereign hand draws a line that leads from suffering to meaning, from pain to purpose, from grief to good. . . . But the line that leads from trials to goodness is not necessarily a straight line that extends unswervingly from one to the other.”
(Tim Challies)
Who Really Has Your Ear? The Re-Forming Power of Words (6 mins)
“In our day of striking media saturation and consumption, we will do well to remember the profound shaping, world-changing power of words.”
(David Mathis / Desiring God)
🖋Quote of the Week
The apps on our devices make life so much easier. But they make worship more difficult.
– H.B. Charles
Resurfaced with Readwise.
🎓 Redeeming Productivity Academy
Join the community to grow in your personal development, get accountability for your goals, and connect with other productivity-minded believers!
Here’s a peek at what’s happening this month in Redeeming Productivity Academy:
- Book Club: The ONE Thing. We’re be reading The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. Follow the weekly reading schedule and discuss the book together.
- Plan Your 2022 Review & Workshop Follow Up. This Friday we will be sharing and refining our plans for the year in a live Zoom call.
- January Habit Challenge. Come get your streak on with the January Habit Challenge. Choose one habit, mark every day you do it successfully, and win prizes.
- Toolshed: Beginner’s Guide to Apple Shortcuts. We’ll be talking about how to use Shortcuts on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac to save time, optimize your devotional time, and be more productive.
- Offices Hours. Stop by my weekly office hours to get help on a productivity problem, enjoy some casual banter, or just hang out with me and other RPA members.
- Goal-Setting & The Glory of God. This month’s training focuses on how to set effective goals as a Christian, and specifically how you consciously tie your objectives back to your main mission of bringing glory to God with your life.
- And much more. The membership also includes to all past trainings, Toolshed sessions, and access to our always-interesting online community.
Come connect with the coolest group of Christian productivity nerds on the internet. Registration is currently open.
⌛️That’s All for this Week
Hit reply to send me link suggestions for future issues or just to say hey.
I’ll see you next time!
– Reagan
