Breaking the Cycle of Overcommitment

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Happy Thursday!

Welcome to another edition of the Roundup!

I’ve really been enjoying being back in a four-season state this year. Here in Michigan, we’re seeing the first signs of autumn. The days are getting shorter, the air cooler, and if my eyes don’t deceive me, the leaves are showing the first signs of changing color.

And look at that, I didn’t even make a pumpkin spice joke! I’m growing as a person.

What’s New

A lot of my focus these days has been on Redeeming Productivity Academy. But I’m hoping to get back into making more YouTube videos once I get my new rhythms in place.

In the meantime, I wrote a new article on what I call The Overcommitment Cycle (4 mins).

If you’re like me and tend to find yourself again and again with more on your plate than you can possibly handle, this might help.

Also, check out this week’s episode of Redeeming Productivity, Heart & Habits with Dr. Greg Gifford (33 mins).

I really enjoyed this conversation with Dr. Gifford! We did a serious deep dive into the theology of how habits work and what God designed them for. I think you’re going to like it!

The Redeeming Productivity Show is my weekly podcast on a biblical approach to personal development and productivity. Subscribe on your favorite platform.

🧑‍💻The Roundup

The Feynman Technique (6 mins)

The Feynman Technique is a method for understanding and explaining difficult concepts. And it follows these four steps.

  1. Identify the topic
  2. Teach it to a child
  3. Identify knowledge gaps
  4. Simplify

This article shows how to apply it in your own learning.

“The problem with the learning techniques most of us use (like highlighting, summarising, and rereading) is that, although they feel intuitively productive, they’re not very effective or useful in improving knowledge retention.”

(Ali Abdaal)

How to Think Wisely About 40-Hour Workweeks and Offices (3 mins)

Some interesting thoughts from Jordan Raynor on traditional work weeks and physical offices. I can’t say that I agree that his second point is a good enough reason to favor in-person offices. But this is definitely something Christians should give more thought to as the nature of our work environments are changing, perhaps for good.

“This Labor Day, debate is heating up over traditional assumptions about modern work. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many are wondering: ‘Do we really need offices?’ ‘Who said 9 to 5 were the ideal working hours?’ and ‘If we’re able to work wherever and whenever we want, can’t we get our work done in less than 40 hours a week?'”

(Jordan Raynor / The Gospel Coalition)

Notion Acquires Automate.io (3 mins)

I know many of you are avid Notion users (I’m currently writing the draft of this newsletter in Notion). This is an exciting development for the future of the productivity app.

Notion just announced their acquisition of Automate.io a competitor to Zapier and Integromat (tools that automate interactions between different services).

Notion launched their API earlier this year which opened the door to all kinds of exciting integrations with other tools. So this promises to make Notion an even more powerful central hub for your productivity.

(Ivan Zhao / Notion)

Ok. So, You Can’t Decide. (3 mins)

If you’ve ever obsessed over a decision for months and still don’t know what the right thing to do is, this advice might help: Sometimes you just need to make the decision.

“Yeah… yeah. I am reluctantly suggesting that the move is sometimes to just yolo decide. There is a real risk here, but if you’ve built yourself a formidable mental block, you’re wasting precious time swirling around your head and it’s time to make forward progress.”

(Rand in Repose)

⌛️That’s All for this Week

Thanks for reading!

And if you’re wanting to be more productive but don’t know where to start, check out POWER Mornings, my course on morning routines for productive Christians. It’s a simple plan that will show you how to wake up earlier, read your Bible consistently, make time for exercise, and more.

I’ll see you next week!

– Reagan

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