The Productive Pastor

48 minutes.  Depending on what you’re doing, it seems like a long time or very little time at all.  For me, the power of 48 minutes helped me in my productivity pursuits.  How?  Read on…

On the blog, “Success Begins Today”, I read about a man who used this block of time to do some incredible things in his work.  The method is pretty simple.  We tend to want to multi-task, especially as a pastor.  There are sermons to finish, people that want our time, leaders in the church who need directing, professional reading we want/need to do, and other tasks that are always before us.  I used to focus a lot on trying to work on two or three things at once and still do for some smaller items but what I found was that when I brought a larger item into the mix, it corrupted my thoughts and put me on edge to get more done in less time which was unreasonable.

The way this method works is to purchase a clock or timer with large digits like the one above (I purchased mine from Wal-Mart in the kitchen section for about $5) and set it to 48 minutes.  Then, as you begin work on a larger project, begin the timer and focus your attention on that project and that project only for the entire time.  When the timer sounds, take a 12 minute break and repeat if necessary.  The 12 minutes is enough time to get refreshed, brew a cup of coffee, and focus on what needs done in the second block of time.  A good example of how efficient this was for me was a personal item, preparing my taxes.  I hate preparing my taxes for my accountant and it seems I’m always piecing together what I need for him over several weeks.  When I tried this method one morning when I was off for the day, I was able to prepare all the documents and files needed in two blocks.  I started at 9am and was done by 11am (10:48 technically).  By 11:15, I had the documents sent off by email and was enjoying lunch by 11:45.  I was amazed at how efficient the time was used.  Perhaps it’s just a mental thing but the idea of having that large item off my plate took a huge weight off of me to focus on some other things that day that I REALLY wanted to do on my day off.

I’ve since used this approach for sermon prep, desktop publishing work for our sermons series, and preparing audio files for our praise team.  Each time, I set the timer for 48 minutes and focus.  It’s been a huge help.  I recently introduced this idea to my kids for chores.  Saturday, I set the timer for 48 minutes and had them focus on folding clothes.  They were amazed at how much the three of them got done and they still had time to go out for ice cream (which was my reward for their focused effort).

Try it..see if it doesn’t work for you too.

Each day when I sit down to plan out my actions, I do so with what I believe is the best notebook made.  The Rhodia pad.  I know you could use any old notebook but Rhodia’s hold up great.  I use several different kinds for different tasks. 

• When I’m brainstorming, I use one of their mid-level pads (no. 16) to write down my ideas and thoughts to process later.
• I use a smaller book (no. 11) to jot down quick thoughts for later.  For those of you who use David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” system, this is my “inbox” collection pad.
• I use a slightly larger book to write down items such as sale prices on things, email or URL addresses, etc..that really don’t pertain to any actions.

I used to use a PDA for all of this and someday, I may have one of those all in one phones to do all this but I don’t think so.  My PDA ate up battery juice pretty quick.  I always had to worry about it getting dropped, rained on, or have someone spill soda or drop food on it if I was out with a client.  Not any more.  The Rhodia pads are built to a level of quality that make them geekishly fashionable to the professional crowd while being relatively affordable (about $2-$4 a pad depending on size and how many you buy).  Part of being a productive pastor is writing down the myriad of things that come at you from all different directions.  If you’re a church planter like I am, there’s even more debris flying at you from everywhere.  Rhodia pads are great to take with you to write stuff down as it happens.  They are built to hold up well under normal use and they are not nearly as expensive as a Moleskine.

For my money and overall use, I choose Rhodia.  Pick one up and see if you agree with me that the quality versus price make them a real value for your work.