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3 ways to make time to get your most important work done

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Most of us probably struggle with finding time to work on the things that are the most important because they never seem to be urgent. But these projects, tasks, and ideas are the most essential to seeing the progress that we really want.

It’s not that we don’t have a desire to, but in the flood of incoming information (email, social media, someone else’s urgent tasks) we never seem to find the time to get these important things done.

The key in getting these projects done is making time to work on them. But doing that in our digital age is tough to do. Especially in a society that uses email like text messaging, expecting instant feedback. But here are 3 ways that you can begin to create the space to get your most important work done.

Ask the Right Question

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I’ve been re-reading Deep & Wide by Andy Stanley (affiliate link). It’s a great book and there are a ton of questions that I’m working through right now and trying to really see if some of the principles make sense for my approach to teaching. Not that Andy Stanley doesn’t know what he’s talking about but I’m accountable to more than book readers so I’m really processing this stuff.

As a person who grew up in church, Andy’s right. It’s tough to digest some of the stuff that he’s saying. I’m not really conservative in my approach to ministry but still some of the things said are tough to hear more than I think they are incorrect.

Preteen Bible Review – The Action Bible

The Action Bible is becoming very popular among the boys in my preteen ministry. I wanted to take a second and tell you why I think the Action Bible is an amazing work for this age group. It’s 215 Bible Stories from Genesis to Revelation. It’s also filled with over 750 illustrations that are awesome and cool. At least that’s what the boys say when I show them The Action Bible.

Teach Preteens about Teamwork

Teamwork makes the Dream work.

Part of the role of a leader of preteen ministry is developing preteens into successful, contributing members of society. In fact, one of the dreams that I have for my ministry is that when my students enter 7th grade, they are a community of students ready to make a difference. I want them to be contributors day 1.

I think our strategy for doing this sometimes is focused more on the individual kid rather than plugging them into a team. I mean let’s face it. Teams accomplish more than individuals. In fact, Patrick Lencioni wrote a book called The Advantage based on the premise that a healthy organization (healthy team) is now a supreme advantage in business.

We need to teach our preteens not just about following God on their own, but how they can successfully work in a team in order to see big things happen in their school, community and personal lives.

Cannon’s 1st Birthday

Over the weekend we got to celebrate my son, Cannon’s, first birthday. It was a blast and at the same time so exhausting. It was so much fun seeing family and friends. I wish we could have invited more people but our HOA probably would have shut us down, haha.

Being a dad has been way more than I ever expected it to be. Similarly to marriage, I see my faults and am more aware of my shortcomings than ever. But I’m also more aware than ever of the love that I’m capable of having in my heart. The passion that burns inside of me for that little blue faced monster child is amazing!

Say the Same Thing – game to play with your students

We recently saw this new game from OK Go. You can play this on your iPhone or your iPod, but you can also play this just with people.

Here’s the Say the Same Thing App.

Here’s a video to teach you how to play:

Be sure to check out saythesamething.com website and let me know if your students love this game… Kristen and I have been playing this game and we love it and we celebrate every time we get it right.

What are you learning?

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Hey, I recently found out that people read this blog from people not my little robot friend that tracks my site. Don’t be a stranger if you do… I’ve been thinking of ways to try and get my readers more involved. The little robot that I’ve trained to watch this site tells me that people read it, but sometimes I don’t hear from you.

That makes me sad

Your voice matters, so speak up. I’ll give you a chance to throw your first comment out there with a softball question:

Preteen Bible Study Follow Me

Recently I bought a copy of the Preteen Bible Study based on the book by David Platt, Follow Me. I’ve looked through the book numerous times now and I’d love to share my thoughts on this book.