I received an email today from a friend, Phil McCallum.  Phil developed Today’s Pastor and is on staff at New Life in Colorado Springs.  New Life has been hit with deep tragedy in the past couple years.  This is their story of overcoming.  Great stuff here.  Check it out.

The story behind the song:

Overcome - The Song:

Download the song or the entire project here.

The most productive people I meet are the most healthy.  They are full of energy but know their limits.  They take care of themselves.  How can we take care of ourselves for maximum productivity?

• Exercise.  Until 8 years ago, I was not athletic in the least (unless you count being a manager for the basketball team in High School).  I found myself pudgy and mentally sluggish.  I began to exercise and after a couple years, I took up running.  Exercise helps the brain to fire well and actually gives you more energy.  Quick mind, more energy, and less fat.   Why would you not?
• Eat right.  OK, I’m not so great in this arena.  However, I do try to eat low fat and I rarely drink pop or caffeine.  Water is  much better for you, and cheaper!
• Sleep.  The better you sleep, the more productive you are.  Figure out how much sleep you really need, and get it.  If you find you need to sleep in, sleep in the night before.  That’s right, go to bed early.  Studies show that sleep gained before midnight is worth more than sleep after midnight.
• Take time off.  I was talking to a friend this week who said that he had one vacation in 4 years.  I asked “Who’s fault is that?”  He knew the answer and already has a vacation on the horizon.  Here is what I know:  time away from my job makes me better when I am here.  Take your days off and take your vacation.
• Laugh easy.  Stop taking things so serious.  Stop taking yourself so serious.

Drop in next time as we explore the use of calendars and lists.

One of the most valuable tools you have in personal productivity is you.  If you can tame the beast and discipline yourself, your productivity can skyrocket.  Here are some tips.

• Multi task.  Most of what we do in a day can be combined with something else.  Like everyone else, I spend much time driving.  I combine that with listening to podcasts, returning calls, or mulling over projects in my head.  If a thought comes I jot it down on paper.  Driving just to get from one place to another and doing nothing else is a huge waste of time.
• Single task.  There are some projects that are so critical, they demand my extreme attention.  For example, I do my most critical teaching work on Tuesday mornings.  During this time I do nothing else but teaching prep.  My mind wants to wonder but I know it cannot. I can’t afford it.    
• Don’t read everything.  There is simply too much information and not enough time.  Most of what we read is useless information.  One more opinion about a topic is probably not going to move me closer to my goals. I have cut back my feed-reader and am very selective about my blog selection.
• Limit TV.  By age 71, we have watched 10 years of TV. The average American watches 3-4 hours of TV a day.  Stop complaining that you need more hours in the day.  We just need to shove more day in the hours.
• Start day with Life Journaling (daily devotions).  This is the beginning of my day.  It sets the tone for what is to come and is where I connect to God.  I eat breakfast while I journal, multi-tasking.
• Don’t waste time in meaningless conversation. I don’t want to sound cold, but there is a time for high productivity and a time for casual conversation.  If we let those bleed in and out of each other we take attention away from from what we need to get done.  Be social.  Take time with friends.  Don’t do it in the middle of your important projects. 
• Do less.  You can’t do everything.  Pick the things you can do better than most and work like mad on those.  Let someone else do the things you are not good at.  You, and your team, will be better off.

Next time we will look at personal health and productivity.

More thoughts on personal productivity.  In this session, we explore an often overlooked commodity of productivity:  other people.  I get by with a little help from my friends.

  Here is what I do to enhance personal productivity.

• Be a user.  Yep, I’m a user.  A mooch.  But hey, I return the favor.  My friends are users as well.  If I’m looking for a review on a new piece of software or a new idea I will ask my friends.  I use their strength.  For example, my friend Shawn is a technical guru.  When I have a question in the tech world, he is my first contact.  It is incredible efficient.  Just last week I had an issue that would have taken me 2 hours to fix.  Shawn had it fixed in 3 minutes over the computer.  And, just so you know, I give Shawn time and attention in areas where I can.  It’s a great practice of community.  If you use, make sure it goes both ways.
• Recruit a research assistant.  I resisted this at the start.  I figured “How could other people like research when I hate it?”  Crazy man.  Some people love research.  I have a research assistant and she rocks.  Her name is Bethany.  No, you cannot have her email.  Just last week I emailed her with some research for an upcoming sermon.  The next day the inbox was filled with the research and a note from Bethany saying “let me know what else you need.”  Money.  
• Do key work in small community.  I have two friends that help me plan and execute the weekly exchange gathering, Shawn and Scott.  In this group, we trust, dream, and brainstorm.  Every Monday, we brutally evaluate the previous gathering.  This makes me much better and much more productive.  If I am heading in a less-effective direction, these guys are there to offer opinions.  This group is small by design.  A big group often bogs down productivity. 

Truth be told, I get by with a TON of help from my friends.

Next in this series, we will look at your single most important piece of personal productivity.

This stream goes live at 7PM.  Thanks for joining in!

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As part of exchange’s week of fasting, we will gather for  worship and prayer tonight at the Telle Prayer Chapel (6th and Washington) . A simple time of worship with me, percussionist Chris Austin and keyboardist Shawn Wallace.  If you are near Terre Haute, we would love for you to stop by.  Check back here tonight at 7PM and be part of the experience via live webcam.

In the last article, we explored how increasing your limits results in increased productivity.  Today we focus some attention on one of the greatest productivity tools in recent history; the personal computer.  Used correctly, it can propel you into hyper-productivity.  However, misuse the computer (like most of the world) and it will suck your time.

Here are my keys to using the computer for hyper-productivity.

• Check e-mail twice per day on work days.  When I  first heard this advice I dismissed it.  However, the more I experiment with it, the more I found that (1) I am addicted to checking my email, (2) it interrupts my work-flow multiple times a day, and (3) I can check my email in two 15 minute batches per day.  This is remarkable, considering that my primary means of communication is through e-mail.
• Check no work email on days off. I have a separate email for personal correspondence.  Few people have this address.  In rare cases will I check my work email on my day off.  Why?  Because I am not working.  I have to draw a line. Doing this makes me more productive at home and more productive in the office, where I am forced to get stuff done and not take it home.  
• Refuse most IM requests.  Face it, almost everyone wants to be your cyber-friend.  I refuse several requests.  Having a full list of IM friends is like trying to work at a party.  You are in the corner working on a critically important matter and “bing” your smelly Uncle pops in view and wants to talk about nothing important.  I’m not trying to be cold hearted here, but my employer does not pay me to have my time interrupted by drunk Uncle Larry. 
• Accept key IM’s.  There are key IM’s that I do accept (and request).  My key IM’s are my team leaders and those that work on projects with me.  Sometimes I am hung up on something and need a 60 second IM session with my team-mate.  IM saves me the wait of email.  With my team, I get in and out fast.  I have to remember that they have work to do as well.  As a side note, when my team IM’s each other, it usually starts with “got a sec?”  Many times we do have a few seconds.  Sometimes we do not.

Drop in next time when we explore how to use friends to increase productivity.

In the past I have heard people say “I don’t know how you get everything done.”  I shrug it off and say “It’s no big deal.”  As I have been reflecting on productivity, it has come to mind that I do get a fair amount of things done.  I though I would give you a peek into my world in hopes that it might help you in some way.  I am a little hesitant to write about this lest I sound arrogant.  However, I will risk that in hopes that we can all invest ourselves better in what God has called us to do.

I’ll not address setting and working toward goals.  I will assume that you have set goals and are working toward them.

1st a rundown of my outcomes, then we will explore what I do to get to those outcomes.  Here is a list of current things I am working at (or working on):

• Lead Pastor of exchange (full-time)
• Weekly teaching/preaching at exchange
• Lead worship at exchange 3 times/month
• Lead staff of exchange (paid and volunteer)
• Sr Associate Pastor of MCC
• Work as a team member with paid staff at MCC
• Maintain this blog
• Daily Life Journaling
• Date with Stephanie once per week
• Date with one of my daughters once per week
• Recording a new CD
• Collecting ideas for my first book
• Training for a marathon
• Take 2 days off per week
• A ton of other things I am forgetting :>

My 1st keys to personal productivity: limit.

• Limit Gear. The amount of things designed to help us be more productive is simply overwhelming.  Less is more in this case.  The more we have, the more time we waste.  To be honest, I would love a Blackberry (or so I think).  But, having one more thing means I have to take time to learn to use it and most of my time checking emails and contacting others.  Should it break, I need to take time to get it fixed (or spend hours on the phone with tech support).  I lead about 100 worship and rehearsal sessions a year.  I do all this with with one nice guitar and cheap backup.  I simply don’t need more stuff to maintain. Whatever you have also has some of your time.  You must HAVE your stuff, you cannot allow the stuff to have you.
• Limit myself. I make myself (somewhat) unavailable. I have had to learn to say no.  I can’t be available to everyone all the time.  There are crisis’ that I don’t respond to.  There are weddings that I refuse.  The more you are available to other people, the more they will take you up on your offer of availability.  After awhile, you are drifting away from your goals and your schedule is being set by other people.  You might as well hand them your calendar.  Now, before you write me off here, I admit that we do have to make ourselves somewhat available to others.  All I am saying is that we should choose wisely.  We have things that we are supposed to protect.  For more on saying no, check this out.
• Limit the phone calls I make.  I dig the whole telecommunication scene, but we waste valuable time talking on the phone.  I am finding that the less time I spend making calls, the less people call me. I have been experimenting with limited calling and I can tell you that on an average week, I have 4-5 messages on my work phone (and none on my home).  I also am stingy with giving out my cell number.  Note:  if you are a Verizon user, dial *67 before you dial.  This will block your number from showing up on the caller ID of the person you are calling.

Before you think that I hide in a cave all week and never respond to people, let me assure you that I am easily reachable.  As a matter of fact, if you want to get in touch with me Sunday - Thursday, I will be back with you within 24 hours.

Drop in for the next article where we explore using your computer for hyper-productivity.

Thanks to McNair Wilson for digging up this treasure.  Enjoy.