PastorHacks

PastorHack: The Power Nap

About a year ago, I was constantly complaining about how tired I was. I was falling asleep on the couch in the evening, just in time for the kids' bedtime which, suffice it to say, left my wife less than thrilled.

Part of the problem was rising early- I have to get up between 5 and 5:30 if I want to have any quiet time to myself at all in the morning. Part of the problem was also that in an effort to fight the tiredness during the say, I was consuming too much caffeine, making for fitful sleep at best, and often, waking up at 2:30 or 3:30 in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep.

Ultimately, I haven't beat this yet... but two things that have helped greatly have been this:
1. Getting off the coffee- I'm drinking mostly green tea and ZippFizz. Both have caffeine, but significantly less than the drip coffee from Starbucks that my office (uh... Starbucks) serves.
and
2. A 20 minute nap every day I can get it.

Here's what I do- sometime between 11 and 1, depending on my appointment schedule, I head out to my Mazda Tribute with the back seats folded down and lay myself out in the back. I set the timer on the iPhone for 20 minutes and give myself mental permission to be about nothing but resting for that time. I usually drift off to sleep pretty quickly and am surprised when the timer goes off.

It hasn't completely cured me of ever feeling tired (I'm dragging pretty badly this morning), but, man- I have much more energy to make it through the afternoon, dinner and time with the kids in the evening.

You can do this. If you have an office, even better- close the door, turn off the phone and lay on the floor for 20 minutes. You won't believe the difference it makes.

The only trick is to avoid the temptation to sleep longer- any longer than 20 minutes, and you'll be groggy.

Here's an article on exactly this. If you can- choose the nap over the java... better for you in so many ways.

Check-Off: drop down menu bar to-do list for Mac

This is sweet. Sweet and simple.

Check Off- A drop down menu bar to-do list for Mac.
Nicest feature (I think) is the ability to handle projects (more than one task under a specific folder/heading).

From the developers website:

To-Do Manager For Mac OS X

Check Off is a to-do list that sits in your menu bar. Simply click the check mark and your personal to-do list will drop down.

Features

• Easily accessible from the Mac OS X Menu Bar.
• Allows creation of groups of items.
• Each item can have its own note for more information.
• Finder-like Labels.
• iPod Synchronization so you can take your tasks on-the-go (iPod must support notes feature).

Check out Check Off

ht: lifehacker

Jott+ Web2.0= Crazy Delicious!

I spent some time rejiggering my system yesterday- I'll tell you more about that tomorrow (I'm ditching gtd app Things in favor (again) of a web/phone app).

In the process, I dug deeper into Jott. It's been awhile since I explored other uses for the service than just sending myself (or someone else) a reminder email.

1st, Jott's transcription has improved dramatically since I first used the service. Dramatically.

2nd, they've added an amazing number of links to other Web 2.0 type services. So now, through Jott, I can Twitter. I can post to my Typepad, Wordpress or Blogger blog. I can add to do's to a whole host of online GTD apps, like Backpack, Vitalist, Remember the Milk, Sandy, etc...
I can drop something onto my Google calendar (and since I can subscribe to a Google Calendar in iCal, that means I can Jott to my iCal, doesn't it?).

If it's been awhile since you checked out Jott, give it another go. It really is a pretty amazing tool. And let me know other ways you are using Jott..

Why be productive?

David Allen, author of


"Getting Things Done : The Art of Stress-Free Productivity" (David  Allen) says this about productivity:
"The only two reasons to be efficient

I have concluded that there are only two good reasons for handling this physical material world as efficiently as possible:

(1) The physical world is important, or

(2) The physical world is not important.

If you care a lot about material success or production, you will obviously want to maximize your output by minimizing your resource requirements to make them happen. If you make it easier to get from here to there, you can go from here to there more often. Or you can go from here to farther than there with the same investment.

And if you don't care about material success or production, because of a greater allegiance to spiritual or aesthetic values, you will obviously want to be distracted and engrossed as little as possible in the physical world you still have to negotiate. If you want the freedom to spend time being contemplative, meditative, or reflective, you will undoubtedly want things done here with maximum efficiency."

Read the rest here

real productivity...

"How can we keep our schedules rigid enough that we know what we need to do when we need to do it, but flexible enough that we can focus on the things that feed our passion? How can we educate the people around us who see us sitting in our office (or den, or on a bench at the park) staring into space and think we’re goofing off, so that they understand that this still time is part of our work — the most important part of our work? How can we break free from the economic model that posits time as a spendable thing, and measures only successful outcomes — when we learn most from the failures?"

Read the rest here from Lifehack

Ready for... Creativity?

Without a doubt, I can say... the more organized I become, the more creative I become. My mind is freed up to do the real work of ministry when the task-monster is (finally) brought under control...

"I find it interesting how many people still think organization and creativity are mutually exclusive: 'Don't bother me about getting organized and with all those lists- I just want to be creative.' Or 'I don't need all that organization stuff- I can keep everything in my head.' Why do people think that 'getting organized' is antithetical to spontaneous intuition and freedom?"
-David Allen, Ready for Anything 

Busyness... or Gluttony?

“A paradox has emerged in this new millennium: people have enhanced quality of life, but at the same time they are adding to their stress levels by taking on more than they have resources to handle. It's as though their eyes were bigger than their stomachs."
- David Allen, Getting Things Done

It's more than likely that you've heard a message, read a book, or done some thinking about "busyness" in the last year or two. Slightly less likely, but still entirely possible that you've heard a message, read a book, or done some thinking on "gluttony" during the same time.

It's highly unlikely that the two were connected, however. And maybe they should have been.

Why do we say yes to so much? Is it because we are guilt-ridden, co-dependent angst monkeys who lack the willpower to say no?
Nah- we say to a million things a day. Usually to things that are good for us, but still... When we want to, we know how to say no just fine, thank you.

Is it because we have a drive towards self justification that works itself out in our work and an ever-increasing load of commitments through which we seek to earn the favor of others and God? In part, yes...

But maybe, it also has something to do with our appetites?

You know, our appetites for recognition and "importance." To be liked, appreciated, admired... Even our appetite to "get things done."

And honestly, there's nothing inherently wrong with that. But like all things in this broken world, left unchecked by the Spirit and unsubmitted to God, our appetite to be liked and our appetite to achieve will run out of control.

I've been thinking about busyness as though it's a problem to be managed- increase my productivity and I could, of course, accept and do more commitments, more on my plate... more to feed my ego.

Maybe the problem with busyness isn't it. Maybe it's me. Me and my ego and pride.

Conceived of this way, busyness isn't an issue of time management and productivity, it's an issue of desire. When is enough, enough? When am I doing enough good things through which that God-given desire to feel productive and useful in this world can be fulfilled? When do I cross the line between finding satisfaction in the good day's work I put in and trying to find my identity through an ever-increasing load of ego-enhancing commitments?

Don't get me wrong- I want to continue to work on productivity/time management and all the rest. But until I work through the inner issues of why I try to do so much, all the productivity hacks in the word really just add up to enabling.
In other words, most days I don't need any more help being productive or managing the stress of work. I think I need help in managing my appetite for applause and the stress of opportunity.

I fear my busyness is simply a sign of my gluttony.

Dear Me: Get to Work!

Okay- so, I've got my contexts, my lists, my files, my Hipster... I MUST be getting things done, right?

Well...

From 43 Folders

The Problem

GTD is all about rapid, intuitive selection of what you need to be working on now. Whip out your context list appropriate for the time-place-opportunity-space you are in now. Scan through it, then do.

For the longest time I was having a problem with this. I’d scan through my context lists and I’d see things like:

• Pack box up
• Ask Bob about meeting
• Review new design book
• Send Cherry income information

Scanning down a list of actions in a context list should be like running your hand across a silk sheet. Scanning through these tasks felt less like silk and more like sand paper. Pack what into the box? What did I need to know about the meeting? Review the book for what, specifically?

With a moment’s thought I could remember what I meant when I wrote most of these tasks, but they were difficult (if not impossible) to scan through, select rapidly and then act on. I was losing speed. Mind less like water, more like ketchup.

Insight

Looking back, it’s not hard to see what the problem was...

Read the rest here

Cut the fat...

Web Worker Daily has a great post on how to cut the fat out of your day...

and get back to lean. So, ignore the fact that Arnold's before and after shots are running the wrong way chronologically and most of you (except some of you pastors in the south) can ignore the one on shorter smoke breaks, and enjoy...

Cut the Fat to Get to Lean Productivity

1. Identify the Time Wasters. To cut the fat from your work day, you have to first identify what you do that’s not productive. I suggest you either do a time audit (simply log what you do for a day or two — you don’t need to log the minutes) — either that, or just make a list of the common activities in your work day.

Here are the most common time-wasters — not all of them may be time-wasters for every person, so identify which of these are your worst time wasters:

• Email (or, excessive time spent on email)
• IM
• Meetings
• Reading blogs, or RSS feed reading
• Browsing through miscellaneous websites
• Online forums
• Chatting with co-workers
• Impromptu visits from co-workers or the boss
• Paperwork
• Routine tasks
• Personal or long phone calls
• Unnecessary walking around
• Long smoke breaks
• Solitaire or online games
• Looking for lost items (disorganization)
• Too many interruptions (including some of the above)
• Dealing with the same items more than necessary (from postponing decisions)
• Ineffective objectives or priorities
• Ineffective communication in the workplace

2. Identify Your Priorities. In order to cut the fat, you need to next identify the meat of your day — what’s the important stuff that you need to get done each day. That entails identifying your top goals and priorities, the things that will make a lasting difference in your life and career.

If you do not set your own priorities and objectives (i.e. they’re set by a boss), and you’re not clear what they are, send an email or hold a meeting with your boss to get them clarified. It will make a big difference to your work.

3. Redesign your day. Next, redesign your work day so that your priorities take the majority of your time, and the time-wasters are minimized. Here are some tips:

• Set priorities each morning. Choose the 3 Most Important Tasks you want to do today.
• Firewall your mornings. Set your mornings as your time to accomplish your 3 MITs (see above), with no meetings, phone calls, emails or other time-wasters allowed. None of the time-wasters on your list can be done during this time. Make it a rule, and stick with it. If mornings cannot be done, find as big a block of time during your day as possible, and set that aside for your MITs.
• Batch process communication and small tasks. Set aside two other blocks of time: one for communication, such as email and IM, and another for small or routine tasks that must be accomplished today. If you do these things all at once, they do not interrupt more important tasks, and you are wasting less time switching between tasks. If you set aside an hour for email and IM, for example, try to get all your communication done at that time, processing quickly (see below), and don’t go over the hour. Set a timer if necessary.

Read the rest here

9 things- pt 1

I'm going to PastorHack blog through Tim Ferriss' excellent post: The Not-To-Do List: 9 Habits to Stop Now. Many of these are things that have been percolating in my brain and some have already reached the level of implementing...

First up:
This one will potentially send waves of guilt through that shepherd's heart of yours, but it's absolutely necessary when your community reaches a certain size...

1. Do not answer calls from unrecognized phone numbers
Feel free to surprise others, but don’t be surprised. It just results in unwanted interruption and poor negotiating position. Let it go to voicemail, and consider using a service like GrandCentral (you can listen to people leaving voicemail) or Simulscribe (receive voicemails as e-mail).

This has become a practical necessity in my life. At a certain point, the calls began to be too numerous and  though screening was the last thing I wanted to do, I had to just to stay sane. So...
I do my best to keep my phone address book updated so I know who's calling and can decide on the fly if I want to answer them now or send to voicemail for processing later...
When in doubt (if you don't know who's calling), send it to voicemail.
Deal with it during a set batch-voicemail answering time.

Trust me. If it's a true emergency (injured child, etc), they'll ring you until they get you.  Otherwise, it can wait.

  (Guilty exception: I tend to answer calls from exotic area codes in the off chance it's, you know, Ed McMahon or something, but chances are if you are not in my address book, you'll go to voice mail for processing when I'm ready...)