⏱ The Best Minute: One thing that WASTES time

Nov 7

💡 1 IDEA FROM ME

If you want to spend less time on any task or project, schedule it out ahead of time when you will work on it. Anything unscheduled always takes more time to complete.

As a pastor, preparing a sermon is the weekly task that takes more time than any other individual task. When talking to other pastors, I’ve observed that for many, it takes even longer than it should. Why? Because they fit it in an hour at a time here or there whenever they have an opening in their day.

Whether it is writing a sermon, training for a competition, or designing a slide deck, any task that you get to “as you have time” will always take longer than if you pre-planned on your calendar when you will work on it. In addition, task-switching (which occurs when a task is voluntarily or involuntarily interrupted in order to pay attention to another task) takes cognitive brain power and reduces your focus.

It is much better to work on something in one larger block of time than to continually return to it throughout the day or week. So instead of task-switching in and out of a task that is important and requires focus to do well, plan to spend a large block of time focused on that singular task each time you do it.

What is important is creating the habit of controlling your time instead of having your time control you.

One of the leading causes of “busyness” is unscheduled time. When you don’t prioritize what you should do it’s easy to get caught up in doing a lot of various tasks and have no idea where your day went.

And remember, anything unscheduled takes more time.

💬 2 QUOTES FROM OTHERS

I. Lewis Carrol on the importance of where you want to go from his work Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:

“‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’

‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.

‘I don’t care much where,’ said Alice.

‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.”

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II. Richard Powers on how to change someone’s mind:

“The best arguments in the world won’t change a single person’s mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story.”

💯 1 THING I RECOMMEND

From Strength to Strength by Arthur C. Brooks.

This book is about finding success, happiness, and purpose in the second half of life. This book does a great job explaining how brain function and your abilities change as you age and how to use it to your advantage as you age. While I’m a little younger than the target audience for this book, I still recommend this for any adult.

🤯 1 INTERESTING FACT

Rain doesn’t look like a teardrop when it falls

Instead of picturing rain as a teardrop, it more resembles a hamburger bun when it’s falling. Rain starts with water collecting dust in a cloud.

Because of its weight, it eventually starts to fall as precipitation. At the start, the raindrop is roughly spherical in shape. But when the raindrop falls, it loses its spherical shape. It flattens at the bottom resembling a hamburger bun.

If the raindrop gets too large in size, it can tear apart into two different raindrops. It can also mesh with other raindrops and start the cycle again.

Source: Earth How