In 2015, author Kevin Kruse published a book called “15 Secrets Successful People Know about Time Management” based off interviews he did with nearly 300 business leaders, students, and athletes.
...successful people focus on “minutes, not hours” and “don’t use to-do lists.”
Around that time, Inc. Magazine published an article that summarized some of the key points in the book that focused on productivity, calling it “14 Things Ridiculously Successful People Do Every Day.”
I recently came across this article again, and I felt like there were a few things that stuck out that could be applied to church tech artists as well.
First, it notes that successful people focus on “minutes, not hours” and “don’t use to-do lists.”
What in the world does that mean?
Time is a precious commodity for all of us. And if we don’t manage it wisely, we’ll end up frittering hours of our day on mindless or meaningless tasks while the important things sit neglected.
Productive people understand that sometimes the key to being productive doesn’t rest on 30- or 60-minute chunks of time, but in the 3-, 5-, or 10-minute gaps that can repeatedly pop up during the day. Those are the windows where I’m most likely to waste my time, and that doesn’t have to be the case.
...productive people “say ‘no’ to almost everything” and “delegate almost everything.”
Instead of having a to-do list that I reference periodically during the day, I instead should devote chunks of time on my calendar to doing certain tasks, and I should do it strategically.
So, as opposed to just having a list of things I need to accomplish and randomly deciding during the day what to do and when to do it, I should apply forethought and assign tasks specific, dedicated time on my calendar.
If my mind is sharper during the morning, when I feel fresher, then that’s where I should schedule tasks that require more brainstorming, creativity, or planning.
If I tend to hit an early afternoon energy slump after lunch, maybe that’s the time I should plan on devoting towards physical tasks like cleaning the stage or moving equipment so I’m doing things that get my blood flowing and keep me from feeling lethargic.
If my mind tends to wander in meetings if I’m hungry, then I don’t need to schedule meetings right before lunch.
Yes, we all need mental breaks and the opportunities to clear our heads. But if we’re not doing those things strategically, we end up wasting large chunks of time during which we could otherwise be accomplishing things.
The point is, it’s easy for things, even important ones, to get pushed off and minimized by other things that pop up and distract me. It’s critical to devote dedicated calendar time to tasks to ensure that I don’t procrastinate and that I give my best focused effort to that task based on what it requires.
In a similar vein, the Inc. article notes Kruse’s observation that successful people “process e-mails only a few times a day.”
Obviously the world in 2014-15 when this research was conducted is a bit different than it is now, nearly a decade later. But the principle still remains.
I would suggest replacing the word “e-mail” with “phone”.
In the “old” days, maybe email was the digital distraction most likely to knock people off course and interrup their focus. Constantly being tugged at by notifications and pings coming from an inbox can easily derail trains of thought and make it even harder to give focused mental energy on critical tasks.
Now, email may be the least of the digital distractions by which we can get harassed. Group text messages; Slack and GroupMe notifications; and Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok posts now proliferate our phones with the little red notification bubbles. There are more ways to be distracted at work than ever before, and it’s all thanks to our phones.
Truly productive people manage and limit how often they allow their phones (or watches, in many cases) to distract them from important tasks at hand. Maybe there needs to be certain windows during the day when I put my devices on “Do Not Disturb” mode or mute notifications. Maybe there should be certain times where I even put my phone in another place entirely so it can’t impinge on my brain’s attempts to focus on other tasks.
If I feel enslaved to my phone, then chances are I need to make it a priority to reprioritize the amount of time I spend with it. Otherwise, my work self may not be as productive and focused as it should be.
Yes, we all need mental breaks and the opportunities to clear our heads. But if we’re not doing those things strategically, we end up wasting large chunks of time during which we could otherwise be accomplishing things.
Two other notes in the article could also be sort of grouped together: that productive people “say ‘no’ to almost everything” and “delegate almost everything.”
The key principle behind both is that the most productive people understand what items they are the only person who can do, and they focus on those things while empowering other people to complete other tasks.
As an example, do I have to be the person who runs Production for small midweek events or even does simple troubleshooting steps? Or can I train people in other ministries how to run their own events and then type up a simple troubleshooting FAQ document that can live in the room so those people can attempt to solve their own problems?
Likewise, while there may be tasks that I enjoy doing, perhaps there are other staffers or volunteers who could be trained to do those things so I can focus my time on things that only I can do. For me, that meant letting go of various tasks, like inputting new songs into ProPresenter, so I had more time to meet one-on-one with staff members to provide training and coaching. As the leader of a team, I was the one who needed to provide that clarity of direction, but just about anyone else could be empowered to add songs to our database.
Those type of things exist in all of our ministries and it’s incumbent upon each of us to determine the areas where we can step back and allow others to shine so that we can give our best energy to tasks no one else can do.
Lastly, the Inc. story noted Kruse’s observation that productive people “practice a consistent morning routine.”
In my mind, a successful morning always starts the night before. Before I go to bed, do I have a plan for the next day? Do I know when I will wake up and what I will do with my time? Otherwise I’m tempted to wing it and I run the risk of missing things or running behind because I failed to properly plan ahead.
Do I have a set time I wake up each morning? Do I have a consistent morning routine that provides me with the right fuel for my day, which could include breakfast, coffee, and/or devotional/quiet time? Do I have a plan for what time I’ll get to work and start my tasks? And if my day starts with meetings, am I properly planning ahead so I can gather my thoughts in advance instead of flying into the parking lot on two wheels and sprinting into the building just as the meeting begins?
As the page turns to 2024, it’s important that we all use this as a time to evaluate areas where we may need to improve. Examining our schedule allows us to also examine our priorities to ensure that we’re maximizing the time we have each day.
Serving in ministry means we also need to be stewarding our time well, and understanding some simple keys to productivity is one way of doing just that.
