The Problem with Productivity
I am a productivity junky.
I love my asana, GTD, lists, tasks and the satisfaction of checking a lot of stuff off in a day.
In my role at Seacoast this is what filled my day. Tasks.
I still think that tasks and productivity should be a part of everyone’s life and simply put at some point we need to get stuff done, but in my role as a lead Pastor I don’t have as many tasks. Basically my role at Freedom Church is to:
1. Study scripture.
2. Prepare and preach scripture.
3. Allow scripture to set the mission.
4. Hear from God to follow the vision to get be a part of that mission.
5. Disciple elders.
On a task list these don’t really work out so well:
- Check #1 off and it re-appears the next day,
- #2 keeps happening every single Sunday.
- #3 is done. (see Luke 4)
- #4 is messy and never really done.
So I find that my idol of productivity gets pretty upset at me somedays.
Like last week when my wife found me blankly staring out of my office window. She said, “what are you doing?”. I said, “Thinking”. I was thinking about the next sermon on my plate to write. I sat that way reflecting, hearing from God, praying internally and seeking direction for a long time. At the end of that time my soul felt better about the direction of the sermon and I had gained some clarity but not a single thing could be checked off in asana. Productive in another way.
Or how about recently when I had a sudden nudging from the Holy Spirit to invite a leader to an unplanned lunch. Over lunch that was not on a list or my calendar we talked life, processed some Kairos for him and I invited him to step into a training opportunity for potential elders. I think this meeting over greasy burgers will prove to be one we remember for a long time in the life of our church. Productive in another way.
When you are tempted to think the late phone call with a community group member, the lengthy email exchange with a struggling couple or the lunch that keeps you from getting your task done are not productive decisions remember this we are humanBEINGS not humanDOINGS.
It’s okay to BE sometimes.
Great thoughts Shawn! Many of us want to get to the end of our lives and know that we’ve made a difference but then it gets a little fuzzy. What does productivity look like for a year? A month? A day? An hour? Very thought provoking.