A Push + Focus = Movement

If you have read my posts recently, you know that I have been struggling to get over the hump in a couple of areas. I have been reading books and seeking to discern why I cannot move past this time of being stuck. I have had ideas floating in my mind for months, but nothing concrete has emerged. And then, in reading Smarter, Faster, Better (by Charles Duhigg), I was reminded that writing things down makes a difference for most people in not only retention, but also in our ability to process information.

The issue for me is that, like many pastors and educators, I am on the computer a lot. I am a believer that we need three main systems to track our lives – a task list, a calendar, and a place to store information. I have those and they are all accessible on my computer and/or phone (ToDoist, Google Calendar, Evernote, respectively). I am still trying to develop the system to work perfectly for me, but I have the system in place. So, if I have a note to type, it goes on the computer. And that can help, because I can see it before me rather than floating in the nebulous of my mind. But, in one of the stories Duhigg mentions, the difference between writing something down versus typing it on a computer can be significant.

So, I am resolved to write down some items that I believe are inhibiting me from being as effective as I desire to be. (And after these ideas are written and better understood, I will type them into Evernote to have them for future use.) I have already taken two main steps this week to correct some of the issues even as I seek to uncover more. And, sometimes it just takes a push.

Last week, I received a call about an opportunity to teach a class. This class will be a stretch for me in many ways but is perfectly inline with the work I did on my dissertation. Perhaps, I could state it this way – my dissertation covers one element of the class I have been asked to teach. But the preparation will be intense. And it will be important. This class will be the first opportunity for me to teach doctoral students so the bar is raised considerably. I do not take teaching lightly and this past Spring I taught an undergrad class that had a few students who are certainly capable of earning a doctorate someday. Thus, I seek to be prepared for any class. But doctoral students are more demanding (I know, I remember), so I must be fully prepared. And that was the push I needed! I believe that push has allowed me to crest the hump. I believe I am back on the path where I can be more effective than I have been in recent months. Certainly, the books have helped, and I will continue to read (and intend to immediately re-read the most recent set I mentioned a few weeks ago) to prevent myself from slipping off the path again just as I gain momentum. But, it is good to be moving forward again.

Even as I say I am moving forward, I must confess, that the two areas where I have been stuck are not the area where I was pushed. But the push forced me to consider my overall schedule, my overall objectives, and the overall scope of work which needs to be done in a certain time-frame. Thus, I have re-cast my schedule. I have created “Focus” days where each weekday will focus on tasks related to a certain responsibility (i.e. Mondays are focused on administrative issues related to the church, Fridays are focused on seminary-related work, etc). Seeing this ON PAPER (yes, I wrote it down) and not in both my daily task and calendar as visual reminders has helped me immensely just in the first few days. Of course, some tasks and responsibilities will need to be handled on non-focus days, and that is fine. But if the focus for the day is church-related, the church must be the primary focus which should bring some synergy of thought instead of simply attacking unrelated tasks across my various roles. (This is going beyond prioritization of tasks. I still do that as well, but I am better aligning tasks on the particular days where that segment of my life (i.e. role) is focused.)

So, again, a simple push has set me in motion. But the push came because I was seeking answers. And, in light of my current sermon series on Seeking the Heart of God, I hope my seeking was truly after what God wanted. I believe it is/was and now it is up to me to continue seeking Him and focusing on moving forward as He wants me to move. Ultimately, whatever God has planned for me (big or small) does not matter – my job is to be faithful to Him! And being faithful meant that I had to get unstuck. He has helped me do that. Now it is up to me to follow which means I must try to avoid getting stuck again.