You: A couple of months ago, I made a real commitment to getting better results in my personal life and in my ministry.

Me: What’s happened since you made your commitment?

You: A lot. I’ve completed several projects, including preparing a set of lessons for the classes I teach, sending out a newsletter, and updating my photo albums. I’ve organized several events—a concert, a workshop, and a surprise birthday party for a friend. And I’ve learned to say “no” to some requests, to respond to my e-mail twice a day (instead of throughout the day), and to start using calendar software to map out how I’ll get my goals done.

Me: Good for you!

You: Yeah, I feel pretty good. Focusing on results has helped me see that I really do have limited time and energy. I can’t really take on more things, but I still want better results. What can I do to leverage my results?

Me: Before I respond to your question, can you reflect on what you learned from getting projects done, organizing events, and learning new things?

You: OK. As I said, focusing on results has helped me make better choices about how I focus my time and energy. Making a commitment to ministry results meant saying “no” to some requests—and now I feel OK about saying “no.” I realize I’m saying “no” in order to carry out the ministry God has given me. I feel less guilty and less stressed out about saying “no.”

Me: Pretty powerful learning. What else did you learn?

You: That I can save time in the long-run by taking time to learn new things. Like calendar software. It took me some time and frustration to learn to use it to map out my goals. But now I my plans are a little better. And mapping out my goals helped me finish updating my photo albums.

Me: What else did you learn?

You: I need to make a deeper commitment to achieving my priorities. When I’m not clear on my priorities and when I haven’t made a definite commitment to my priorities, I’m more likely to spend too much time on e-mail. I used the time I saved on doing e-mail to work on my friend’s party and to get my newsletter done.

Me: You’ve learned some key things. How can you use your learning to leverage your results?

You: I think I’ll continue reviewing and documenting my priorities, making a plan for each priority, and entering each plan into my calendar. That will help me make sure I’ll get the results I want. It’ll also help me know how much time I have available to say “yes” to appropriate requests.

Me: That sounds good. Earlier you asked me, “What can I do to leverage my results?” How would you answer your question?

You: I can leverage my results by reflecting on them and applying what I learn from my reflection.

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Here are 4 questions you can ask to promote reflection:

1. What did you learn?
   
2. What insights did you have?
   
3. What discoveries did you make?
   
4. What was helpful?

What question can you ask to leverage results in the following situations?

• An event your team organized is now finished.
  
• Someone you supervise is reporting on a project she has completed.
  
• Someone you coach is sharing the progress he has made on a personal goal.
  
• You’ve facilitated an all-day strategy meeting. Your organization now has a strategy statement that is clearer and more specific.
  
• You have just finished collaborating with other board members to identify your organization’s core values.

Kim Essenburg, Christian Reformed missionary and English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan, reflects on leadership: Their 4 answers? Foot. Brain. Nose. Heart. Read More...

Christian school staff know answers, know what the answers mean, and use the answers appropriately. Just ask Christian school staff, and you’ll find out:

• Who is Jesus?
  
• What’s the budget process?
  
• What’s a noun?
  
• What’s the room cleaning schedule?
  
• What’s the water cycle?

Christian missionaries know answers, know what the answers mean, and use the answers appropriately. Just ask missionaries, and you’ll find out:

• Who is Jesus?
  
• What is sin?
  
• How can I be saved?
  
• What’s the name of your church?
  
• When are the worship services?

Answers are tools. Knowing answers, knowing what the answers mean, and using the answers increases the effectiveness of Christian school staff and Christian missionaries.

A mission statement is a powerful tool. Your mission statement is a powerful tool. To unleash its power, you need to:

• Know your mission statement word for word.
  
• Know what your mission statement means.
  
• Use your mission statement.

How well do you know your mission statement?

• Can you recite it word for word? Practice until you can.
  
• Can you say smoothly? So that it sounds like it does when you read it? Practice until you can.
  
• Can you say it in the same number of seconds it takes you to read it? Practice until you can.

How well do you know what your mission statement means? In 30 seconds:

• Can you tell me 5 things it means and 5 things it doesn’t mean? Right now? If not, identify these things. Practice sharing them until you can share them in 30 seconds.
  
• Can you tell me an interesting story that illustrates your mission? Right now? If not, write down a story. Practice telling it until you can effectively tell it in 30 seconds.

How well do you use your mission statement?

• Do you routinely use your mission statement to cast the vision and inspire others? If not, at the next meeting you attend, use your mission statement to remind everyone of the real purpose of the meeting.
  
• When developing a proposal, do you routinely ask, “How will this help us accomplish our mission?” If not, do this when developing your next proposal.
  
• When deciding whether or not to take on a task, do you routinely ask, “How effectively will this help us accomplish our mission?” If not, start when considering your next task.

Remember: Success is you effectively using your mission statement on a routine basis. Success is not knowing your mission statement or knowing what it means. But remember, in order to effectively use your mission statement on a routine basis, you need to know it and know what it means.

Imagine you and everyone on your church staff, tentmaking staff, mission staff, or school staff reciting your mission statement, telling 30-second stories that illustrate your mission statement, and routinely using your mission statement to focus energy on achieving your mission. If this happened, how might it impact the achievement of your mission?

Work smart. Know your mission statement. Know what it means. Use it. Unleash its power. Today.

---

Kim Essenburg, Christian Reformed missionary and English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan, uses her school's mission statement:

Christian Academy in Japan, a school for the children of evangelical missionaries in Japan, equips students to impact the world for Christ.

This means we emphasize:

• Equipping students to impact the world for Christ, not equipping students for college and career (although we do this)
  
• Students applying a biblical perspective to course content they have mastered, not students mastering course content
  
• Students using knowledge, not students having knowledge
  
• Using real-world and classroom assessments, not using just classroom assessments
  
• Being student-centered, not teacher-centered

I get excited when students get equipped to impact the world for Christ. Recently, I was looking at student essays on Cry, the Beloved Country. I was excited to read, “Arthur's goal is for black people and white people to treat each other fairly, which is exactly what God requires of us: ‘...to act justly and to love mercy...’ (Micah 6:8).”

Our school’s mission statement is a useful tool. I use our school mission statement to define the purpose of my teaching, shape the assessments I use, screen changes to the content I teach, and determine the professional development I’ll pursue.

That’s right. To increase your productivity, stop working:

• You have 167 unanswered emails in your inbox? Stop answering email.
  
• You’re planning 3 major projects? Stop planning projects.
  
• You’re planning meetings with your team, your staff, and your clients? Stop planning meetings.
  
• You have 34 urgent tasks? Stop working on urgent tasks.
  
• You have 25 more reports to assess? Stop assessing reports.

Just stop. For 30 minutes. Each week. Yes, I know you were hoping to stop working. You can, if you want to. The choice is yours. But I recommend that you keep working and that you stop for a minimum of 30 minutes each week—30 minutes. That’s 1.25% of a 40-hour work week—1.25%.

Stop for a minimum 30 minutes each week. And do what? Reflect. Why? Well, reflection is like…

• Putting air in your bike tires so you can ride efficiently. (How efficiently can you ride on tires that don’t have enough air in them?)
  
• Changing the oil in your car so the engine will run well. (How well will your engine run if you don’t change the oil?)
  
• Using a filter when making coffee. Using a filter is an extra step, but using a filter means good coffee with no grounds in it. (Do you like drinking coffee that has grounds in it? I don’t.)
  
• Taking a hot shower after a tough day. Afterward, you feel refreshed. (If you don’t wind down after a tough day, what happens to you?)

So what can you do during your 30 minutes? You can pray, consider questions, find a better way to work, and get coaching. Let’s take a look at each of these 4 options:

(1) During your 30 minutes, you can pray. Ask God what He wants you to do, how He wants you to do it, and by when. (Remember, it’s God’s work. He has the master plan. Your task is to join God in what He’s already doing.) After you ask, listen. Quietly. For God to speak.

(2) During your 30 minutes, you can consider 5 questions:

1. What’s the mission?
   
2. What’s the definition of mission achievement?
   
3. What’s my role in contributing to mission achievement?
   
4. What did I accomplish this week?
   
5. What do I need to keep doing? Start doing? Stop doing?

(3) During your 30 minutes, you can find a better way to work:

• Instead of responding to your 167 unanswered emails, define your communication system and the role email plays in it.
  
• Instead of planning projects and meetings, check your goals. Define them more clearly. Then, decide which projects and meetings are pivotal. Plan these. Only these.
  
• Instead of completing your 34 urgent tasks, assess your time allocation for good things (urgent tasks) and best things (non-urgent tasks). Build in time for non-urgent tasks. Even if it means not getting some of the urgent tasks done.
  
• Instead of assessing your 25 reports, assess your goals. Then determine your system for assigning reports and your criteria for assessing reports.

(4) During your 30 minutes, you can get coaching. Your coach can help you:

• Think bigger and more clearly.
  
• Think outside the box.
  
• Get more focused and stay focused.
  
• Get organized.
  
• Get the support, encouragement, and accountability you need to reach your goals.

In summary, during your 30 minutes you can pray, consider questions, find a better way to work, and get coaching. What will you do during your 30 minutes each week?

You: But you don’t know how busy I am. You don’t know what my reality is like.

Me: The real reality is that you can’t afford not to stop and reflect. If you don’t stop and reflect, you increase the likelihood that:

• You’ll feel that it’s your work and it’s God’s privilege to join you. In reality, God is already at work, and it’s your privilege to join Him. Remember, God can do it without you.
  
• You’ll overestimate what you can accomplish in 1 year, while underestimating what you can accomplish in 2 years. This means you will strive to get 2 years’ worth of work done in 1 year. Not a good idea.
  
• You’ll work hard, without maximizing your God-given strengths. This will make you tired.
  
• You’ll finish developing a program, but it won’t be sufficiently exemplary, sustainable, and replicable. Ouch.
  
• You’ll plan forwards, instead of backwards—meaning, you won’t plan with the end result in mind. Not good.

What do I do? I reflect on a daily and weekly basis. Each day, I reflect as I pray about God’s work. I ask God for guidance. Then I go for about a 15-minute walk. During my walk, I listen for God’s voice. I listen for God to tell me whom He wants me to talk with, what he wants me to write about, and what projects He wants me keep doing, start doing, or stop doing.

In addition to reflecting daily, I reflect weekly for up to 2 hours. I use up to 75 minutes to process ideas, determine progress toward key goals, and identify and schedule tasks for the coming week. I use 30 minutes to meet with my coach. I use up to 15 minutes to review my schedule of tasks in light of my coaching session.

What happens during my coaching session? My coach asks me crucial questions like:

• How are you doing on your goals?
  
• Are you staying within your goals?
  
• How’s your life balance?
  
• How did you equip people this week?
  
• How can you more effectively equip people?

My daily and weekly reflection times help me stay focused, organized, encouraged, supported, and accountable. My daily and weekly reflection times definitely increase my productivity. To accomplish my God-given mission, I can’t afford not to reflect on a daily and weekly basis.

Imagine if you and everyone on your church staff, tentmaking staff, mission staff, or school staff spent 30 minutes each week in quiet, focused reflection. How would this impact the achievement your mission?

Work smart. Stop working and start reflecting for a minimum of 30 minutes each week. Increase your productivity. Start today.

Working smart means mapping curriculum. And the good news is that mapping curriculum can help you increase CLASS:

• Collaboration
  
• Learning
  
• Accountability
  
• Strategic Planning
  
• Sustainability

Here’s how:

• Collaboration: Mapping facilitates collaborative dialogue about what is being taught and assessed.
  
• Learning: Mapping requires planning for student learning. Planning for student learning results in increased student learning.
  
• Accountability: Through mapping, a school demonstrates accountability to best practice.
  
• Strategic planning: Mapping data can be used to develop and support strategic plans.
  
• Sustainability: A new teacher can be given the mapped curriculum.

Work smart. Map curriculum. Increase CLASS.

Everyone wants success. The questions is, “What is success?” Defining success will help you work smart. Consider the following possibilities, develop your definition of success, and share your definition with colleagues.

Success is...

1. Joining God is what He’s doing, not starting down your own path.
   
2. Achieving your mission, not implementing a Christian philosophy of education.
   
3. Using diversity to achieve one mission, not using unity to achieve diverse missions.
   
4. Building community in order to achieve the mission, not achieving your mission in order to build community.
   
5. Caring for others as you do mission, not doing mission as you care for others.
   
6. The Parable of the Talents, not the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
   
7. Getting targeted results, not getting results.
   
8. Reaching a pre-determined destination, not reaching a destination.
   
9. Getting it done, not getting it perfect.
   
10. Batting 300, not getting a 98%.
    
11. Distinction, not perfection.
    
12. Displacement, not distance.
    
13. Direction, not motion.
    
14. Hitting the bulls-eye, not going the distance.
    
15. Doing right things, not doing things right.
    
16. A program that is exemplary, sustainable, and replicable; not a program that is exemplary.
    
17. Quality outputs based on quality inputs, not quality outputs or quality inputs.
    
18. Increased student learning, not increased teacher learning.
    
19. A Christian who teaches Christianly, not a Christian who teaches.
    
20. Learning, not being learned.
    
21. Getting experience, not getting knowledge.
    
22. Doing, not knowing.
    
23. Using learning, not getting learning.
    
24. Professional development that targets mission achievement, not professional development that targets teacher knowledge.
    
25. Adding 1 best practice per year, not adding 5 best practices per year.
    
26. Asking questions, not dispensing answers.
    
27. Working smarter, not working harder.
    
28. Increasing “face” time, not increasing email.
    
29. Using data, not collecting data.
    
30. Maximizing strengths, not remediating weaknesses.
    
31. Reaching potential, not achieving at a high level.
    
32. Adding value to student learning, not students achieving to a high degree.
    
33. Getting things right through repeated failure, not getting things right the first time.
    
34. ReadyFireAim, not ReadyAimFire.
    
35. Using documents, not having documents.
    
36. Productivity, not effort.
    
37. Effort, not productivity.
    
38. Talking about student learning, not talking about schedule changes.
    
39. Looking at student work, not looking at teacher work.
    
40. Students learning, not teachers teaching.
    
41. Students learning, not students behaving.
    
42. Students behaving, not students getting good grades.
    
43. Students on task, not students wanting to learn.
    
44. Students achieving, not students trying.
    
45. Students trying, not students achieving.

Work smart. Define success.

You want to achieve your God-given mission. To do so, you need increased results. And to get increased results, you have developed a plan.

You know that your schedule is full of good things that will distract you from achieving your plan. And you recall that this past year, you had planned to develop a staff development handbook—it still isn’t done.

What can you do? Invest 30 minutes each week in coaching. During your 30-minute coaching session, you’ll develop concrete steps to accomplish your plan, and you’ll receive the support, encouragement, and accountability you need to achieve your plan.

To get increased results, get coaching. Your mission is worth it.