You’re focusing on working smart, not hard. And you want to move forward on this. Good.

What can you do? Define your goals. How? By making your goals SMART:

• Specific
  
• Measurable
  
• Attainable
  
• Relevant
  
• Timebound

For example:

• Change “Get exercise” to “Starting Monday, jog 20 minutes 3 times a week.”
  
• Change “Get organized” to “By Friday at 4:30, properly file all the files that are stacked on my desk.”
  
• Change “Take on less” to “Starting tomorrow, say ‘yes’ only to requests that are directly related to the curriculum improvement plan.”

Making your goals SMART takes discipline, but doing so helps you clarify what you want to achieve. Knowing what you want to achieve helps you make better decisions about what to do next. And making better decisions means working smart.

To SMARTen up a goal, answer questions like:

• Specific: What do you mean by ___? (What do you mean by “exercise”?)
  
• Measurable: How will you know when you’ve achieved your goal?
  
• Attainable: How doable is this?
  
• Relevant: How will this goal help you?
  
• Timebound: When will you do this?

Remember, focus on working smart, not hard. Define your goals. Today.

Want to work smart? Think big.

To get an idea of how you can think big, take the following self-assessment. Use the following scale:
4: Consistently • 3: Usually • 2: Sort of • 1: Rarely

1. I ask God for help.
   
2. I want to attempt great things for God.
   
3. I take time each week to reflect.
   
4. I ask myself key questions: How can I serve God more effectively? What 3 dreams do I want to realize? What 3 things could I do in the next 30 days that would make a real difference?
   
5. I read books on vision (like The Dream Giver by Wilkinson, Full Steam Ahead by Blanchard, and The Path by Jones).
   
6. I talk with people who think big.
   
7. I listen to podcasts/CDs on vision (like Coaching Visionaries by Stoltzfus).
   
8. I focus on thinking big.

Use your assessment data to design action steps to think big. Then take action.

To work smart, think big. Today.

You’re in the staff lounge, and the basketball coach walks in.

You: How’d the game go last night?
Coach: Pretty well.

You: What was the score?
Coach: The players dribbled, rebounded, passed the ball, and took shots.

You: Did you achieve your game objectives?
Coach: The kids played.

You: How will you prepare for next game?
Coach: We’ll keep practicing.

How are you feeling about the conversation? Personally, I’m frustrated. I’m beginning to wonder how well the coach understands basketball.

Let’s try the conversation again:

You: How’d the game go last night?
Coach: Pretty well.

You: What was the score?
Coach: 65-64 in double-overtime. We lost.

You: Did you achieve your game objectives?
Coach: Yes. We out-rebounded our opponents and made 80% of our freethrows.

You: How will you prepare for next game?
Coach: We’ll work on work on reducing the number of shots in the key. Our opponents scored 24 points in the key.

Sounds better.

Question: When someone asks you about your work, what does your conversation sound like?

Real question: What will you do to clearly communicate results?

Work smart. Today.

Imagine:

• You have arrived safely and on time—which is important because your wife, who is in the car, is in labor. You both wore seatbelts. You drove the speed limit and obeyed the traffic lights. You feel good—until you realize you are at the wrong hospital.
  
• You are prepared. You studied for the science test, have a pencil and eraser, and are seated before the bell rings. You feel good—until you receive the math test.
  
• You catch the basketball, square your shoulders to the basket, jump, shoot, and score—at the wrong basket.
  
• You complete 29 of 30 tasks quickly. You stand up, spin around 5 times, shout your name out loud, sing “Happy Birthday” to Mickey Mouse, recite the alphabet backwards—lots of crazy things. Great fun! You are puzzled as to why some of the others aren’t doing anything. Then you read Task 30: “You were instructed to read all the tasks before starting. Do only this task—sit in your seat.”
  
• You are done before the deadline. You have reviewed the recruitment process, edited and published existing recruitment materials, and sent the materials to colleges before the deadline. You feel good—until you realize that you have not gotten a single new staff member from a college in the past 4 years.
  
• You provide staff training. Staff complete the training. You feel good—until you realize that you targeted staff completing the training, not staff using the training to achieve the mission.

Do right things, then do things right. Make sure you are working on the truly important before you spend time fine-tuning what you are working on. This is a challenge. Why? Because, for example, it is easier to edit than it is to develop high quality content. Discipline yourself to do right things, then do things right.

Work smart. Today.

Encourage others to pursue their God-given calling. One way you can do this is by sharing your thoughts on life and success.

Here are some of my thoughts:

1. God is already at work. Join Him.
   
2. Want results? Invest in yourself.
   
3. Do right things, then do things right.
   
4. “Be” what you want to “see.”
   
5. There's usually a better way. You can find it.
   
6. Defining your goal is the first step toward achieving it.
   
7. Want to improve? Target your strengths.
   
8. It’s self-management, not time management.
   
9. Make your program exemplary, sustainable, and replicable. Target outputs and inputs.
   
10. Change is about motivation. Motivation is about getting support, encouragement, and accountability.
    
11. Rocks, pebbles, sand, water. In that order.
    
12. Plan backwards.
    
13. Know the score.
    
14. Flow, seep, evaporate, rain.
    
15. Listen (respelled) = Silent
    
16. It’s solvable, or it’s not. Either way, trust God.
    
17. Focus. On your God-given mission.
    
18. Work smart, not hard.
    
19. Pursue defined excellence, not undefined excellence.
    
20. Envision, coach, relate, collaborate.
    
21. Arrange success.
    
22. Eating chocolate with friends is better than eating carrots alone.
    
23. Danglestalk.
    
24. Lead by asking.
    
25. What you pay attention to gets done—so pay attention to your priorities.
    
26. Use reflection to leverage results.
    
27. Measuring motivates.

Want to take the next step? Write down 3-5 of your thoughts about life and success. Make sure each item is concise and easy to say. Next, encourage others to pursue their calling by sharing your thoughts.

Your organization’s budget system works:

• Your organization uses common categories and common line items.
  
• Individuals track expenditures.
  
• Individual data is compiled into the overall budget.
  
• Your organization uses budget data to make decisions.

What if your organization could do the same with its mission?

What if your organization “budgetized” its mission?

• What if your organization used a common definition of mission achievement, complete with common goals?
  
• What if individuals tracked progress on goals?
  
• What if individual data was compiled so that it showed progress on goals and, consequently, on the mission?
  
• What if your organization used mission achievement data to make decisions?

A scorecard can help you “budgetize” your mission. Use a scorecard today.

Tom Postema, department chair coordinator at Christian Academy in Japan (CAJ), describes how curriculum mapping helps CAJ:

CAJ department chairs think curriculum mapping helps us increase our CLASS:

• Collaboration
  
• Learning
  
• Accountability
  
• Strategic planning
  
• Sustainability

To find out why, read on.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Collaboration?

• I am in more discussions about curriculum now and this has resulted in me collaboratively developing unit plans.
  
• I can get ideas for lessons from colleagues' maps.
  
• We can work together cross-grade level or cross-departments on specific units or projects.
  
• As a result of curriculum mapping, principals are increasingly talking with each other about curriculum and are increasingly working with teachers on unit plans.
  
• Curriculum mapping helps me see that curriculum development is a together thing.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Learning?

• It helps me plan instruction more effectively, and planned instruction increases student learning.
  
• We can modify our maps in response to assessment in order to promote student learning.
  
• It helps me increase alignment between the content and skills I teach and the content and skills I assess.
  
• It helps us use common vocabulary across divisions and departments to reinforce student learning.
  
• It helps us compare what we thought we were teaching and what we actually are teaching–and then we can go ahead and plug the holes.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Accountability?

• I'm glad that I can see colleagues' unit plans and they can see mine. "Going public" helps me be accountable for my unit plans and helps me support their work.
  
• The curriculum coordinator can see the overall picture, and this helps him provide the accountability departments need to work effectively.
  
• Curriculum mapping helps the administration hold itself accountable to reach its two goals of developing an exemplary curriculum and meeting curriculum related accreditation standards.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Strategic planning?

• We use mapping data to determine what the professional development topics for next year are going to be.
  
• We use mapping to implement our plan to get the curriculum done.
  
• We use mapping data to determine curriculum goals for next year, including having units with accurately mapped content and skills.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Sustainability?

• A new teacher can come in and quickly know what their curriculum is.
  
• You can find it; you can adapt it; you can use it.
  
• You can determine what resources you have and what resources you need to sustain a program.

Give othersMOSAIC compliments, compliments that connect daily activity to the mission. Here are 3 examples:

1. “I appreciated your sending out the all-staff email about the upcoming coaching workshop. By the end of the year, we want 100% of staff trained in coaching, as we feel that coach training will help staff more effectively implement our organizational value of collaboration. Living out our values is central to carrying out our mission. In terms of collaboration, we’re at level 3. To achieve our mission, we need to be at level 4. Your email helps us achieve our mission of equipping missionaries to make disciples. Thanks.”
   
   
2. “Thanks for working on mapping curriculum units. I appreciate your hard work. Your mapping helps us improve our curriculum. And I’ve heard from you and other teachers that mapping has helped increase student learning. That’s great! Last tally, our writing scores moved from 80% of students above standard to 85% of students at/above standard—5% more and we reach our goal of 90%. Mapping units is helping us equip our students to impact the world for Christ. Keep up the good work.”
   
   
3. “Thanks for putting flyers in mailboxes. I appreciate your help in getting our flyer for the special evangelistic activity in every mailbox in the apartment complex next to the church. The more people that know about the event, the more likely some will come. Those who come will hear the Gospel. Lord willing, some will respond, and some will even get baptized and join the church. That’d be great. We need 5 more members for our mission post to become an independent congregation. By distributing flyers, you are helping make disciples and plant a church.”

Each of above compliments contains MOSAIC characteristics:

• Mission (the big purpose): “Your email helps us achieve our mission of equipping missionaries to make disciples.”
  
• Objectives (what it takes to achieve the mission) “To achieve our mission, we need to be at level 4.”
  
• Standards-based Assessment (current performance): “In terms of collaboration, we’re at level 3.”
  
• Improvement plans (projects): “By the end of the year, we want 100% of staff trained in coaching.”
  
• Collaboration for results (daily activity): “I appreciated your sending out the all-staff email about the upcoming coaching workshop.”

MOSAIC compliments inspire others. MOSAIC compliments take daily activity and place it in the context of the mission. That’s inspiring!

While MOSAIC compliments connect daily activity to the mission, 3 types of compliments don’t:

1. MO sukoshi (Japanese for “a little more”) compliments: These compliments address only the mission and the objectives. They’re big picture, but they don’t include specific details of what the person is doing. Not good.
   
2. SA (Japanese for “hmm”) compliments: These compliments address current performance, but aren’t attached to the mission and don’t include specific details of what the person is doing. “SA” compliments leave the person in a dense fog, leave the person thinking, “Hmm.”
   
3. ICky compliments: Icky compliments address improvement plans and collaboration, are immediately satisfying, but are icky in the long run because they are not attached to an overarching mission.

Inspire others today by giving MOSAIC compliments. Show people you’re grateful for their efforts, and help them connect their daily activity to the mission.

I don’t try to manage certain things. I don’t try to manage gravity. I don’t try to manage the revolution of the planets around the sun or the rotation of the earth on its axis. And I don’t try to manage sunrise or sunset.

Actually, I am utterly incapable of managing any of these. The good news is that God, who does manage these, doesn’t ask me to.

I don’t try to manage the entirety of God’s creation, and I’ve stopped trying to manage a certain part of God’s creation. Why? Because my efforts have been about as effective as any attempt I would make to manage gravity. In other words, useless. Completely useless.

No matter what I do, I can’t change the amount I receive. I set and work at goals to change the amount, but I get exactly the same amount. And to make matters worse, I can’t even affect the rate at which I receive it. I set and work at goals to change the rate, and I get it at exactly the same rate.

What have I stopped trying to manage? Time. Why? First, I’m a time-bound being. I’m trapped in time, and there is no escape. Second, whether I like it or not, I receive the same amount of time each day. And third, no matter what I do, I receive time at the same rate: 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour, 24 hours per day. I can’t make a day 40 hours long. Can you? I can’t even add 1 second to a day. Can you?

Simply put, I am completely unable to manage time. My efforts to manage time are as effective as any attempt I would make to manage the revolution of the planets around the sun or the earth’s rotation on its axis. Let me be frank: your efforts to manage time are as effective as any attempt you would make to manage sunset. When’s the last time you set a goal to change the time of sunset and it worked, even to an infinitesimal degree?

However, the good news is that God manages time. And the good news is that what God calls us to do is to manage ourselves within the time he gives us. So, it’s how you manage yourself within time, not how you manage time. In other words, focus on yourself (which you can affect), not on time (which you can’t affect).

Practical implications?

• Stop asking “How can I get more time?” and “How can I use my time effectively?” Start asking “How can I manage myself effectively within the time God gives me?”
  
• Stop saying things like “I need 30-hour days” and “I need 10-day weeks.” Start realizing that when you say things like that, you’re commenting on how effectively you manage yourself and/or your level of trust that God gives you what you need.
  
• Stop trying to manage time. Start focusing on managing yourself.

To increase your focus on self-management, reflect on 1 or more of the following:

1. Do right things, then do things right. Make sure you are working on the truly important before you spend time fine-tuning what you are working on. This is a challenge. Why? Because it is easier, for example, to edit than it is to develop high quality content. Discipline yourself do right things, then do things right.
   
2. Focus. On your God-given mission. This means saying “no” to certain requests, and saying “no” takes discipline.
   
3. Think big. Expand your vision. Play a bigger game. Regularly ask yourself questions like “What 3 dreams do I want to realize?” and “What 3 things could I do in the next 30 days that would make a real difference?”
   
4. Define your goals. Consistently make your goals SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timebound. Making your goals SMART takes discipline, but doing so helps you clarify what you want to achieve. And knowing what you want to achieve helps you make better decisions about what to do next.
   
5. Know the score. Know where you are in terms of achieving your goals. Consistently track your progress. This takes discipline, but doing so will help you make effective decisions about what to do next.
   
6. Schedule your big priorities first, your smaller priorities next, and so forth. Don’t schedule renewing the newspaper, for example, before you schedule your key ministry goals. Discipline yourself to do this. Doing this will help you stay focused on your big priorities.
   
7. Plan backward. Plan like you would for a dinner party. Picture your house cleaned, your table set, and your meal prepared. Then figure out what you need to do to get your house cleaned, your table ready, and your meal prepared. In other words, picture the goal accomplished, and then plan backward. Say to yourself, “Just before I achieve my goal, I need to ____. And just before I do that, I need to ____. And just before I do that, I need to ____....” Planning backward takes discipline, but it results in a streamlined plan of action.
   
8. Get organized. Schedule time each week to review your goals, empty your inbox, and plan out the coming week. Discipline yourself to do this for a minimum of 30 minutes each week.
   
9. Get resources. Discipline yourself to secure the resources you need to achieve your goals before you start working on your goals.
   
10. Get support, encouragement, and accountability. Discipline yourself to get these on a weekly basis, for example, by getting a coach.

Now, take action to increase your self-management:

1. Choose 1 of the 10 items mentioned above. Design a SMART action plan that will help you increase your self-management: By ____________ (date), I will _______________________________.
   
2. Make a commitment to achieve this action plan, and tell someone about your commitment.
   
3. Achieve your action plan.

Remember, it’s self-management, not time management. Work smart. Today.

Dangle. Like a wind chime. Arms limp, hands open, feet air-perched. Fiercely await Wind.

Stalk. Your calling. Hunt it down. Like a weasel, going for the jugular, never letting go.

Danglestalk. Teeth deep in God’s jugular, arms limp, hand open, feet air-perched. Hunt down your calling by dangling. Fiercely.