You’ve documented your goal: To develop a community of practice for Christian school curriculum coordinators.
 
You did a careful study of the current situation, considered options for moving forward, and documented your goal. That’s good. Now you’re ready to start. That’s right—you’re ready to start. Remember, success is not developing a goal for curriculum coordinators. Success is having a functioning community of practice.
 
Now the real work begins. Now you need to achieve your documented goal. Now you need to get Christian school curriculum coordinators involved in the community of practice. Given all the others things you have going on, achieving your goal is going to be a challenge.
 
Tip: Be sure to get the support, encouragement, and accountability you need to achieve your documented goal. Discipline yourself to get these on a weekly basis, for example, by getting a coach.
 
Work smart. Get support, encouragement, and accountability. Today.

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.

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.