You’re in ministry. You’re faithful, you’re working hard, and you’re concerned that key tasks aren’t getting done. You wonder, “What can I do? I don’t think I can work harder, or my health and relationships will suffer. What can I do?”
 
Well, what can you do? You can focus on working smarter, not harder. Here are 5 things you can do to work smarter:
 
(1) Join God in what He's already doing. God has a plan. He’s already at work. And He’s prepared ways for you to join Him in His work (Eph. 2.10). So, you have the opportunity to be part of God’s plan and work. You don’t have to go figure it all out by yourself or do it all by yourself. You can work smarter by joining God in what He’s already doing.
 
(2) Ask God for help. God knows everything and wants to help you. So, ask Him for help. Ask Him what your ministry goals should be. Ask Him to help you carry out your ministry goals effectively and efficiently. And ask Him to help you work smarter, not harder. Work smarter by asking God for help.
 
(3) Document your ministry goals. Having documented goals makes is possible for you to easily review your goals, to schedule your next action steps, and to find out what your goals are when you can’t remember them (something which happens to everyone).
 
(4) Take time to reflect. Take time to step back, review progress, and determine next steps. You can do this for 5 minutes at the end of each day, for 1 hour at the end of each week, for 2 hours at the end of each quarter, and for 4 hours at the end of each year. Work smarter by taking time to reflect.
 
(5) Empower others to solve problems. The more others can solve problems, the less you have to solve the problems. You can empower others to solve problems by asking questions like the following: What’s the problem? How do others see this problem? What criteria do you want to use to solve this problem? What can you do to solve this problem?
 
Bottom line: Find ways to work smarter.
 
*How can you help others to work smarter? By asking questions like:

1. What’s your ministry?
2. How do you feel about your ministry and your workload?
3. How interested are you in getting more done in the same amount of time?
4. What helps you work efficiently and effectively? What doesn’t help you?
5. What can you do to work smarter?
6. What will you do?

You’re working on a vital project. You need help. Which 3 of the following would you most likely do?

• Reflect on what you know.
• Talk with colleagues.
• Read books and magazines.
• Get coaching.
• Check the Internet.
• Get help from a consultant.
• Look at relevant files on your computer.

Have you identified the 3 things you’d most likely do? Good.
 
Question: What key option is missing in the above list?
 
Need some hints? It doesn’t cost money. It’s available 24/7. You can use it anywhere. It gets results.
 
Answer: Asking God for help. God knows everything and wants to help you. So, ask Him for help. Today.

The point is not to have goals. The point is to achieve goals. To achieve your goals, take 4 steps: pray, put, take, and reflect.

Goals help. Goals help you get focused, get energized, get organized, and know what to say “yes” and “no” to.
 
But having goals is not enough. You don’t just want to have goals—you want to achieve goals. You want to achieve your goals in order to pursue your God-given calling. Is there something you can to do increase the likelihood that you’ll achieve your goals? Yes!
 
These four steps can help:

1. Pray. Ask God to guide you as you select goals and to provide the support, encouragement, and accountability you need to achieve your goals.
2. Put your goals on paper. Write them down. The act of writing your goals down will deepen your commitment to them. And if you write your goals down, you can easily review them.
3. Take one or more action steps on each goal every week. And make sure each action step is SMART (Specific • Measurable • Attainable • Relevant • Timebound). The SMARTer your action step, the more likely you’ll complete it. For example, imagine your goal is managing your email. Instead of identifying your action step as “only working on email at certain times,” identify your action step as “doing email for 30 minutes two times per day (11:30-12:00, 4:00-4:30), starting Wednesday.”
4. Reflect on your progress with a friend each week. Tell your friend the progress you’ve made on each action step and what your action steps are for the coming week.

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.