Email is a useful, but limited, form of communication. Being a good steward of the resources God has given you includes making email work for you—and not the other way round.
 
Question: How can you make email work for you?
 
Answer: Here’s are 4 things that can help you make email work for you:

1. Schedule: Don’t check your email as it comes in. Instead, do your email a specified times during the day. For example, do email 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes before lunch, and 15 minutes at the end of the day.
2. Response time: Don’t assume that you must respond to all email immediately or even within 60 minutes. Instead, set a deadline to respond to email, say within 48 hours. This will free you up and allow you to focus on important, non-urgent matters.
3. Subject line: Don’t just write a topic. Instead, write a summary—write the thesis of the email. This helps your reader grasp your message.
4. Format: Don’t assume using a readable font is sufficient. Instead, use bold and bullets to help your reader understand your message.

Personal note: I’ve learned about email the hard way. Here are 3 of the lessons I’ve learned:

1. The more email you send, the more email you get. So, if you want less email, send less email.
2. When dealing with relational issues, talk to the person face-to-face or by phone. Use email as a last resort.
3. Just because you have a concern or suggestion doesn’t mean you should share via email. Your recipients, like your colleagues at work, already have a lot to think about. Try emailing as few concerns or suggestions to a given person as possible—try 1 email per person per week. Better yet, go talk. If talking is too much of a hassle, don’t email—if it’s not worth your effort to talk, it’s not work his/her effort to read your email.

Make email work for you (and not the other way round). Work smart. Today.

Looking for a way to address your challenges? Try using the Rule of 3:

• 3 minutes: Take at least 3 minutes at the end of each day to plan the next day.

• 3 hours: Take 3 hours each week to work on 1 key project.

• 3 days: For the first 3 days after an extended vacation, focus on helping those you supervise to get going, not on getting yourself going.

• 3 weeks: For the first 3 weeks of school, focus on helping those you supervise to get going, not on getting yourself going. And for the first 3 weeks of 4th quarter, focus on planning for the next school year.

• 3 months: Use the first 3 months of a school year to initiate improvement plans—then take the rest of the school year to follow up.

• 3 years: If you’re a new principal, give yourself 3 years to establish yourself. You don’t have to get everything right in the first 2 years, but by year 3 year you do need to have established yourself.

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.

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.

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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.