Do you want to help your students learn even more? One way you can do this is by leveraging your unit maps on an ongoing basis. How can you do this? Try the 4 Rs:

1. Review your unit map before starting each unit.
2. Reflect on how each unit went.
3. Revise each unit map, based on your reflection.
4. Regularly talk about your unit maps.

Let me explain further:
 
(1) Review your unit map for 5 or more minutes before starting each unit—this will help you focus on what you want your students to learn:

1. Look at your learning targets, enduring understandings, and essential questions. Ask yourself, "What do my students need to learn?"
2. Look at your content and skills. Ask yourself, "How are the content and skills connected to my learning targets and enduring understandings?"
3. Look at your assessments, noting which learning targets a given assessment addresses. Ask yourself, "To what extent do these assessment give high quality evidence for student achievement of the learning targets?"
4. Look at your resources, making sure you know where all of them are. Ask yourself, "How helpful are these resources?" and “Do I use anything that is not documented in my map?”

(2) Reflect on how each unit went. Do this as soon after a unit finishes as you can. You might want to consider the following questions:

1. What did your students learn during the unit?
2. What is encouraging/discouraging about what your students learned?
3. To what extent did you carry out your unit plan?
4. To increase student learning, what changes could you make to your unit map?

(3) Revise each unit map, based on your reflection. I like to make changes immediately, and others like to make changes right before teaching the unit again. The important thing is not when you make the revisions, but that you make the revisions before teaching the unit again.
 
(4) Regularly talk about your unit maps—this is fun and will keep you focused on your unit maps. Each year, talk through at least 4 units with a colleague. As necessary, talk through various parts of your unit maps, for example, enduring understandings, essential questions, and assessments.
 
To find out how you and your colleagues are using the 4Rs, rate each statement below. Use the following scale: 4: Strongly Agree • 3: Agree • 2: Disagree • 1: Strongly Disagree 
 
___ Before starting each unit, I take 5 or more minutes to review the appropriate unit map.
___ I reflect on how each unit went, noting possible ways to improve the unit.
___ I revise each unit (as appropriate) before teaching the unit again.
___ I regularly talk about my unit maps with colleagues.
___ Before starting each unit, my colleagues take 5 or more minutes to review the appropriate unit map.
___ My colleagues reflect on how each unit went, noting possible ways to improve the unit.
___ My colleagues revise each unit (as appropriate) before teaching the unit again.
___ My colleagues regularly talk about their unit maps with others.
 
Now, ask yourself 4 questions about the data:  

1. How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s are there?
2. What excites/concerns me about the data?
3. What can I do to increase the practice of the 4 Rs (review, reflect, revise, regularly talk)?
4. What will I do?

I think it’s true. I think it’s true that what you pay attention to gets done. So, if you want to get your goals done, pay attention to them.
 
How?
 
Take 30 minutes each week to review what your goals are, track the progress you’ve made on each goal, and determine the action steps you’ll take in the next week.
 
Take 30 minutes. Go somewhere you won’t be disturbed. Bring along whatever you need to help you reflect on your goals—paper, pens, computer, post-its, whatever. Then reflect on your goals in order to determine what to do next.
 
Reflecting on my goals has helped me achieve them. I think it will help you, too.

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’ve developed goals. You’ve documented them, and you review your goals from time to time, thinking that reviewing them will help you know what to do next. Reviewing does help, but not enough.
 
Question: What else can you do to determine what to do next?
 
Answer: Track progress on your goals. In addition to reviewing your goals, track progress on your goals. Tracking progress will help you understand where you are in terms of achieving your goals. And when you know where you are, it’s easier to determine what to do next. For example, imagine my goal is to memorize the alphabet. In tracking my progress, I know that I’ve memorized A-M. So, I’ve determined that next week I’ll memorize A-P.
 
Track progress on your goals. Today.

You’ve been assigned a project. You know planning is important, and you know that you need to get started so that you can complete the project on time.
 
Question: What can you do?
 
Answer: You can plan backwards. You can treat the project like a dinner party. You know, the guest will arrive at 6:30, so the food and table setting need to be completed by 6:25. In order for the food and table setting to be completed by 6:25, you need to…. And so forth.
 
You try: Imagine your project completed. Then ask yourself, “Right before my project gets completed, what do I need to do? And what do I need to do right before that? And what do I need to do right before that?” And so on.
 
Plan backward. Streamline your planning process.

You’ve reviewed your projects and project deadlines. You’ve put the deadlines into your calendar program, and you’ve brainstormed action steps for each project. Good.
 
Later, the calendar alarm goes off, signaling that a project is due, and you find that you haven’t completed the necessary action steps. Bummer.
 
Question: What can you do?
 
Answer: Schedule all your action steps. Put them in your calendar program. This can help you get all your action steps done before your calendar alarm goes off for a given project deadline.

You’re stuck. You’re not making progress on your goal. You’ve tried the things that have worked before, and you’re still stuck.
 
Time to think outside the box. For example, imagine that your goal is to more quickly peel a boiled egg. You’ve tried rolling the egg on a plate to crack the shell and then peeling it—too slow. You’ve tried hitting the shell with a spoon, inserting the spoon between the egg white and the shell, and then using the spoon to peel the egg—still too slow.
 
What can you do? Find an “outside the box” solution. Try watching this video.


 
When you’re stuck (and even when you’re not), try thinking outside the box.

Reflect on your goals daily, weekly, quarterly, and annually.

When you facilitate, make sure your listen, inquire, focus, and encourage.

Facilitate from your heart, from beliefs you have about personal growth.

To help workshop participants learn and apply their learning, meet their needs. Give them support, concrete examples, opportunities to apply their learning, reflection time, and engaging instruction.

Thinking clearly is vital. You know this. When you think clearly, you’re more focused, have a better understanding of your goals and of what it takes to achieve those goals, and can more effectively communicate with those you work with.
 
Lately, you’ve been feeling muddled, feeling less certain of your goals, and your direct reports have commented that they aren’t clear enough on what you want them to do. You find yourself wanting to think more clearly. Good.
 
Question: What helps you think clearly?
 
Answer: What helps me think clearly is taking time to think, writing, and having someone ask me open-ended questions: What’s your goal? What’s happening? What can you do? What will you do?
 
Take steps to think more clearly. Today.

You know it takes energy. You know it takes energy to ride your bike to church. You know it takes energy to buy bananas at the store and to lead a Bible study on Romans 12. And you know it takes energy to write an email to your donors about Sachi’s baptism and to talk with Thomas and Kim about the culture shock they’re experiencing.
 
You’re wishing you had more energy—10% more, 5% more, even 1% more. Just more energy. If you had more energy, you could work on balancing your personal/professional life, developing relationships with 3 neighbors, and translating training materials on house churches.
 
While it’s true that if you had more energy you’d be able to work on these goals, maybe the issue isn’t having more energy. Maybe you have all the energy you need, but some of your energy is being sapped by frustrations.
 
Maybe your energy is getting sapped by frustrations you have with email. You’re frustrated that your thinking keeps getting interrupted by the sound email makes when downloading. You’re frustrated that you don’t have big blocks of time to work because you have to attend to email throughout the day. You’re so frustrated about email that you use energy to talk with others about your frustration and to listen to their frustrations.
 
Instead of using your energy to tolerate your energy-sapping frustrations, use your energy to reduce your frustrations. For example, use your energy to turn the sound off for downloading email and to schedule doing email twice a day.
 
Question: What can you do to reduce one or more energy-sapping frustrations?
 
Remember, reducing your energy-sapping frustrations frees up energy you can use to pursue God’s calling. Reduce one frustration. Today.

Want to empower others to reduce their frustrations? Ask questions that provoke reflection, for example:

1. What are 5 frustrations you have?
2. How do you feel when these frustrations are present/not present?
3. How would you feel if you could reduce 1 or more of these 5 frustrations?
4. How would reducing 1 or more frustrations impact your ministry?
5. If you reduced all 5 frustrations, what might happen?
6. What helps you reduce your frustrations? What hinders you?
7. What’s 1 frustration you want to reduce?
8. What can you do to reduce that frustration?
9. What will you do?

You’ve spent 2 days in reflection. You feel good:

• You have a mission statement.
• You have a list of the 4 goals necessary for carrying out your mission statement.
• You like the wording of your mission statement and your goals.
• You feel like you have what you need—direction.

Question: What’s next?
 
Answer: Determining the action steps you need to take for each of your 4 goals—then taking those action steps. Why? Well, success is not having a mission statement and goals—success is accomplishing your mission and goals.
 
I recommend that each week you take time to determine action steps.
 
Bottom line: Determine your action steps. Then take them.

You want to achieve your mission. So, you get out of the office and take time to identify 5 key goals. Good. When you return to the office, you focus on achieving your goals all week. Good.
 
And then things head downhill:

• In week #2, you notice that you’re not quite as focused on your goals.
• In week #3, you have a crazy week where you can’t work on your goals.
• By week #4, you can’t remember 2 of your goals. Not good.

 
Question: What’s the problem?
 
Answer: You didn’t document your goals.
 
This means…

• You can’t easily review your goals.
• You can’t easily use your goals to schedule your next action steps.
• You can’t easily find out what your goals are when you can’t remember them (something which happens to everyone).

Tip: Document your goals. Today.

We all want to be organized. We all want to be better organized. The problem is that we might not be clear on what it means to be organized. For example, does being organized mean…?

1. Having SMART goals, having goals, or having values?
2. Using spreadsheets to track progress or being able to tell stories about progress?
3. Having a clean desk with everything filed away or having a messy desk with everything in stacks?
4. Planning ahead or seeing what happens?

 My answer?

1. Being organized doesn’t mean having SMART goals, having goals, or having values—being organized means being aware of your priorities.
2. Being organized doesn’t mean using spreadsheets to track progress or being able to tell stories about progress—it means being aware of progress on your priorities.
3. Being organized doesn’t mean having a clean desk with everything filed away or having a messy desk with everything in stacks—it means being able to access the resources you need to address your priorities.
4. Being organized doesn’t mean planning ahead or seeing what happens—it means being intentional about pursuing your priorities.

 So, what can you do? Reflect on the following 6 questions: On a scale of 1-10 (10 being high)…

1. How aware are you of your priorities?
2. How aware are you of your progress on your priorities?
3. How able are you to access the resources you need to address your priorities?
4. How intentional are you about pursuing your priorities?
5. So, how organized are you?
6. How organized do you want to be?

 Remember, being organized helps you pursue God’s calling. Get better organized. Today.

Do you want to reduce your frustrations so you can get on with what God's calling you to do? If so, reflecting on these 5 questions can help.  

If you want to get more done in less time at work, think about how you can manage yourself more effectively at work.

Before getting organized, make sure you're clear on what being organized means and how being organized can help you more effectively carry out your mission. 

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.

How faithfully and effectively do you use your God-given strengths?

Each day you pursue God’s calling—at home, at work, at church. Each day you focus on being faithful. That’s good. In pursuing God’s calling, being faithful is vital. Because being faithful is vital, I want you to consider a question: How faithful are you in using your God-given strengths? Or to put it another way, How faithful are you in using God’s blessings?
 
God has given you a calling. And He has prepared you for that calling by giving you specific strengths: He has worked in your life to teach you key truths and given you a unique network of relationships, a variety of abilities, distinguishing character traits, and a range of experiences and education.
 
So, how faithful are you in using your God-given strengths? How faithful are you in using God’s blessings? (How faithful are you in using your talents? Remember the Parable of the Talents? Remember how the master responded to the servant who buried his talent? Not using your talents in the name of being faithful is a little like burying them.)
 
Answering these questions is vital. Answering these questions can help you pursue God’s calling. Answering these questions can help you make sure that you are playing your proper role in the Body of Christ and help you avoid being an “eye” that strives to faithfully be a “foot.”
 
So, what can you do? Identify the strengths (blessings) God has given you. Ask yourself, How faithful am I in using my God-given strengths? Help someone else reflect (you can use the questions in the sidebar). If you are a supervisor, ask yourself: How faithful am I in using the strengths God has given to those I supervise? How can I more effectively leverage the blessings God has given those I supervise?
 
Remember, faithfully pursuing God’s calling involves using the strengths God’s given you.

Think of an activity you’re doing. Got one in mind? Good.
 
Question: Why are you doing that activity?
 
Tip: You need to be able to answer that question for each activity you’re involved in.
 
What should your answer include?

• An activity.
• The goal your activity addresses.
• How working on your goal helps you accomplish your mission.
•  

What does an answer look like?

• I’m updating my curriculum maps for Social Studies 8. I'm doing this because I want my students to experience a coherent curriculum. When my students experience a coherent curriculum, they learn more. And when they learn more, they get equipped to impact the world for Christ.
• I’m fixing a sticky door hinge so that students can get to their classes on time. When students get to their classes on time, they can learn more. And when they learn more, they get equipped to impact the world for Christ.

Bottom line: Clarify how your mission, goals, and daily activities are connected. Today.

Good news—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.
 
Point: Join God in what He’s already doing.
 
3 questions:

1. How clear are you on what God is already doing?
2. How clear are you on how God wants you to join Him in His work?
3. How willing are you to join God in what He’s already doing?

Tip: If you need increased clarity on what God is already doing:

• Pray daily for a minimum of 2 weeks.
• Read God’s Word daily.
• Seek wisdom from 5 of God’s people.

Remember: Join God in what He is already doing. Today.

You want improve in planning. You know this is going to feel like climbing a steep set of steps, so you decide to take it 1 step at a time.
 
Question: How can you climb the next step?
 
To find out:

• Read about the 5 developmental steps (below).
• Then, use some reflection questions to identify what you will do to climb the next step.

 
Here are the 5 steps:
 
Step 1: You work.
You’re a missionary, you’re out of language school, and you’ve just started doing full-time ministry. You’re sitting in a room, getting introduced to other missionaries. Each person introduces him/herself by name and job title. Your turn comes, and you say, “Roger, evangelist.”
 
A few weeks later, you’re out walking in your neighborhood. You’re feeling a little fuzzy about your ministry. And you find yourself thinking, “What’s my plan?” A few days later, you take time to pray and to write out your plan. It describes the activities you want to do, for example, teaching English Bible classes, making and distributing tracts, and talking with those in your neighborhood. You look at your plan and feel better.
 
 
Step 2: You work, and you have a documented plan.
You look at your plan every once in awhile. But you notice that having a plan hasn’t helped you as much you thought it would. You think maybe that’s because your plan isn’t as good as it should be. You wonder, “How good is my plan?”
 
You take a look at your plan, pray, and decide to revise it. Instead of just listing your activities, you decide to:

• List your overarching ministry purpose, the 4-6 goals you need to accomplish in order to achieve your overarching ministry purpose, and the key activities you need to do for each of your goals.
• Make everything SMART: Specific • Measurable • Attainable • Relevant • Timebound.
• Keep your plan to 1 page.

 
Step 3: You work, and you have good documented plan.
You continue to look at your plan every once in awhile. And you notice that upgrading your plan hasn’t helped you as much you thought it would. You find yourself asking, “How can I really use my plan?”
 
A couple of days later, you read an article about paying attention to your goals. The article suggests that you review your goals on a daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual basis. You pray about it and decide to do this. And you decide to measure your progress on your goals and to reflect each month by talking with a fellow missionary about ministry progress. You know that reviewing your goals, measuring your progress, and reflecting will take time, but you think it’ll be worth it.
 
 
Step 4: You intentionally use your plan to guide your work.
As a result of reviewing your goals, measuring your progress, and reflecting, you find that you’re using your plan a lot more to guide your work. And you find that you’re more clear about what you want to accomplish. So, you improve your plan by putting in better activities, revising your goals, and by tightening the alignment between your overarching ministry purpose, goals, and activities. You share your “improved” plan with colleagues, invite feedback, and use feedback to further improve your plan.

In addition, you increasingly recognize that you have limited time, energy, and abilities. You find yourself wondering, “How can I manage myself better? How can I get more focused, work smarter, and pursue excellence?”
 
You pray, watch a video, read an article, take a self-assessment, and explore getting a coach. As a result, you decide to get a coach. Your coach empowers you to:

• Identify what helps you focus.
• Target your strengths and reduce your frustrations.
• Determine the amount of time you will invest in each goal.
• Identify 3 articles you will read about best practices in evangelism.

 
Step 5: You think success is being a person who is focused, works smart, and pursues excellence.
As a result of working with your coach and using your plan to guide your work, you find that you’re more focused, working smarter, and intentionally pursuing excellence.
 
And you’ve shifted your thinking about success. Instead of thinking that success is having a plan or even achieving a plan, you now think success is being a person who is focused, works smart, and pursues excellence—as evidenced by the achievement of your plan.
 
You’re wondering, “How can I empower others to strategically pursue God’s calling?” You pray, and you watch a video and take a self-assessment on leading by asking questions. And you decide to apply your learning to empower others to reflect, get clear, focus, prioritize, and pay attention to their goals.
 
 
Now, ask yourself the following 5 questions:

1. Which “step” best describes me? (Be brutally honest. When doubt, choose the earlier stage.)
2. How do I feel about being on this “step”?
3. In terms of climbing the next step, what helps/hinders me?
4. To climb the next step, what do I need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
5. What will I do to climb the next step?

Improve your planning. Start climbing the next step. Today.