Multitasking is a myth

Bivocational ministers are always looking for ways to save time.  Many of us like to multitask in an effort to accomplish as much as possible.  For a long time this was my mindset.  Unfortunately, research now shows that multitasking actually makes both tasks take longer because it is impossible to multitask.  In his excellent book What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done Matt Perman points to research that provided evidence that the human brain cannot effectively do two things at once.

Rather than multitasking Perman writes that we are actually switchtasking, switching back and forth between tasks.  Every time we switch between one task to another there is an interruption, and these interruptions have a cost associated with them.  These costs can add up and cause us to be much less efficient and effective.

Of course, bivocational ministers are not the only ones struggling with having the time to do all the things we are expected to do.  In our busy culture today most of us have that problem.  We need to remember that time is a resource, and like all resources it is limited.  Perman reminds us that "The scarcity of time is the reason we need to do one thing at a time."  We must concentrate on doing the most important thing first and then when that task is completed we can move on to the next task.

It's easy to be tempted to complete a bunch of small tasks early so we can concentrate on the more important stuff later.  I still fall into that temptation occasionally.  But, too often we spend so much time doing the small things that we find there is not enough time to complete the more important tasks that needed to be done.  We are then forced to scramble and sometimes do a poor job at the most important things we should be doing.

Many time management people will tell you that one of the most important things you can do is to take a few minutes each evening to look at the next day's schedule.  What is the most important thing you must do that day?  That becomes your number one priority, and that is where you start.  When you complete that task then you can move on to the next most important thing.  At the end of the day you may not have completed everything on your to-do list, but you will have done the most important tasks.

The ability to multitask would be great if we could do it, but we can't.  It's a myth and it's a costly one to pursue.  It is far better to focus on one thing at a time, stay on it until completion, and then move on to the next most important priority item.  At the end of the day we will have accomplished more and will have done the most important things that needed to be done.  That is how to make the most effective use of your time.  You may want to read more of Perman's book for other great ideas.

The effective pastor

The number one complaint I've heard from every bivocational minister I've talked to is the lack of time to accomplish all the things that needs to be done.  I often break down the life of a bivocational minister into five areas: God, Family, Church, Work, and Self-Care.  It is a real challenge to keep balance in these five areas of our lives.  I teach a class in our region's Church Leadership Institute that addresses this challenge, but I will be the first to admit that it's often difficult to balance these five areas in our lives.

One of the things I address in the class is the importance of setting priorities for how we manage our time.  If you don't set your priorities someone else will, and they will seldom have the same priorities for your life that you would have.  It is very easy for a bivocational minister to spend large blocks of time dealing with secondary issues and spending little time on the more important areas of our lives.

A book that I've started reading that looks like it will be very helpful is What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done by Matt Perman.  In the second chapter he writes

When most people think of productivity, they think of efficiency - getting more things done in less time...While efficiency is important, it works only when we make it secondary, not primary.  It doesn't matter how efficient you are if you are doing the wrong things in the first place.  More important than efficiency is effectiveness - getting the right things done.  In other words, productivity is not first about getting more things done faster.  It's about getting the right things done.

Later in the chapter Perman reminds us of the words of Peter Drucker: "The most unproductive thing of all is to make more efficient what should not be done at all."  How many times have you been encouraged to download an app that someone insisted would save you a lot of time, but when you downloaded it you found that it did something that you really didn't need to be doing anyway?  That recently happened to me.  The app looked promising, but after downloading it I realized that it would take a long time to learn how to use it properly and it didn't do anything I wasn't already doing with another program that I already knew how to use.  I deleted the new app.

Looking back on my pastorate I have realized that many of the things I did really didn't need to be done at all, and if they did need done they should have been done by someone else.  My ministry became much less difficult when I learned to say no to things that I didn't need to do.  That gave me the freedom to do the things that actually needed to be done by the pastor that would help our church achieve the vision we believed God had given us.  I think you'll find the same thing to be true for you.

I can't tell you what things you need to do in order to be your most effective.  That will depend on the vision of your church and many other variables.  But, it is critical that you identify those things and begin to focus the bulk of your attention on them.  Delegate the other activities to other people.  If you say that you have no one you can trust for those other responsibilities then perhaps your first priority is to train people for those tasks.

The Pareto Principle teaches us that 20 percent of what we do gives us 80 percent of our results.  If we can focus more of our attention on that critical 20 percent our ministries will be much more effective, and, as an added bonus, we will feel much less stress in our ministries and lives.  That is a win-win!

For more information on how to better balance your life and ministry be sure to check out my book The Healthy Pastor: Easing the Pressures of Ministry.

A messy desk

The past few days have been a little frustrating.  It seems like everything I've tried to do has taken much longer to accomplish than it should have.  I get ready to do something and realize I've left something on my desk I needed to accomplish the task.  I can't find a phone number I need.  There are so many things on my to-do list that I can't decide where to start.  I'm not normally like this, and I'm a person who writes about leadership and ministry issues!  Yeah...frustrating is a good word.

Suddenly, as I sit down at my desk to write, I realize why everything seems so disorganized.  My desk looks like a landfill!  I have stacks of stuff stacked on top of other stacks of stuff.  One quick look and I see my day-timer sitting on top of a bunch of papers, an I-Pod earpiece laying beside a thumb drive on top of another stack of papers.  Beside those are two sharpies and a pack of CD/DVD markers on top of a couple of bills to be paid and my pad of post-it notes I use to take down voice mails.  Another stack has folders and spiral notebooks in front of my computer screen.  Sure, that's not a distraction.  Next to four empty coke cans is a book I'm using for my devotional reading.  I think I now realize why everything seems disorganized.  It's because everything is disorganized!

Believe me, I'm not normally like this.  I like to keep my desk clean and everything filed away.  The past few weeks have been busy.  It's been easier to set things down on the desk and go on to the next task rather than putting things where they needed to go, but now I'm paying the price.

The funny thing about this is that I've read (and quoted) efficiency experts who insist that a messy environment is a distraction and keeps one from being effective.  I even lead a workshop on pastoral stress and spend time talking about the value in keeping things neat and orderly.  Maybe I need to review my notes!  Or maybe I just need to remember that clutter creeps up on you quietly and quickly and robs you of your ability to focus and be as effective as you can be.

How does clutter impact your ministry and your life?  Some claim they work best in clutter, but I've noticed that most of these folks are one box away from being on the TV show Hoarders.  Sorry, but I don't buy their claim.  I just can't believe that having a desk and the surrounding floor stacked with papers and books is not a distraction.  My guess is that this is true for you as well.

If you are feeling like your life and/or ministry is disorganized, take a look around you.  What does your desk and study look like?  Are your bookshelves neat and organized?  What about the inside of your car?  Yeah, maybe I am meddling, but if you have to kick aside the McDonald's bags to find your gas pedal you may have a problem with organization which may also mean you have a problem with productivity.

Whether you are bivocational or fully-funded I want to reduce the stress in your life and ministry, and one way to do that is to get organized and stay organized.  If you have to spend 10 minutes to find a piece of paper with the agenda for your next meeting and another 10 minutes to find a pencil, you are going to feel stress.  Unnecessary stress.  You are not going to be productive.  At the end of the day you will be exhausted and frustrated that you didn't accomplish more than you did.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have some filing to do.