The Last Lecture – Time Management Bonus

If there’s anyone out there who understands the 34 Time Management Principles I lay out in my new resource it is Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer. Randy is a Carnegie Mellon Professor who delivered what he called ‘the last lecture‘ on Sept 18, 2007 and it has turned into a phenomena on YouTube and is now captured in his new book.

Check out his website for even more resources and to download the PPT. Thanks for all the incredible positive feedback on my new Time Management for Busy Pastors resource and I’m glad you enjoyed the Time Management posts this week.

Nelson

Automate Automate: Time Management Part 3 of 3

I love the late night infomercial where the guy puts the chicken on the iron stick, places it in the revolving oven, turns the dial says, “Set it and forget it!“

That’s a great time management tip! And it leads us to our final principle of the week…

Time Management Principle #3: AUTOMATE AUTOMATE

What are you spending time on right now that you could automate so that you do it once and then you ‘set it and forget it?‘

I first learned this lesson thanks to bill paying. I used to spend an hour or more each month paying bills that stacked up on top of my computer monitor (that’s what people had before we had laptops). One day, I was reading a book by David Bach (one of my favorite financial writers) and he mentioned that most utility companies would regulate your bill so that you could pay the same amount each month. His point was on budgeting, but it struck a time management nerve with me.

If you could predict how much your bills would be each month, you could pay them automatically by setting up an auto-withdrawal or having your bank send over a check. (Another time management short cut – I can send a check online much faster than I can write one).

I currently auto-pay everything. . . from my monthly bills to my tithe (and when God blesses me I have my bank send another check as an offering). This has saved me at least two hours per month.

But I’ve gone beyond bills. I am constantly looking for things to automate. I have automated my Mac by having it automatically open the three programs I use most when it powers up. I have automated my cell phone voice mail by having voice messages automatically sent to me as text messages. I have automated prescriptions. . . the website for my pharmacy allows me to set-up for refills to be automatically sent (I love it!). Same thing for my daily wear contacts. And for my . . . well, you get the point.

If I can automate it, I will. Set it and forget it!

What could you automate in your life that would save you a ton of time? It may take a few extra minutes on the front end to set it up but it will save you hours each month in the future.

Nelson

P.S. You can find 33 other time management principles in my newest resource. Click here to order Time Management for Busy Pastors

P.P.S. I even automated this blog post! I wrote all three of these time management posts in one sitting (another time management practice: group like projects) and then set them to ‘go live’ each morning. Here are the previous two in case you missed one:

What the BEST Use of My Time: Time Management Part 2 of 3
Living Off Peak: Time Management Part 1 of 3

What’s the BEST Use of My Time: Time Management Part 2 of 3

Here’s time management principle #2:

Always ask: WHAT’S THE BEST USE OF MY TIME RIGHT NOW?

This nine word question can change everything. When you get up in the morning, ask: What’s the BEST use of my time right now? (Devotions anyone?)

When you first arrive in the office, ask: What’s the best use of my time right now? This question should help you focus on your most important project and get it done straight away.

When it’s date night with your spouse, ask: What’s the best use of my time right now? (Hint: Put away the iphone and give your spouse your undivided attention.)

Get the idea? For me, this question has become a prayer. I’m constantly asking God to show me: What’s the best use of my time right now? This gives me focus and helps me prioritize.

In real estate, they will often say that the value of a property is determined by ‘its highest and best use.’ Its the same way your time. The value of your time is measured by ‘its highest and best use.’ Make the decision this week to make the BEST use of your time on every occasion!

Nelson

P.S. You will discover 33 other time management principles in my newest resource. Click here to order Time Management for Busy Pastors

Previously:
Living Off Peak: Time Management Part 1 of 3

Living Off Peak: Time Management Part 1 of 3

I’m very excited to let you know that my new Time Management Resource is being released today! This resource has pre-sold better than any other we’ve ever offered. In honor of this big release, I’ll be doing a four-part time management “blog series” this week.

Each day, between now and Friday, I will unpack a time management principle that has greatly impacted my life. Here’s the first one:

LEARN TO LIVE OFF PEAK

A couple of weeks ago, I violated this principle. I went shopping for a Mother’s Day gift on the Friday before Mother’s Day. Over lunch, I made my way from my office on W44th to Macy’s (the World’s Largest Department store – I do love living in NYC) down on W 34th St.

It was packed! What should have been a nice 30 – 45minute shopping experience turned into an hour and a half ordeal.

Living Off Peak means that when everyone else is doing a particular ‘something’ you are doing ‘something else.’ Since ‘everyone’ shops on the Friday before Mother’s day, you (and I!) should shop the week before. Make sense?

This means you:

- Never go to the post office or bank at lunch

- You avoid the DMV at the first of the month and the end of the month

On the flip side, it means you:

- Take the first doctor’s appointment of the morning

- Take the mid-morning or noon flight on Monday (to avoid the Monday AM rush)

- Arrive at the office before everyone else (to avoid the traffic and get in some uninterrupted work time!)

Once you start practicing this principle you will find dozens of ways to apply it. As church leaders there are a lot of things that we do not have control over, but one thing we can all do is learn to live off peak. This one principle probably saves me 3 – 4 hours per week.

Nelson

P.S. You will discover 33 other time management principles in my new resource. Click here to order Time Management for Busy Pastors

Make Progress – Be Unreasonable

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends upon the unreasonable man.”
– George Bernard Shaw, Playwright

Monday Proflections May 18 2008

This post is earlier than normal because I have a 6:05am flight into Orange County (I hate getting up early but I love getting an early start and avoiding the LaGuardia delays!).  This is a big week for Church Leader Insights as Roy is rolling out my NEW Time Management for Busy Pastors resource (no link yet, watch your email on Tuesday) and a fun week for me as I’m off to be with my former boss Rick Warren and a ton of my friends from the Purpose Driven Community.  Here’s a look at the week ahead:

Monday – Kerrick and I are flying to Orange County.  We are working on summer sermons on the plane (should be fun) and then we head to LA for some meetings and to catch a taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (my favorite of the late night shows – here’s one reason why).

Tuesday – Watch your email for my new Time Management for Busy Pastors resource.  We offered a presale to our key clients last week and the response was overwhelmingly positive!  I’ll be doing a 4 Part Series on Time Management here at the blog starting tomorrow to coincide with the release.  I’ll be at the PD Community Gathering at Saddleback Church thru Thursday – any one else attending?  Let’s definitely connect.

Wednesday – I’m teaching at the PD Community Gathering today.  I’ll be teaching on ‘discipleship’ and I’m sure I’ll find a way to work in my new book on small groups (ha!).

Thursday – Rick is teaching his latest insights on the P.E.A.C.E plan at the ‘non-conference’ today.  I can’t wait.  Later I’ll catch a midnight flight to Florida where I’ll be spending some open time with Kelley and Alexander (I hate midnight flights but I love having the extra day of vacation!).

Friday/Saturday – I’ll be out of touch for a few days on vacation but I’ve got some great posts scheduled for the blog, but more on that later.

Sunday – We are doing ONE BIG service this Sunday with everyone from Brooklyn, Jersey City and Manhattan coming together for one big worship service.  It begins with a preservice Worship Concert by Jason and his team and ends with Kerrick teaching on The Art of Gratefulness.  If you are dong multiple services or multi-site, its good to bring everyone together in one big place a few times a year.

Off to the security line and then to fight with Kerrick over the aisle seat, lets hope the plane isn’t too full!

Nelson

P.S. If you still haven’t downloading my “Maximizing Summer” resource for FREE, there’s still time.  Click here to find out how to get “Maximzing Summer” for free.

Co-Teaching A Message

Today I am co-teaching Message # 3 of our Tongue Pierced series with Kerrick. This is the first time we have co-taught together in quite a while, although before we went multi-site we used to do it quite a bit.

The #1 question we get about co-teaching is ‘how does it work?‘. This Sunday it works this way:  I’m doing the first 15min of the message, Kerrick will do the next 10min and I’ll come back and wrap it up.  Sometimes we do half and half but in general its good to have the person who ‘starts’ the message to ‘conclude’ the message, as it gives greater symmetry to the entire message.

Co-teaching a message with someone has its advantages:
- Multiple voices keep people more interested
- Multiple voices connect with a broader audience
- Less physically taxing that doing a message alone (especially when you are doing four in a row!)
- greater creativity
- more fun doing a message together

I’ve found that you can’t just co-teach with one. In general their style has to be 65% similar to yours (I talk pretty fast so they have to be comfortable talking fast too).

Finally, co-teaching is a great way to raise up a new teacher or to introduce a new teacher to your congregation.

I’m sure I’ll address this issue again in the future, but if you have any questions just comment below.

Off to the 10am service.

Nelson

P.S. Another key to effective co-teaching is to have your preaching calendar done way in advance so you have plenty of time to prepare to teach together.

The Breakthrough Company – Book Recommendation

Each month in the Church Leader Insights newsletter I recommend two books.  This month one of the books was:

THE BREAKTHROUGH COMPANY
How Everyday Companies Become Extraordinary Performers
by Keith R. McFarland

There are two diagrams in the book that have changed my leadership thinking forever. One is a diagram that shows how to move from start-up to mature organization and the other is a ladder that shows how your leadership style must develop as the organization (read: church) grows. In many ways this book is a ‘Good-To-Great-for-smaller-companies’ but the parallels to church leadership are just as relevant as those from Jim Collins.

Here’s just one quote:

‘However good you are—or think you are—you can’t do it alone. Learn how to surround your company with networks of outside resources, aka ‘scaffolding,’ and how to enlist the aid of ‘insultants’—people who are willing to question a firm’s existing assumptions and ways of doing business.’

Nelson Searcy

P.S. If you aren’t getting my free newsletter you are missing out on reviews/recommendations like this one plus six key articles each month to help you lead better.  You can sign-up for The Church Leader Insights Newsletter Here

The Myth of the Summer Slump

MYTH: Memorial Day is right around the corner. You know what that means… Low attendance. People head for the beach, the lake, or the kiddie pool in the backyard and leave you preaching to empty rows. Oh well, that’s the way the summer goes. Just hold on and count the days until fall. There’s not much you can do.

REALITY: Memorial Day is right around the corner. This is the perfect time to grow your church to the next level!

You have one week until summer (unofficially) begins. Are you ready?

At The Journey, we have grown every summer since our start in 2002. How? By choosing to take advantage of the freedom summer gives us to be creative! We have come to understand that summer is the perfect time to connect new attenders with the church, through creative outreach, creative messages, and creative small groups. So, while all of our regulars do their summer sunning, we are keeping our attendance consistent.

Just think about the effects of this approach when fall hits – All of your regular attenders will get back on track and all of the new people you started assimilating over the summer will be truly connected and ready to go deeper… That means a huge fall growth spurt! That means momentum! That means more people headed towards becoming fully developing followers of Jesus!

Or you can sit by the pool and wait for the leaves to start turning… The choice is yours, but here is my suggestion:

Plant this summer so you can reap the harvest in the fall!

- Nelson

P.S. – To learn more about how to creatively connect newcomers this summer, download our Maximizing Summer MP3 – use this code to get it for FREE: maxsummer
(Note: Coupon Expires 6/15/08)

Taking Off The Mask

Most pastors want to be perfect. But we can’t be. So what do we do instead? We try to make people think we are perfect. We put on the mask of perfection and go about our day, never letting anyone get too close. Because, if they did, they might see that we are actually (gasp) human. I hope no one minds if I quote Jim Morrison…

“That’s what real love amounts to – letting a person be what he really is… You get to love your pretense. We are locked in an image, an act. The most important freedom is to be who you really are.” – Jim Morrison

I would add that the most important freedom is to be who you are in Jesus. Thanks to what He has done, we don’t have to walk around pretending to have it all together. The people in our churches don’t want to see our act. They aren’t looking for a performance. They want and need to see leaders who are real people, complete with imperfections, transformed by and walking in grace.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I am not advocating that we air our dirty laundry for the world to see. I am simply saying that we don’t have to spend our days pretending to be something we are not. We don’t have to be perfect. We don’t have to keep people at arm’s length so that they won’t see the chips in our armor. Some of us need to work on being ourselves, authentically, all the time, no matter who we are with or what the circumstances. Let’s start leaving the mask at home. There is truly great freedom – and great love – in being every ounce of who God has created us to be for this moment in time.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory…” – Paul (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)