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You are here: Home / 1 - Productivity / a Productivity Philosophy / The True Goal of a Planning System: Deciding What Not to Do

The True Goal of a Planning System: Deciding What Not to Do

December 18, 2008 by Matt Perman

That title may be a bit of an overstatement. But there is a fundamental truth here: The main challenge is not to figure out how to get through a task list of 1,000 things. The main challenge is that there are constantly hundreds of things that are trying to pull us away from what we should be doing, from what is most important.

Most of those are good things. But if you attend to all of them, you will not be able to focus your efforts on what is truly most important for you to be doing at the present time — the present day, current week, current month, current year.

Having everything captured in a well-organized system that you review regularly allows you to see, within those things, what is most important. And, therefore, which things need to be chopped off so that you can truly, effectively, get those most important things done.

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What’s Best Next exists to help you achieve greater impact with your time and energy — and in a gospel-centered way.

We help you do work that changes the world. We believe this is possible when you reflect the gospel in your work. So here you’ll find resources and training to help you lead, create, and get things done. To do work that matters, and do it better — for the glory of God and flourishing of society.

We call it gospel-driven productivity, and it’s the path to finding the deepest possible meaning in your work and the path to greatest effectiveness.

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About Matt Perman

Matt Perman started What’s Best Next in 2008 as a blog on God-centered productivity. It has now become an organization dedicated to helping you do work that matters.

Matt is the author of What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done and a frequent speaker on leadership and productivity from a gospel-driven perspective. He has led the website teams at Desiring God and Made to Flourish, and is now director of career development at The King’s College NYC. He lives in Manhattan.

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