What's Best Next

  • Newsletter
  • Our Mission
  • Free Resource
  • Contact
  • Coaching
    • Center for Coaching
    • 2-HOUR DARE
    • Our Coaches
  • Speaking
  • Store
    • Online Store
    • Cart
    • My Account
  • Resources
    • Productivity
    • Leadership
    • Management
    • Web Strategy
    • Book Extras
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Our Core Values
    • Our Approach to Productivity
    • Our Staff
    • Contact
You are here: Home / 2012 / Archives for April 2012

Archives for April 2012

Does Listening to Music While You Work Hurt Your Productivity?

April 30, 2012 by Matt Perman

For the last few months, I’ve started listening to music more because I’m mostly working from my basement. Here are my informal conclusions on whether listening to music helps or hurts your productivity.

First, it depends on what kind of work you are doing. For some kinds of work, it doesn’t hinder your productivity at all and makes it more pleasant. Obviously.

Second (and this is the important point), I’ve found that for intensive work that requires focus and great concentration, listening to music keeps me from getting into the zone and thus causes my work to take a lot longer. Further, there are some breakthroughs that probably don’t happen because of the fact that you aren’t able to concentrate fully — thus decreasing the quality of your work.

This happens in spite of intentions, and you largely have no control over it. In other words, even if you have high energy and are ready to get into the zone, music will often prevent it from happening.

This applies only to music with words, and there are of course some exceptions. But in the main, I’ve found that if I need to get dialed in and concentrate, music with words is a big stumbling block.

That’s what I’ve found. What have you found?

Filed Under: f Execute

A Few Odd, Possibly Advanced, Yet Simple Tips for Writers

April 29, 2012 by Matt Perman

A few random tips for those who write long things (namely, books), gathered or reinforced from my own experience in writing What’s Best Next: 

1. Starting is often the hardest thing

The best way to start is to just start. That is, don’t wait for a special burst of energy or insight — though, when those things do come, seize them to their max.

2. You have to jump start yourself in the moment of performance

That’s a quote a read somewhere a few years ago. It’s a helpful reminder. When you just start (point 1) and don’t have the burst of energy or creativity, you don’t simply go into your writing cold. You jump start yourself, like starting a car in a freezing Minnesota winter.

To jump start yourself, there are many things you can do. Pray, read some of the Scriptures, do jumping jacks (to get your physical energy up), read a few pages in an author you find inspiring like Seth Godin, review your notes, or do a number of other things. To “just start” doesn’t mean you don’t warm up.

3. Don’t bury the lead

Lead with your most important points rather than starting with something less relevant or irrelevant in an attempt to build up to your most important point. Burying the lead is one of the greatest temptations in writing.

The one exception: John Piper does a great job in many of his books of creating a problem and then resolving it. That’s helpful and interesting and memorable. In those cases, the most important point is the resolution that comes after the problem has developed, which is typically half way through the chapter or so. But even in these cases, you need to start with something super relevant and helpful; the lead in this case should often be the interesting problem you are raising.

More could be said, but these are the top ones that come to mind right now.

(By the way, I call these “advanced” because, although you can easily know these things right from the start, you don’t truly get them until you’ve been through it!)

Filed Under: Writing

The Five Cs of a Healthy Vision Statement

April 26, 2012 by Matt Perman

A great post from Dave Kraft’s blog. They are:

  1. Concise
  2. Clear
  3. Communicated
  4. Compelling
  5. Contagious

 

Filed Under: b Vision

Chuck Colson Resource Page

April 25, 2012 by Matt Perman

The Acton Institute has put together a resource page on Chuck Colson. They write:

From the earliest days of the Acton Institute, Charles W. “Chuck” Colson was a staunch supporter and dear friend to many. On this page, we have gathered a variety of content including speeches, interviews with Acton publications and multimedia. As Prison Fellowship Ministries and the Colson Center put it, in a joint statement,  “Chuck’s life is a testimony to God’s power to forgive, redeem, and transform.”

The page also has an excellent, 8.5 minute video the Acton Institute did on the life of Chuck Colson.

Filed Under: Worldview

Be Ambitious AND Humble

April 25, 2012 by Matt Perman

Keith Ferrazzi has a good post summarizing a study IBM recently did to identify the traits of their highest impact employees.

Their findings were very interesting. Here’s how Ferrazzi summarizes them:

The term originated in an IBM study that sought to identify the traits of their most high-impact employees. Turns out that ambition alone is mediocre; ambition plus intellectual humility is the winning combination.

Read the whole thing.

Filed Under: a Leadership Style

3 Levels of Impact

April 23, 2012 by Matt Perman

  1. Do no damage
  2. Get people to care
  3. Change the way people see the world

Filed Under: 3 - Leadership

Thankful for Chuck Colson

April 21, 2012 by Matt Perman

Ed Stetzer has good reflections on his life, and Sarah Pulliam Bailey has written a good obituary at Christianity Today.

Here’s part of it:

Before his conversion to Christianity, Colson was described as an aggressive political mastermind who drank heavily, chain smoked, and smeared opponents. He served as special counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973 before he was indicted on Watergate-related charges, which led to a 7-month prison term. After his conversion experience, he published Born Again, helping popularize the term many evangelicals use to self-identify.

Colson’s public commitment to his faith drew initial skepticism from those who wondered whether he was attempting to profit from a conversion narrative. Criticism faded over time with his 30-plus years of commitment to prison ministry.

“The most important takeaway is that he was a specimen of God’s amazing grace, one of the most remarkable in modern times,” said Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University. “Over time, he proved to the whole world that this is the real thing.”

Filed Under: Worldview

Great Apps to Check Out for Getting Things Done

April 21, 2012 by Matt Perman

Apple has brought together a helpful collection of some of the best apps for getting things done:

  • iPhone apps (opens in iTunes)
  • iPad apps (opens in iTunes)

What I use:

  • Keeping track of notes/ideas: Evernote
  • Capturing quick notes when Evernote feels too cumbersome: Apple Notes (native on the iPhone and iPad — super easy to use)
  • Calendar: iCal (native on the iPhone and iPad)
  • Action and project lists: OmniFocus or Things
  • Action lists, as a helpful supplement: Reminders (native on the iPhone and iPad)

And worth taking a closer look at:

  • Things (I used this for a time)
  • Remember the Milk
  • Do it (Tomorrow): Looks interesting
  • Calvetica Calendar: Looks intriguing
  • PlainText: Looks as simple as Apple’s Notes app, with the added benefit that you can actually organize things
  • MindNode: For mindmapping. Currently I use MindJet MindManager

Filed Under: Productivity Tools

The Pens You Should Get

April 21, 2012 by Matt Perman

Having pens you actually like to use makes all of your work go better. And even though we do so much digitally now, there is still a place for pens because some notes are best captured by hand and, beyond that, there are all sorts of occasions throughout the day when we need to physically write.

One of my pet peeves is pens that are annoying to use. Some pens skip a lot, while other pens leak out too much ink. So a few years ago I bought a bunch of different kinds of pens and compared them to find a pen that I actually like to use.

Here’s what I recommend: Uni-ball Vision Elite Stick Micro Point Roller Ball Pens, 3 Black Ink Pens. (You can also get them in a 24-pack.)

If you have these, there is no need for any other pen. They are awesome.

For more on why pens matter, the single most important rule in choosing pens, and the qualities of a good pen, see my post on Recommended Pens.

Filed Under: Productivity Tools

Lost Conversations from Steve Jobs' Best Years

April 20, 2012 by Matt Perman

From the latest issue of Fast Company. Here’s the summary:

A treasure trove of unearthed interviews, conducted by the writer who knew him best, reveals how Jobs’s ultimate success at Apple can be traced directly to his so-called wilderness years.

By the way, if you aren’t a subscriber to Fast Company, you need to be. It gives the best insight on the new world of work, and shows how work is not supposed to be boring or constrained.

You won’t regret subscribing, and there’s no excuse not to. And, you need to subscribe to the actual physical magazine, because it is much more fun than just reading it online (and it’s easier to remember, in my view at least). Plus, with any print subscriptions you now get their iPad app so you can read it digitally each month if you prefer.

Filed Under: Business Philosophy

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »

About

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.

Learn More

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.

Learn more about Matt

Newsletter

Subscribe for exclusive updates, productivity tips, and free resources right in your inbox.

The Book


Get What’s Best Next
Browse the Free Toolkit
See the Reviews and Interviews

The Video Study and Online Course


Get the video study as a DVD from Amazon or take the online course through Zondervan.

The Study Guide


Get the Study Guide.

Other Books

Webinars

Follow

Follow What's Best next on Twitter or Facebook
Follow Matt on Twitter or Facebook

Foundational Posts

3 Questions on Productivity
How to Get Your Email Inbox to Zero Every Day
Productivity is Really About Good Works
Management in Light of the Supremacy of God
The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards in Categories
Business: A Sequel to the Parable of the Good Samaritan
How Do You Love Your Neighbor at Work?

Recent Posts

  • How to Learn Anything…Fast
  • Job Searching During the Coronavirus Economy
  • Ministry Roundtable Discussion on the Pandemic with Challies, Heerema, Cosper, Thacker, and Schumacher
  • Is Calling Some Jobs Essential a Helpful Way of Speaking?
  • An Interview on Coronavirus and Productivity

Sponsors

Useful Group

Posts by Date

Posts by Topic

Search Whatsbestnext.com

Copyright © 2023 - What's Best Next. All Rights Reserved. Contact Us.