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Productivity Tip: Ask “What’s Best Next?”

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“What’s best next” is both a statement and a question (and it’s a productivity tip in and of itself).

“What’s best next” is first of all a statement about that which is best next, which is doing the will of the Lord.

What is the Lord’s will in our daily work? We know that ultimately what Jesus wants from us is love (Matthew 22:37-40), so that’s always what’s best next. All of our productivity needs to be grounded in love—first, in terms of our motives (seeking the good of others) but also in terms of how we make decisions at all.

This is often overlooked: love isn’t just our motive in what we do, it’s also a guiding principle by which we decide what to do. What is best for the other person? That’s the question love asks, and it’s the guiding principle of true productivity. We don’t make choices based on what’s best for ourselves next, we make the welfare of others the motive and criterion for deciding what to do.

And so “what’s best next” is also a question we can use to help guide us. We can’t do everything that might possibly be next. We need to do what’s best next. A core principle for getting things done is to do what’s most important first. So when you have a thousand things to do, slow down and ask “what’s best next?” Then do that. Likewise, don’t do what’s easiest next; do what’s best next.

“What’s best next?” is a question you can continually use to guide your daily work.

Collaboration is More than “Everyone Plays Their Part”

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You’re likely working with other people to produce or create something this week.

God has put us in this together—different skills and experiences coming together to accomplish way more than we could accomplish on our own.

As Christians, we understand this at a foundational level. We know the call to use our different gifts to serve as “good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). Or how, in the body of Christ, “the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you'” (1 Corinthians 12:21).

We believe deeply in coming together for a common mission, and we want the benefits that come from strong collaboration, whether in our church or our workplace.

But in practice we can miss out. More than that, we can experience tension or even conflict with our teammates when we approach “teamwork” or “collaboration” in different ways without realizing it.

As I’ve led and worked in different teams over the years, I’ve noticed two basic levels of collaboration and the challenges that come when we apply collaboration differently.

Here’s what I mean:

Level 1 collaboration looks something like this: 
  • “Everyone needs to play their part for us to do this well.”
  • “I’m responsible for making this decision.”
  • “You do this, I’ll do that, and together we can make a big difference.”
Level 2 collaboration, on the other hand, looks more like this:
  • “You’ve only been here a few weeks, but I really want your perspective.”
  • “Can I suggest another way to think about it before we make that policy shift?”
  • “I read about this new software. Wanted to make sure you knew about it…”
  • “That’s my idea. How can we make this stronger?”

We can limit our productivity as a team if we operate solely in Level 1. And we can actually be counter-productive when some of the team are operating in the former and others are aiming for the latter.

Level 1 collaboration has it’s place, but don’t settle for that. Level 2 collaboration is where the really good stuff happens.

To Be Productive is to Be Fruitful in Good Works

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What Does God Want Done?

Good works. What God wants done are good works.

We see this right in Matthew 5:16, where Jesus sums up for us the entire purpose of our lives: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

That is the purpose of the Christian life summed up for us in one sentence. The entire purpose of our lives—what God wants from us—is to do good for others, to the glory of God.

We also see this in one of the most important passages on productivity in the Bible—Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing: it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Likewise, Titus 2:14 tells us that Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” And Jesus says in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.”

Being Fruitful in Good Works

Hence, good works are part of the purpose of our salvation. In one sense we have been doubly created for good works. God created us to do good works, as we see in the creation mandate in Genesis, and here we see that we are also re-created in Christ to do good works.

Productive things, then, are things that do good. Productivity always has to be understood in relation to a goal, and God’s goal is that we do good works.

Hence, we can define productivity in this way: to be productive is to be fruitful in good works. 

Adapted from What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done.

 

Productivity Tip: Pay Attention to Your Desk Setup

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Your desk setup can make a big difference.

Having a well-designed “cockpit” is an overlooked secret of some of the most productive people.

From the November 2015 issue of Fast Company:

People with neat offices are more persistent and less frustrated and weary, according to a recent study in Harvard Business Review, which found that a clean desk helps you stick with a task more than one and a half times longer. “While it can be comforting to relax in your mess, a disorganized environment can be a real obstacle,” says Grace Chae, a professor at Fox School of Business at Temple University and coauthor of the study.

For more on the principles and practices for making your desk work for you, and how all of this relates to serving people, see Matt’s book How to Set Up Your Desk:A Guide to Fixing a (Surprisingly) Overlooked Productivity Problem (available on Amazon or WhatsBestNext.com)

 

Developing a Christian Worldview

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As Christians, we are called to engage the culture, not retreat from it. In order to do this effectively (and winsomely, avoiding spiritual weirdness), we need to understand how to develop a Christian worldview.

Philip Graham Ryken’s booklet What is the Christian Worldview is the best short read on how to do this. It outlines the four basic components of the Christian worldview—creation, fall, redemption, and restoration—and shows how they apply to every area of life.

This book gives a good basis for understanding the framework for thinking Christianly about anything, so that you can then apply the framework to your own specific callings.

 

Productivity Tip: Counteracting Groupthink in Meetings

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In our organizations today, we spend significant time conducting and participating in meetings. This isn’t all bad, of course, as good meetings hold the potential for generating new ideas, aligning teams around a common purpose, and moving projects forward.

But when it comes to collaborative meetings, there are some common obstacles that hinder team productivity. The tendency of groupthink, for example. Or assuming that a more experienced colleague has the best idea (or the other way around). Or the respected leader who gives their opinion too soon, affecting the freedom others feel to share their perspective.

Today’s productivity tip is for the leader who’s aware of such tendencies and wants to avoid them. 

This comes from Daniel Kahneman’s popular book Thinking Fast and Slow. In a chapter on jumping to conclusions, Kahneman writes: 

Before an issue is discussed, all members of the committee should be asked to write a very brief summary of their position. This procedure makes good use of the value of the diversity of knowledge and opinion in the group. The standard practice of open discussion gives too much weight to the opinions of those who speak early and assertively, causing others to line up behind them.

I think this is really wise, even if it wouldn’t make sense in every meeting context.

If you’re responsible for facilitating meetings, try weaving something like this in where you can, especially for strategic planning, creative brainstorming, and other meetings where you need to leverage the gifts of the whole team.

We want the best ideas to win out, not just those that come from the most senior, the most confident, or the most savvy.

Is It Even Possible to Have a Christian View of Productivity?

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Is it possible to have a Christian view of productivity? Is it even wise?

If we’re going to think of our productivity explicitly in relation to God, we need to answer this question. There’s no use trying to develop solutions to problems which are impossible and thus doomed from the outset.

It makes sense for there to be a Christian perspective on prayer. But on getting things done? How can that be?

Considering a seemingly secular subject like productivity in relation to God makes some people uneasy (Christians as well as non-Christians), in part because Christians have made some awkward mistakes when trying to think Christianly about secular subjects. 

Some wonder whether it’s possible at all, others think it alienates Christians and non-Christians on an issue where we should have common ground, and others think we’ll end up ruining the Bible by “importing” secular thinking onto it.

A friend of mine once said to me: “I started doing my Ph.D. on the issue of how Christianity and culture relate, and I concluded that it’s almost impossible to figure it out.” (I think he changed subjects.) 

But we have to figure it out, because as Christians, we have to live in this world. That means we have to know how our faith relates to everyday things like productivity—let alone all the other fields of knowledge and vocations we live among and interact with all day.

Fortunately, we can figure it out. The Bible has clear teaching on this matter, and it’s not that complicated. We don’t have to settle for any of the three options above, and I think it’s easy to see why. Further, seeing this is exciting—and, more to the point, practically helpful for Christians and non-Christians.

Wrong Turns

We do have to admit that there have been many attempts to create “Christian” versions of things that are downright strange. I was in a truck stop once which featured a t-shirt that said “Faithbook: Jesus wants to put you in his book.” That’s just plain odd.

That’s one reason why I’m not a fan of creating “Christian” versions of everything in popular culture. We don’t need to create a “God’s Book” social networking site just because non-Christians invented Facebook. We should use and enjoy the good gifts of God’s common grace right along with non-Christians, and do so in ways that are natural and real, rather than coated with a veneer of artificial spirituality.

Trying to force a “Christian” way on something that is learned from observation and which just plain works is spiritual weirdness. It’s wrong, and we need to avoid it. When I fill gas in my car, there is no specifically Christian way to do that, and to create one would be strange.

Further, we can unnecessarily alienate non-Christians by presenting a Christian perspective on things that are largely in the secular arena. For example, there isn’t a specific Christian way to do heart surgery, and to attempt to create one would likely alienate all sorts of good doctors. 

On the other hand, the Bible does speak to all of life, and we aren’t allowed to segment our faith into a special category as though it has nothing to do with seemingly secular things—including heart surgery or filling gas or, in our case here, productivity.

So what is the right way to think Christianly about secular subjects?

How to Think Christianly About Secular Subjects

The brief answer is that, as Christians, our faith changes motives and foundations, but not necessarily the methods we use.

So a Christian doctor and non-Christian doctor will likely go about heart surgery in the same way, using the best practices of the field and their training. Both will also seek the good of the patient, rather their own ends. But the Christian has an additional motive—loving God and seeking to serve him. This is a difference that is fundamental, but which can’t necessarily be seen.

That’s not always the only difference—sometimes there are variations in our methods (for example, the Christian doctor will likely pray before the surgery)—but it is the main difference.

The other change our faith makes is that it puts our work on a different foundation. We look to God for power to do all we do, including our work, and act not out of a desire to gain his acceptance but because we already have it in Christ.

With respect to productivity, then, we will likely use many of the same best practices as non-Christians for things like processing workflow or facilitating effective meetings. But when it comes to the motive and foundation of our productivity, the gospel brings in some radical transformations.

That’s the brief answer, though much more could be said.

The upshot is this: thinking Christianly about a subject doesn’t lead to the rejection of good common sense or separating from the world so we can do our “Christian thing.” Christians and non-Christians can have real common ground on a subject, without having to ignore the differences that faith brings about.

Not only can we live and work productively with those who do not share our faith perspective, we can learn much from one another and help each other in these important areas that affect all of us.