Last November I spoke at an event for Cornerstone Wealth Partners on how to maximize productivity and meaning in our work and lives in this knowledge work era.
I really enjoyed it, and I think this is one of my best summaries of Gospel-Driven Productivity in a single message so far.
That’s the title of the message I gave at The Summit Institute this spring. They are a fantastic ministry of Summit Church (North Carolina) that equips Christians to more effectively engage in the mission of God, especially through their work.
Check them out! You can watch the video on their site at the first link above, or here:
Gospel and Work | Matt Perman from The Summit Institute on Vimeo.
Leaders, do you ever feel like your workload is just too much? Is it difficult to know what to prioritize?
As a leader you’ve probably gathered great experience in a variety of work. You can probably generate a lot of activity and knock out a lot of tasks. But are you accomplishing the right things? Are you trying to do it all?
In this updated article, Matt Perman shares ways that you can accomplish more for your organization by doing less.
Download the free PDF to read later or share with your leadership team.
How do you get from where you are to where you want to be?
Many times there are obstacles in the way. You might know the goals you want to accomplish, but not be sure how to navigate the obstacles that plague our productivity. How do you overcome things like the urgency addiction, reactive workflow, procrastination, and distraction? What is the best way to manage your workflow, email, and meetings?
Or you might be stuck because you don’t have clarity on where you’re seeking to go at all. You might feel unbalanced in your life, or have a lack of direction and purpose. Or you might wonder what it means to truly do your work in a gospel-centered way–which is one of the most important issues surrounding our work today.
We have found that coaching is one of the best ways to overcome whatever productivity challenges you may be facing. Coaching helps you go further, faster. Why? Because of the outside input and encouragement that comes from a trained coach. Andy Stanley summarizes this so well in his book The Next Generation Leader:
You may be good. You may even be better than anyone else. But without outside input you will never be as good as you could be. We all do better when somebody is watching and evaluating.
That’s why we offer productivity coaching. We help you develop the confidence and skills to overcome the obstacles to your productivity and make the impact you are called to make–and do it in a God-centered, gospel-driven way.
Our coaching combines the What’s Best Next methodology with the approach to coaching taught at Columbia University Coaching, both of which are driven by research and evidence from global thought leaders and practitioners. It is professional productivity coaching to help you reach the next level.
We offer three types of coaching:
You can learn more about each of these options on our coaching page. And if you’re interested, contact us for more information on availability and costs.
It’s been awhile! We have redesigned our website and made updates to what we are doing as an organization that we’d love to share with you.
Website Updates
The first thing you might notice is that we now have a much-improved graphic look and organization for the site, making it easier to find and read content you are interested in.
The website also gives more information on What’s Best Next as an organization in the About section. Read especially about our mission, values, and what we mean by “gospel-driven productivity.”
You can also now more easily buy books in the store, and we have more products to come.
I am getting back to blogging again, so there will be new free content coming regularly again. Also, we will be posting new articles, messages, and videos to build out the resources section even more fully for you.
Updates on the Organization
As an organization, we have refined what we are about. Here is what we do: we provide resources and training to help you be more effective, in a God-centered way.
That’s what we do. Why do we do it? So that you can do your work with more peace of mind, greater effectiveness, and in a way that honors God and serves others most fully. That’s where the greatest fulfillment is found!
We will share more with you in the coming weeks on the new services and products we will be offering. To start, here are two key things we’re focusing on right now: workshops and coaching.
Book a Workshop
I’ve been doing keynote speaking and workshops for a while, but haven’t done much to promote them. Now we’re making it more widely known. Check out the speaking page to learn more about how to bring me in for staff training or another workshop.
Sign Up for Productivity Coaching
This is perhaps the biggest new thing. We have provided coaching for a while, but now we are giving it greater focus. We love doing it and have been seeing lives changed.
In a nutshell, reading and doing training are great. But the way to really take things to the next level is to apply gospel-driven productivity with the help of a coach. As Andy Stanley has said,
You will never maximize your potential in any area without coaching. It is impossible. You may be good. You may even be better than anyone else. But without outside input you will never be as good as you could be. We all do better when somebody is watching and evaluating (The Next Generation Leader, 104).
So we’re offering coaching and have begun training other coaches to expand our coaching over the next year. Learn more and let us know if you are interested!
Thanks for being a great website community over the years. We are excited about these new updates and offerings and can’t wait to serve you more fully.
Look for new content to begin rolling out next week, along with the launch of our new website, and a greater emphasis on our coaching and other services. We will also have updates on upcoming books, courses, and more!
This is a guest post by Tom Harper, author of Through Colored Glasses: How Great Leaders Reveal Reality. You can find more of his work at Biblical Leadership.
If you’ve ever taken a personality test, you’ve confirmed you have certain skills, traits, tendencies, ways of working, and eccentricities that make you you.
Those tests, however, only go so deep into who you really are. They can’t determine your hurts, fears, desires or goals; they don’t know what your night was like last night, or the family issue you may be dealing with.
This inner life, where all our thoughts and desires occur, could be called our “first self.” The second self is the one we consciously present to the world (especially in social media), hoping to receive approval. It’s got a little more of a shine to it.
There’s also a third self. We don’t know them very well. In fact, others know this person better than we do.
Colored-glass perception
People see each other through colored glasses. We filter, judge and label each other. Whether I’ve just met you, or have known you for years, I’ve got a biased impression of who you are. But in my mind, the person I perceive may or may not match your first or second selves.
The person I think you are is your third self. But there’s a problem. You can’t control my perception, not even on Facebook! I can’t see what’s in your heart all the time; I don’t know what kind of hurts or desires you may be harboring. I make assumptions about these things.
And that logically leads to another problem – you have a zillion third selves. Almost everyone that knows you has a slightly different perception of who you are. Their own filters and feelings sift your identity in ways outside your power.
People’s mistaken perceptions of each other can be devastating. Recently I overheard some people talking about me, and I have to say I was humbled. But it wasn’t that kind of humility when someone lavishes praise or attention – it was the kind that took me down a notch. It helped me see how some people perceive me, and it wasn’t pretty.
So how can we affect the way people perceive us?
Strategy #1: Develop a multifaceted personality
Though seeing ourselves through other people’s eyes is not easy, seasoned leaders shift and change various aspects of themselves, depending on what followers need or expect. Paul said, “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22).
This requires us to get in other people’s shoes and look through their colored glasses. When we attain at least some of their perspective, we can better understand their impressions and expectations of us. It helps us see blind spots or areas where we can improve.
Do we change who we are depending on who we’re with? Not at our core. We simply “become all things to all people,” for their benefit. Paul gave up his rights and customs in order to break down barriers. He risked his reputation to save people.
He never changed his beliefs or who he was in Christ, but he became a chameleon whenever he wanted to reach into people’s lives and help them become like him.
Strategy #2: Discipline your vision
Identifying with the pains and joys of others is a learned skill for me. But it is a discipline that has helped me in many interactions with employees, family members and friends.
Jesus saw the world around him through lenses of compassion. He saw into the heart of the demoniac, who just wanted to be free. He saw through the eyes of a promiscuous woman searching for spiritual truth. He saw with the eyes of the sick, the poor, and even the blind.
When we see from other people’s points of view, we find it easier to allow for their occasional bad moods, and to overlook their offenses. We can better serve them. We feel more compassion for them.
Adjusting our vision to look past people’s faults and offenses isn’t easy. But the more we do it, the more we see them as Jesus sees them.
Ironically, when we start doing this, people will start seeing us differently, too.
Unveiling your third self
How do we effectively get people to look past their preconceived notions and see who we really are?
As believers, we’re compelled to model ourselves after Jesus. He was a compassionate truth-teller unafraid to suffer for the benefit of others.
In your various roles and circles in life, who do people need you to be, for their benefit? How do you think they would like you to change? At times do you wish you were more relational, quieter, more passionate, or more self-controlled?
With God’s help, why can’t you become that person, inside and out?
If you’re a Christ-follower, the divine third Person – the Holy Spirit – is already in you, ready and waiting to start the process of change.
Ask him who you need to be in order to serve, help, comfort and lead better.
Ask him to help you emulate Christ, who became like us in order to save us.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, yet for your sake
he became poor, so that you
through his poverty might become rich.
– 2 Corinthians 8:9
This post is based on Through Colored Glasses: How Great Leaders Reveal Reality – A Leadership Fable, by Tom Harper (DeepWater Books, 2018). Available on Amazon and Audible.
We haven’t been posting new content as Matt focuses on finishing his next book and our small team works on some expanded coaching and training options.
We look forward to sharing more about these as soon as we can. In the meantime, we continue to schedule one-on-one coaching sessions.