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How to be Awesome at Your Job

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I was on Pete Mockaitis’s How to be Awesome at Your Job podcast the other day, and really enjoyed it. You can listen below or at the website, where you will also find helpful links to the various books mentioned and some relevant previous episodes (for example, his episode with David Allen).

Pete is doing great work and I highly recommend his website and podcast for specific, actionable insights that will boost your work performance.

Here’s a summary of the show:

Matt Perman explains how to tell the difference between important tasks and urgent tasks, and how to make room for what’s important in your life and work.

You’ll Learn:

  1. Why you should plan your day with your time, not your tasks
  2. Four tips for effective personal management
  3. Two ways to prioritize like a pro

337: Choosing the Important Over the Urgent with Matt Perman

 

 

Lifetime Value and Business Courtesy

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This is a basic marketing principle which Seth Godin summarizes very well. Seems obvious, but it is often overlooked!

If an Apple upgrade breaks your phone and you switch to Android, it costs Apple more than $10,000.

If you switch supermarkets because a clerk was snide with you, it removes $50,000 from the store’s ongoing revenue.

If a kid has a lousy first grade teacher or is bullied throughout middle school, it might decrease his productivity for the rest of us by a million dollars.

Torrents are made of drips.

The short-term impact (plus or minus) of our work or our errors is dwarfed by the long-term effects. Compounded over time, little things become big things.

In other words, courtesy and generosity are not only good for business — they are essential for business when you look at things from the long-term perspective.

How to Fix People’s Perception of You: Guest Post by Tom Harper

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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 Don’t Work to Earn God’s Favor: Message from RightNow Media’s Work as Worship Conference

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This goes back a couple years. I just came across online the message I gave at the 2015 Work as Worship Conference.

Here is a summary of the message I gave and, I believe maybe if you log in, the audio.

Here’s the message description:

Business leaders hold a critical place in the world because work serves as one of the chief means God uses to change culture. Because of this, work carries tremendous value in the life of every Christ follower. In this 29-minute session from the 2015 Work as Worship Conference, Matt Perman, author and founder of WhatsBestNext.com, speaks on the significance of accomplishing work in a gospel-centered way.

The Worldview Study Bible

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The Worldview Study Bible raises this insightful issue:

“Christians must be different from the world.” Whenever we hear this statement in sermons or read it in books, we usually think about our behavior, right? We nod our heads and think, Yes, our actions must set us apart! But there’s another application of this statement that is equally important. Christians must be different from the world in the way we think.

That is a fantastic point. But how are we to develop our thinking as Christians? The new Worldview Study Bible is one tool to help—and it succeeds admirably.

The first way it succeeds is in showing the importance of intentionally developing our worldview as Christians. Everyone has a worldview, it points out. So we need to take to the task of developing an accurate, truthful, and biblical worldview.

Further, worldview is not only a matter of thought. It also aids our spiritual transformation and shows us how to live—and is actually essential for doing so (Romans 12:2). Trevin Wax, one of the general editors, makes this point in his article for the study Bible, “An Introduction to a Christian Worldview”:

God left us with something better than a simple list of commands. He gave us renewed minds that–through the power of his Spirit–will be able to discern what actions we should take. He is seeking to transform us so that we can determine God’s will in particular situations where explicit instructions are not spelled out in Scripture.

From even just a short time with this study Bible, I have been renewed in my conviction of the importance of biblical, worldview thinking.

Second, this study Bible succeeds in equipping us to develop an accurate worldview on the specific issues that are most facing us today. It is highly relevant to our era, and deals with the issues concisely, powerfully, and biblically.

It does this, of course, through the study notes. But especially noteworthy are the various articles spread throughout the Bible. These articles are simply fantastic. And, as I mentioned, they cover the relevant issues of our day, and are unique in the broad spectrum that they address. Some of the articles include:

  • “How Should Christians Relate to Government”
  • “Textual Criticism”
  • “The Incarnation of Jesus Christ”
  • “Ethics of Global Missions”
  • “Chief Purpose of Humanity”
  • “A Biblical View of Work”
  • “Language and Meaning”
  • “A Biblical View of Music”
  • “The Bible and Creation Care”
  • “The Crisis of the Christian Mind”

The Bible also has great introductions that highlight the main worldview contributions of each book, the CSB translation it utilizes is good (using an optimal equivalence translation philosophy, which affirms formal equivalence while addressing its limits), and is well put-together, with Smyth-sewn binding.

There are lots of study Bibles out there. This one stands apart!

Update: LifeWay.com currently has the Worldview Study Bible available at a 50% discount for the next few days.

What’s Best Next received this Bible for free in exchange for our honest review. 

 

Do Less, Then Obsess

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People often say that “doing less” and “saying no” is the key to productivity. But this advice actually doesn’t work — unless you include with it the necessary corollary.

When you do that, you have perhaps the guiding concept for being effective.

What Does Jesus Mean When He Says “Hate Your Life”?

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“Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25).

I don’t think he means that we are supposed to engage in self-sabatoge to make our life harder than it has to be.

For example, I heard of a charity in the developing world once that refused to have a hot water heat put in, even though donors had fully provided for it, because they believed that there was extra virtue in having to put up with just having cold water.

That’s not the meaning of hate your life!

Instead, I think what Jesus means is that following his commands is hard. Which means that, at one point or another, there is going to be a cost to it.

As a result, sometimes when we follow his commands, life will go “less well” for us in this world. It will look like we hate our lives. Because we do in the sense that Jesus intends here — we love them less than him. And so whenever there is a conflict between what he commands and what will go better for us, we follow his commands. And we do this, if necessary, even to the pointing of losing our lives in martyrdom (Revelation 12:11).

Now, let’s apply this to productivity. “Hating your life” does not mean you don’t seek to grow your business as much as you can, or that you don’t seek to advance in your career. Rather, it means that you do so in line with Jesus’ commands. That will often involve sacrifice. But you don’t sacrifice for its own sake.

To go back to the example of the charity. If there was another charity nearby that needed a hot water heater, and only one was available, it certainly would be right and good for them to say “give it to them — we will continue to do without.” That’s Christian love (Philippians 2:4ff).

But to refuse the increased productivity and better tool out of some principle that advancing and having better tools is not healthy and good — that is not what Jesus is talking about.

For more on this, see John Piper’s devotional “How to Hate Your Life.”

Introducing Email Coaching

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We have an exciting new offering: email productivity coaching.

We’ve been doing in-person and phone coaching for over a year now, and it’s been going great. For example, one person said: “I highly recommend What’s Best Next coaching. Our pastoral team had read the books and blogs, but there’s something different about the precision that came with personal interaction.”

Another said: “From his attentive listening and understanding to his exceptional business acumen, my What’s Best Next coach has proven to be an excellent resource for anyone looking to improve in their life and business.”

Books or seminars can be helpful, but they don’t always address your unique situation—or provide the accountability and feedback to get through the blocks and to the next level. That’s why we offer coaching.

But what if you don’t have the time or funds to commit to one of our traditional coaching packages? Or what if you just have a few key questions you want to ask, or many questions over a period of time and at your own pace?

Enter Email Coaching

That’s where our new email coaching comes in.

Ask us your questions or tell us about the situation you’re looking for counsel on, and one of our experienced coaches will send you thoughtful responses and recommendations that you can refer back to as you go forward. And once you’re signed up, you can ask all the follow up questions you want throughout the month at no additional cost.

Benefits include:

  • Convenient. Submit questions on your own time. Responses in 2 business days.
  • Affordable. A lower priced option than our phone and in-person coaching.
  • Custom responses. Personalized advice from the best productivity research, and from a gospel-centered perspective, for your situation.
  • Extra resources. We have a bunch of content that has not been posted on the blog or published. When it’s relevant, we’ll send this out along with the personal answers to your questions.

Learn more on our new email coaching page and sign up!

Productivity, the Gospel, and the City

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Last week I blogged about the upcoming conference, The Gospel and Our Cities. I’m excited for it because I love the three things it is about: the gospel, cities, and gospel movements.

But since the focus of this blog is productivity, we need to ask this question: What do cities, the gospel, and productivity have to do with one another?

Everything.

In fact, if we don’t connect cities to our understanding of how the gospel advances, we will be much less productive in our work and ministry.

Productive Christians Care About All of Society
First, we need to understand the in the Christian view, productivity is not just about our own effectiveness and peace of mind. Rather, a gospel-minded Christian also cares about their community and all of society. Our aim is not just (or chiefly) to make ourselves better off; our aim is to see society better off because the greatest command is to love God with your whole heart and your neighbor as yourself. Further, our concern for the surrounding culture is holistic: we want to both serve the common good and see the gospel advance.

How are we doing with this?

Christians Are Not Being Productive Enough in Serving the Culture
We might think we are doing well. But in To Change the World, James Davidson Hunter argues that, as Christians, our impact is far less than our numbers would lead one to expect. There are more than 50 million evangelicals in the United States, and more than 86% of Americans have some type of faith commitment. Yet, as he points out, “our culture — business culture, law and government, the academic world, popular entertainment — is intensely materialistic and secular.”

In other words, in spite of our numbers, we are not being “productive” in serving and renewing the culture. Our impact is far less than you would expect from our numbers.

Why is that?

To Change This, We Need to Reach Cities
It’s because, contrary to popular belief, culture is not simply the result of the number of people who hold to a certain view. Rather, culture is created in networks and institutions. Hence, you cannot change culture if you are absent from those networks and institutions. Since evangelicals are largely absent from the centers where culture is created, our impact on the culture has been small — even though our numbers are very large.

This is one reason it is crucial that more Christians move into cities and work in cities. For, as Tim Keller argues in “To Transform a City”:

People who live in large urban cultural centers, occupying jobs in the arts, business, academia, publishing, the helping professions, and the media, tend to have a disproportionate impact on how things are done in our culture.

Hence, if as Christians we are going to have a greater impact on the culture, we need to have an impact on the city.

Our Aim is Holistic Impact
What kind of impact do we want to have on the city? We don’t believe in imposing a Christian worldview. Rather, as mentioned earlier, our aim is twofold: to further the common good and advance the gospel. When it comes to the common good, the aim is to make things better socially and economically, as well as in the spiritual dimension. To bring justice, truth, beauty, respect, and generosity more to bear in all aspects of life. Leading from respect and service rather than command and control; making more usability products; and treating employees with generosity and trust are all examples of things that further the common good.

When it comes to the advance of the gospel, this means more people coming to faith in Christ and following him fully. This matters in itself — it is not simply for the goal of culture change. But it will have an impact on the culture when people come to faith and see that faith relates to all of life, and is not just individual pietism.

So the impact we seek to have is more people coming to faith and, in turn, living out their faith holistically in all of life — including in the institutions where culture is shaped and formed. Further, this cannot happen to a large extent across the nation if we ignore cities. For cities is where most of the people are, and cities are where most culture is forged.

It Takes a Gospel Movement to Reach a City
How can we do better at reaching cities with the gospel? In his article “What is God’s Global Urban Mission?” (get it by subscribing to the City to City conference mailing list at the conference website), Tim Keller notes:

What it takes to reach a city is a city-wide gospel movement, which means the number of Christians across the city is growing faster than the population, and therefore, a growing percentage of the people of that city are connecting with gospel-centered churches and are finding faith in Jesus Christ. That will eventually have an impact on the whole life of the city. That’s what I mean by a city-wide gospel movement.

In other words, it takes more than just one church or a few committed Christians to reach a city. It takes a movement of Christians, including churches of all kinds of denominations and styles.

How Do You Build a Gospel Movement in Your City?
That’s where I think we need to do a lot more work as Christians.

A great place to start is by attending Redeemer City to City’s upcoming fall conference, The Gospel and Our Cities. It is in Chicago this October 18-20. By attending, you will not only learn about the city, creating gospel movements, urban challenges, faith and work, and more; you will also have a chance to meet others in your city and develop the networks necessary for a gospel movement to start.

The way we are serving and renewing the culture right now is not very productive, because it de-emphasizes the place of the city and gospel movements. It’s time to learn the more productive approach of reaching cities through gospel movements. 

That’s how a concern for productivity and the gospel leads to a concern for cities and gospel movements.

Register at the website, and use the code “chicago” to save an extra $25 before June 4!

This is a sponsored post for The Gospel and Our Cities: Chicago 2018