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.
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.
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.
When most people think of productivity, they think of efficiency—getting more things done in less time. It seems logical. If you have a lot to do, your tendency is to speed up.
Surprisingly, if efficiency is your first and primary goal, it might actually undermine productivity. Here are five reasons why:
Here is the great irony: defining productivity mainly in terms of immediate measurable results undermines measurable results in the long run. So productivity is not first about getting more things done faster, it’s about getting the right things done.
What steps do you need to take to prioritize productivity over efficiency?
This post was adapted from Chapter 2 of What’s Best Next.
Everything you do can become an agent for good. The activities of our everyday lives are themselves part of the good works God created us for in Christ (Ephesian 2). And, therefore, they have great meaning. Don’t just try to get things done; seek to serve others to the glory of God in everything you do.
Doing good work also doesn’t just happen accidentally. We have to be intentional in making plans for the welfare of others. And then we have to be proactive in carrying those plans out.
Note Ephesians 5:15–17: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
We are not to breeze through life, but to “look carefully” at how we walk. We don’t just walk through a store with our eyes closed, buying whatever we touch, and expect it to turn into a wardrobe. Nor should we do that with our time and opportunities. We are to “make the most” of the time. The time doesn’t make the most of itself; we are to take back the time from poor uses and turn it to good uses.
Let us plan to do good with the time we’ve been given today.
For more, see Chapter 4 and 5 in What’s Best Next.
No man has a right to be idle . . . where is it in such a world as this that health, and leisure, and affluence may not find some ignorance to instruct, some wrong to redress, some want to supply, some misery to alleviate? – William Wilberforce
It makes no sense for us to live in a society of abundance while half the world lives in great need, and not be diligent and creative and eager to figure out ways to use our abundance to help meet those needs.
When we look around and see our comfort, privilege, and affluence, we shouldn’t fall into the trap of asking “how can I get more of this?” As Kingdom-minded Christians, our first thought should be: “how can I use this technology/money/time to serve—especially those in greatest need?”
That’s the gospel-driven productivity William Wilberforce gave his life to.
Beginning this Thursday night and continuing for 8 weeks, my wife and I are doing a series for skeptics and interested Christians called Questioning Christianity.
If you are in the Kansas City area, we would love for you to join us! And if you can, bring an unbelieving friend or two. We will be exploring the biggest challenges to the Christian faith, and we encourage people to bring their toughest questions. Our goal is to create a safe space where people can talk about the difficulties they have with Christianity, while showing that there is solid evidence for the Christian faith.
Here are the details:
What is Questioning Christianity?
Questioning Christianity is an 8-week series where you can bring your biggest doubts, questions, and challenges with the Christian faith. This is a safe space where there is no judgment for disagreeing and honest dialogue is welcome.
We will begin with a brief presentation addressing a specific challenging question or looking at the evidence for Christianity, followed by an interactive Q&A.
Some of the issues we will look at include:
These are questions that are central to life and which many people wonder about. But it is often hard to find good answers. We want to help people wrestle through their doubts and objections, showing that there are solid answers while affirming the need for people to proceed at their own pace–without feeling pressured, forced, or judged.
When is It?
Every Thursday night, March 31 – May 26, from 6 pm to 8 pm.
That means it begins this Thursday!
Where is It?
Kansas City, Kansas. Specifically, it will be at pretty cool co-working space just to the west of the Plaza:
The Village Square
4436 State Line Rd
Kansas City, KS 66103
Who Should Come?
Anybody with honest questions about the Christian faith. Especially skeptics and seekers, but also Christians who want to know more about why it is reasonable and sensible to accept the truth of Christianity.
You can keep up to date by liking the Facebook page.
We would love to see you there!
This year is a leap year. Here is a great idea for what to do with that extra day on February 29, from Hope International:
You often hear people say “hire slow, and fire fast.” Further, firing quickly is often presented as a “loving” thing to do, because then the person is freed up to pursue what might be a better fit.
This advice needs to be fired. It has problems on both sides of the equation. For one thing, there are times when you should actually hire fast. But more than that, saying that one should fire fast ignores very important distinctions that can lead to very bad decisions and harm to both the person and organization.
The distinction is between firing due to ability issues and character issues.
If someone is abusive, causing harm in the organization, and acting against the values, then firing needs to happen fast.
But when the problem is ability issues — that is, the person wants to do good work but is struggling — then you fire slow. The aim is, in fact, not to have to fire at all. Instead, you discuss the issue with the person and coach them as much as possible to help overcome the ability issue.
If it cannot be overcome, and a change to a different role that is a better fit is not possible, then letting them go may be the right course of action. But only after defining the problem and helping the person overcome it.
Joseph Grenny, author of four New York Times bestsellers, including Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes Are High, explains this very simply in this two-minute video from the Global Leadership Summit.