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On Writing A Book

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I mentioned last week that I’m working on a book on productivity, and that I’d give more details soon. Here’s a 40,000 foot, very rough, initial snapshot.

Some people might ask, “another book on productivity?” Rest assured, I’m not interested in repeating cliches. I’ll be making connections that I don’t see other people making, but which I think are absolutely necessary to how we think about productivity.

I want to do two things in this book. First, I want to give the theological basis for productivity. The question I’m asking is “how should we think about productivity as Christians?” There are some very surprising things here. More specifically, I’m going to mine the relationship between productivity and the gospel, so that we can have a gospel-oriented approach to our productivity. Believe me, this matters (and I’ll be showing why).

After giving the theological foundations for how to think about productivity, I’m then going to give a practical, simple approach to managing your life and work effectively. In particular, I’m going to try to present an overall approach that solves some of the snags that you run into with both GTD and Franklin-Covey (the two most well-known approaches to productivity).

Both of those approaches are fantastically helpful. But both have a few snags that can easily lead you to spend more time than you ought to managing your system rather than actually getting things done or just taking time to think and be with people. Maybe these snags flow from how we use them (or how I have used them!) or the way technology has increased our pace in just the last few years, but regardless, I think that we have need now for an updated approach (that is kept as simple as possible).

I’ll be covering some of the highlights of this in my workshop this fall at the Desiring God National Conference. You can glean part of my perspective from my title there: Zealous for Good Works: Rethinking Productivity in Light of Justification by Faith Alone.

A Snapshot in to How Books take Shape

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I mentioned briefly the other day that I’m starting work on a book. I’ll give more details on what the book is about and so forth shortly.

I thought it might be fun not only to talk about the book itself (float ideas, post some early drafts parts of chapters, and so forth), but also talk a bit about my process as well. After all, it seems very fitting, when writing a book on productivity, to peel back the curtains a bit on the productivity process involved in creating that very book.

So, even though it is a bit out of order to talk about the process before what the book is actually a bit, here’s the first snapshot for you.

[Read more…]

Upcoming Lausanne 12 Cities Conversation Thursday Night

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I’m looking forward to attending the Lausanne Congress this fall in South Africa. Prior to the congress they are hosting 12 conversations in 12 cities to start a conversation on major issues facing the church such as global poverty, injustice, world evangelization, and more. The next one is this Thursday night at Saddleback Church. It will also be webcast live (7:00-9:00 Pacific Time). You can find more info here.

Also, here is the description from that page:

The Saddleback Conversation Gathering

Global Poverty, Injustice, Other World Faiths, HIV/AIDS, Religious Persecution
We live in a new world with new realities, and it’s time for a new conversation about the internal struggles and external pressures facing the Church. 12 Cities | 12 Conversations, hosted by the Lausanne Movement, are free gatherings in strategic US cities to facilitate conversation among church leaders, thinkers, pastors, authors, musicians, advocates, artists, social entrepreneurs, and YOU.

Why Rick Warren is Coming to the Desiring God National Conference

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In this video, John Piper explains why he invited Rick Warren to our fall conference (as many of you know, I work at Desiring God):

And here’s a short transcript from Piper talking about why he invited Warren last month to a group of pastors:

[When I wrote Warren to invite him,] I said, “The conference is called ‘THINK: The life of the Mind and the Love of God.’ I want you to come. You are the most well known pragmatist pastor in the world. I don’t think you are a pragmatist at root. Come and tell us why thinking Biblically matters to you in your amazingly pragmatic approach to ministry.”

I want him to lay his cards on the table. I want him to tell us what makes him tick. Because he does come across in much of what he says and does as very results-oriented and pragmatic and not theologically driven, and yet, [Piper finishes up this thought a few minutes later] …. at root I think he is theological.

I have a lot that I have to get done today, but if I can I will try to write a post later today on 4 reasons why it is good and important that Rick Warren is coming to the Desiring God conference.

Companies that Think Like This Won't Get Very Far

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I saw a company policy somewhere once that stated:

“All information taken off the internet should be considered suspect until confirmed by information from another source. There is no quality control process on the internet; a considerable amount of information is outdated or inaccurate, and in some instances may be deliberately misleading.”

Default-negative views like this are life killers.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

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I hope that everyone had a good Christmas and is looking forward to the new year (new decade, actually). Thanks again to everyone for reading!

I’ve been posting a bit less the last few weeks of the year so that I can focus more fully on some large projects. I’ll probably have a few more posts this week, and then it will be back to normal in the new year.

What's Not Best: Nutraloaf

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This is funny, from a recent issue of Wired. I had no idea that nutraloaf existed:

Could science build a completely nutritious space food? Sure, but it’d be a lot like nutraloaf, a substance served to prisoners in solitary in some states.

It’s so unpalatable that it’s the subject of several lawsuits.

The ingredients are ordinary enough, and Vermont’s version of the recipe (this makes three 1,000 calorie loafs) is balanced for fat, protein, carbs, and vitamins. So how could such a harmony of food and science constitute cruel and unusual punishment? Because it tastes like cardboard, smells like rotten eggs, and looks like baked vomit.

By the way, the ingredients are: whole wheat bread, canned spinach, great northern beans, powdered skim milk, potato flakes, tomato paste, nondairy cheese, raw carrots, seedless raisins, and vegetable oil.

Drawing Results

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Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing! I’ve drawn the winners and will be emailing them today.

Thanks again, and thanks for reading!

Subscribers, Enter to Win Two Free Books

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I’ve never done something like this before, and am actually kind of hesitant. But some people that I respect do this on their blogs once in a while and I think it might be kind of fun, so I’m going to give it a try.

Here are the rules:

  1. Subscribe to the blog before the end of tomorrow (Wed, Oct 28).
  2. Contact me and tell me that you subscribed.
  3. If you are already a subscriber, mention this blog to some friends, contact me, and I’ll enter you into the drawing as well. (If you are a new subscriber, you can do this as well, and I’ll enter you twice.)
  4. I’ll draw 2 winners, email them back to ask them their address, and send them each 2 free books.

The two books will be:

1. The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees) by Patrick Lencioni.

I picked this book because everyone can relate to a miserable job and Lencioni provides great points here on how to make your job (and, if you are a manager, those of your employees) more rewarding and fulfilling.

The first part of the book is a fictional story, and the second part lays out the concepts. This was the first Lencioni book that I read, and I found it very refreshing.

2. Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance by Marcus Buckingham.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve found Marcus Buckingham to be one of the most helpful and insightful business thinkers around. His focus is how to discover your strengths and base your role on them rather than on “fixing your weaknesses.” It is a revolutionary insight and has tons of implications outside of work as well.

Here’s the first part of the blurb for this book:

Beginning with the million-copy bestsellers First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently and Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham jump-started the strengths movement that is now sweeping the work world, from business to government to education. Now that the movement is in full swing, Buckingham’s new book answers the ultimate question: How can you actually apply your strngths for maximum success at work?

What's Not Best: Charging a Fee to Get a Discount

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AT&T has a plan where you can save something like $5 per month on your cell bill if enough people in your company have AT&T for their wireless and enroll in the savings program. Something like that.

So I went on to sign up for the savings the other day, and AT&T charged me $36. They charged me $36 to enroll in a program designed to save money. They charged me a fee in order to get the discount.

???

A discount program should, at the very least, produce good-will in the customer. This program does the opposite. Now, AT&T is very close to earning a place on my list of things that should not exist.