Here’s an excerpt from my book. This is not like most excerpts, probably, because it’s still a rough draft and will likely be improved and re-done before the final version.

I wrote this section a few days ago and I actually don’t yet know where it fits. I tacked it on at the end of the chapter it is relevant to, but that chapter is already mostly done and this brings together some of the ideas from it in a different way. The reason I’m posting it here is because it is largely self-contained and because of the fact that I now have to figure out where it goes (and if it will go in at all)!

So, this gives you not only a sample of the book, but a window into how books take shape.

Here’s the excerpt:

Don’t Wing It!

Just a quick final word on the importance of personal management. The last thing I am advocating is an ultra rigid approach to life. That would be massively boring and, frankly, makes you look mean. I am a fan of discipline, but I am not a fan of strictness. So, be flexible.

But don’t only be flexible. In fact, being flexible implies that there is something to flex — some type of structure and discipline to your life. You need to have that. Different people will have it in varying degrees, and the place where you set the needle is up to you. But you need to do something. Don’t wing your life.

Don’t wing it because, first, it doesn’t work. Scott Belsky points out that even among creatives, who are known for winging it, it doesn’t work:

This book aims to take pie-in-the-sky notions of how the creative process unfolds and bring them down to earth. Creative people are known for winging it: improvising and acting on intuition is, in some way, the haloed essence of what we do and who we are. However, when we closely analyze how the most successful and productive creatives, entrepreneurs, and businesspeople truly make ideas happen [and to his list I would add pastors, non-profit leaders, and many more], it turns out that “having an idea” is just a small part of the process, perhaps only 1 percent of the journey.

And, second, don’t wing it because it’s not biblical. The Bible speaks very highly of discipline and planning: “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich” (Proverbs 10:4). “He who gathers in summer is a prudent son [note: there is an intentionality here (“in summer”) — not randomness], but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame” (Proverbs 10:5). “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established” (Proverbs 16:3). “Whoever gives thought to a matter will discover good” (Proverbs 16:20). “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Perhaps the most forceful verse, though, is Proverbs 21:5: “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.” Note that not planning is analogous to being hasty. Don’t be hasty — don’t live your life by the seat of your pants. Give thought to what you will do with your days and weeks and years.

Don’t be overly rigid (see above) and don’t make your plans independent of God. But do have a measure of thought and intentionality to how you go about your life.

(Note: the next several chapters after this one then go into various practices for improving your productivity and managing your life more effectively, in a biblical and creative way.)

A lot of people that I talk to say “I can’t do everything David Allen outlines in Getting Things Done, but I took away a few key ideas that have made a big impact.” And the main take-away they describe is usually very helpful.

So I’m thinking of having a call-out in the book that highlights the top things various people have taken away from Getting Things Done. I’ve been asking this question of some people I’ve interviewed for the book, and I’d love to hear your thoughts as well.

Just shoot me an email or add a comment below answering this question: “What is the most helpful thing you learned from Getting Things Done?”

One of the things I’m doing for my book is interviewing as many people as I can about their productivity habits and insights. Some of the best insights and practices will likely be incorporated into the book. I might also include short excerpts from some of these interviews as call-outs in the book.

I’ve already interviewed several people, but am refining my questions a bit before doing another round. I’m focusing on Christian leaders, business and non-profit leaders, and anyone who just plain gets a lot done. (One highlight so far, among many others, was interviewing one of the President’s former schedulers — that was very helpful and very interesting!)

So I wanted to ask you: What are some of the questions you’d like me to ask in these interviews? What types of things are you most interested in learning and improving when it comes to your own productivity? And what theological questions about the foundations of productivity would you like to see me ask?

Feel free to email me any questions you’d like me to consider including, or leave them in the comments.

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.

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.

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