Connecting the compass to the clock
At some point, every conversation about living intentionally rather than accidentally has to get down to some nuts and bolts. After all, we’ve all attended our share of seminars on time management, on “working smarter rather than harder,” and yet we’re still frustrated: Before I purchase another planning tool, can someone prove to me how intentional living actually works?
For starters, this freeing concept is not new. There are numerous examples in Scripture of men and women who carefully thought about and planned for the future—integrating their actions with God’s calling on their lives. But Jesus is our greatest model of all. He did not run from one need and demand to another. Rather, He carefully prioritized His life and built into the lives of 12 men, 11 of whom literally changed the world with the power of the Holy Spirit.
It Starts with a Plan
Intentional living is more than strategic planning, for sure, but strategic planning is a large component of intentional living. By identifying the few things we must accomplish from the many things we could accomplish over the course of the year (invest in 12 men rather than 50), we aim directly at our mission and calling—our “sweet spot” of pleasure in our walk with God.
In the EFCA, we are talking more and more about Key Result Areas (KRAs)—those ministry musts that determine if we are truly fulfilling our mission. We can identify KRAs in our personal lives as well as our ministry commitments by asking: In what areas is it critical that I accomplish specific results this year if my work/parenting/marriage/ministry/etc. are to be considered successful?
In the absence of clearly defined and articulated KRAs, we will default to the tyranny of the urgent, doing many good things and filling our schedules with activities that often do not produce significant results. And that do not offer the inner fulfillment of knowing we are pursuing how God has created us. Part of the hard work of living intentionally involves identifying those KRAs. In a ministry setting, we start by considering the mission of the overall organization, then our specific role in fulfilling that mission. In our personal lives, we can ask: What is God’s specific calling on my life, on our marriage? In what ways do my spiritual gifts and experience and passions align with God’s great mission to reach a world in need? What can I contribute that perhaps others cannot? If we don’t get this part right, we’ll be forever doing good things but risk missing our calling—and thus our potential for greatest pleasure in God’s work.
In a ministry setting, there are some KRAs that will span most ministries of a church. For instance, many congregations are seeking to deepen their evangelism success and priority throughout their ministry. In such a case, a leader may ask all key ministries (youth, children’s, men’s, women’s, small groups, etc.) to include a specific KRA related to evangelism or outreach. This would bring each ministry into alignment and drive the success and priority of evangelism deep into the congregation. Thus while many KRAs are developed by individual leaders, some will be ministry-wide.
Close the Gap: Compass and Clock*
Somewhere between our God-given dreams, our ministry vision, our KRAs and our daily actions, a gap is created between what we know we should be doing and what we are actually accomplishing. Two important tools can help us in closing this gap: our compass (how we lead our lives: values, vision, principles, True North) and our clock (how we manage our time: commitments, appointments, schedule). The challenge is to connect the two so that they actually dovetail.
If we orient our compass but continue to let the urgent crowd out our clock, we are soon lost in the woods, missing True North entirely. On the other hand, if we try to re-set our clock without addressing the principles by which we live, even the best of intentions will fall by the wayside. The two need to go hand in hand. (See “The Rhythm of My Life,” below, for personal examples of creating a rhythm that incorporates both.)
There are probably fewer occupations where intentionality is more important than in ministry. First, because the stakes are eternal. Second, because there is much less accountability and structure around our lives than in other workplaces. This is certainly true in many pastoral situations and in mission work. Therefore with limited time, energy and resources, we have a significant incentive to be as intentional in our work as possible.
But intentional living is a high-stakes choice in our personal lives as well. After all, as Stephen Covey asks in First Things First, “How many people on their deathbed wish they’d spent more time at the office?” Intentional living is possible. In fact, it’s essential to living a life of freedom in following God’s pleasure.
*I owe credit for this concept to Stephen R. Covey, from his book First Things First, copyright 1994, Covey Leadership Center, Inc.
The Rhythm of My Life
Aligning my life with God’s priorities
I’ve long been a planner. It’s part of my DNA. Just ask my wife, my boss, my closest friends. But years ago I recognized that even the best of planning might not yield lasting results if I lack a rhythm that keeps me honest, in alignment and focused on my God-given priorities.
To keep me headed in the right direction, I create a daily, weekly, monthly and annual rhythm of living. On a daily basis, of course, is unhurried time with God: my term for daily devotions. Unhurried, because it is only in an unhurried time that I can truly hear what God might have to say to me. It is my daily reminder that life revolves around Him and not me.
On a weekly basis, I try to find at least half a day when I can rest and refresh myself physically. I have to be flexible in finding that time, given the demands of my work and ministry.
Probably the most important thing in my schedule is a monthly Personal Retreat Day (PRD), when I set all other things aside to spend time in planning, prayer and reflection. This is a day away from the office, when I review my personal, family and ministry priorities; pray through scheduling options; review my prior month and plan for the coming month, making necessary adjustments in my priorities; and spend quality time in the presence of God.
With my Personal Retreat Day, I am forced to think through the intentionality of my life based on my priorities, to acknowledge where life has gotten off track and get back into the groove. It forces me to address alignment between my schedule and God’s priorities for my life. In planning for the coming month, it allows me to say "Yes" to some things and "No" or "Not Yet" to others.
There is also an annual component to this rhythm—a two to three-day annual retreat to think through the year past and the priorities for the coming year. It is in this setting that I finalize my Key Result Areas for the coming year. Developing an annual plan contributes to a life intentionally lived around who God made me to be and what success looks like.
I have found that this rhythm has helped me achieve a far greater degree of intentionality—and therefore life impact—than before. I am now far more driven by the priorities that I believe God has given me than I am controlled by outside events and demands. I can live with a high degree of confidence that I am in basic alignment with what God wants for my life.
The Big Rocks
It’s not about How much more can I squeeze in?
It’s not about how much more can I squeeze in? More is better, our culture tells us. With so much to accomplish, multitasking is king. But is it? With a "more is better" paradigm, we always try to fit more activities, more relationships, more to-dos into our schedules.
But where’s the success in that, if we’re not doing what matters most—what God has specifically created us to accomplish? Consider the following story, recorded in the book First Things First*:
I attended a seminar once where the instructor was lecturing on time. At one point, he said, "Okay, it’s time for a quiz." He reached under the table and pulled out a wide-mouth gallon jar. He set it on the table next to a platter with some fist-sized rocks on it. "How many of these rocks do you think we can get in the jar" he asked.
After we made our guess, he said, "Okay. Let’s find out." He set one rock in the jar . . . then another . . . then another. I don’t remember how many he got in, but he got the jar full. Then he asked, "Is that jar full?"
Everybody looked at the rocks and said, "Yes." Then he said, "Ahhh." He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar and the gravel went in all the little spaces left by the big rocks. Then he grinned and said once more, "Is the jar full?"
By this time we were on to him. "Probably not," we said.
"Good!" he replied. And he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went in all the little spaces left by the rocks and the gravel. Once more he looked at us and said, "Is the jar full?"
"No!" we all roared.
He said, "Good!" and he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in. He got something like a quart of water in that jar.
Then he said, "Well, what’s the point?"
Somebody said, "Well, there are gaps, and if you really work at it, you can always fit more into your life."
"No," he said, "that’s not the point. The point is this: If you hadn’t put these big rocks in first, would you ever have gotten any of them in?"
* Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, Rebecca R. Merrill, First Things First (New York: Free Press, 1994), Copyright Covey Leadership Center, Inc., 1994, pp. 88,89.
