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I just read a great article on time management by Peter F. Drucker, the management guru. Here are my notes from the article:

Keys to Successful Time Management
Keep a log of actual time-use and review it regularly.

Ask yourself the following questions as you review activities you’ve completed, and as you consider new tasks:

1. What would happen if this were not done at all?
2. Can this be done by someone else just as well, if not better?
3. Am I wasting the time of others?
4. Which time-wasters result from a lack of system and which from a lack of foresight?
5. Am I attending too many meetings?

Adapted from “Secrets for Managing Your Time Wisely” by Peter F. Drucker

I was hoping to play tennis tomorrow, but with today’s rains, it really looks like it will be too wet to play.

Sigh.

The upside is I’ll have more time to develop my lesson for Sunday. I’m beginning a series on discovering your spiritual tempermant based on Gary Thomas’ book Sacred Pathways. I’m quite excited to see how the series turns out, and hope it is well received.

JP

I found a group of guys who gets together regularly to play bball at the YMCA… only problem is that they play at 5:30 a.m. Ouch!

But I dragged my butt out of bed and made it down to play MWF of this week. The exercise is good, and the level of play is decent, so I’m pretty happy once I get there.

We’ll see how long I keep this up =)

JP

Just finished a great book, Irresistible Evangelism by Steve Sjogren, Dave Ping, and Doug Pollock. It challenges Christians to stop being so self-righteous, and to start being real with other people.

The lesson I walked away with was that I need to be a true friend, and let my friends see how God has change me… not force my faith on them and demand that they acknowledge my beliefs before I’ll be their friend. It was truly an excellent book, and I’d highly recommend it.

Check out http://www.loveyourcity.com for some practical ideas for how to reach out to those in your community in practical, real ways that show God’s love without forcing religion onto people.

It has come to my attention that I don’t, in fact, know everything. While this fundamental truth may come as no surprise to you, I know I’ve tried to convince myself from time to time that it is untrue. My pride inevitably gets in the way, and I don’t want to look foolish by admitting I don’t know something others expect me to know.

When I’m honest, however, I’ve found admitting I don’t know something assumed to be obvious to all can actually work to my advantage.

Allow me to illustrate with a simple example. I was working on a software project with a good friend, and at one point he was explaining part of the project that required my cooperation so that our two pieces would connect properly. I didn’t completely follow his description of the interface we were supposed to build to allow our two parts to communicate properly, so I stopped him and asked him to back up and describe it a bit more simply.

I could have pretended to understand, and made my best attempt to create my part as I understood the project, but I’m certain we would have had some serious problems if I had chosen that route. Being willing to ask the “dumb question” actually helped us significantly, because we were able to better accomplish our task, and it actually saved us both time and effort in the long run.

So, while I readily admit when I don’t know something these days, I can’t say it makes me feel any less intelligent in the process. The truth is, I learn more when I’m willing to be dumb, and walk away smarter for it.

 

Be glad when people ask you dumb questions. Say, ‘Thank you for asking.’ This will keep them from doing something dumb.
— Allan Cox

 

How committed are you to reproducing leaders?
I’ve really only had one opportunity to mentor another leader, but I sense that in the coming year I will have several more chances to be involved in others lives on that level.

During the past couple of years I’ve begun to see that my youthfulness is not as much of a liability as it used to be. Maybe I’m just getting older. Maybe I’ve learned a couple things along the way and it is starting to change me. I’d go with the latter, but might be too self serving.

I really want to see others rise up around me to become better leaders. I think that God has been equipping me with the tools to raise up leaders, and has been developing my leadership skills in a variety of environments over the past few years.

It will be exciting to see how everything comes together.