12.08.08
Posted in Productivity, home management at 9:48 am by trisha
I guess I am officially a productivity nerd. I love this GTD model/method for work so much that I printed the above diagram and put it in the front of my moleskine. Organizing your flow of work is key for productivity.
This isn’t just for the workplace! It is an effective tool for home management. If you find that your lists are everywhere around the house, try out a moleskine notebook keep it all together. There needs to one place where most of your thoughts, ideas, lists, prayers, tasks, plans are together.
Mike and I use outlook for social calendaring and appointments. However, for tasks, lists, projects, relationship goals, menu planning, etc- it is good to have a location for all of that. If you are really geeky, like my husband, Mind Maps are effective. If you have an IPhone or other PDA, you can put those there.
Getting Things Done has transformed both Mike’s and my productivity for 5 years. Say goodbye to “open loops”. Capture those tasks and free your brain and heart space. GTD is a method for stewardship. Stewardship is the principle. Godly stewardship is prayerfully considering the practical ways in which God would have you take care of the gifts He has given.
Practically speaking, this method/model helps streamline your thinking not just your productivity. Remember- “open loops” are those thoughts, reminders, tasks, list items swirling around in your brain, uncaptured? Capturing those loops helps you focus more on what is in front of you. Open loops are unfriendly. They create chaos, stress, and keep your productivity stifled.
Yay for GTD! Yay for organization!
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12.02.08
Posted in Heart Distractions, home management at 9:53 pm by trisha
Productivity. Menu Planning. Cleaning. Distractions can take our eyes off the goal of our worship. Distractions tempt us to lose vision.
For a few years, I have talked about a woman named Margaret. She is a fictitious woman I’ve made up, trying to understand the Martha and Mary story in Luke 10. I jokingly call the blend of both Martha and Mary “Margaret,” assuming that there must be a gal that is both a hard worker and a worshiper. My tag line in the Margaret story has been: “Sure, Mary had it right–setting at the Lord’s feet listening to his teaching–but hey! JESUS had to eat!”
But I am starting to grasp that Margaret isn’t the answer. I am starting to understand what Jesus meant when he said, “Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken from her.”
Martha:
All of my Christian life, I have heard about the differences between Martha and Mary. Often it is suggested that Martha is the stressed out sister concerned about tasks. She can’t relax because “there is much to be done.” Martha works hard but seems to lack the peace and worship that goes with working heartily unto the Lord. When God himself is a guest in her home she can’t even handle the pressure to perform the tasks. It seems as though that is all she is concerned with–the preparations.
Check her out:
Luke 10:38-42 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Martha is distracted.
Distracted. Hmmm. Who does this resonate with? Me! For sure. I often find myself BUSY with much serving. Distracted from what? Why was Martha, or any of us, distracted? We think that what we’re doing is most important: the tasks and preparations. Jesus told Martha that she was anxious and troubled about many things. What was she troubled by? I can answer for myself. When I am like Martha–when I am not worshipping in work but JUST working–I am busy, frustrated, fast, and resentful. I resent it if my husband is in the room and not helping out in some way. My heart is troubled by the tasks yet to be done. I’m ticked that I have to do it all. Maybe I’m trying to enjoy the preparations. Yet inside my heart I’m looking for any opportunity to complain that I am going it alone. How foolish and self-focused I can be.
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