The transition into my current role, responsibilities, and work environment have forced me to reevaluate and adjust some of my beliefs and practices about work. Here are a few of my thoughts.
I need to work more and less. I need to be more focused and productive while I am working but spend less time engaged with work. It's just as draining for me to be at my desk for 4 hours of inefficiency as it is to really hone in get stuff done for the same amount of time.
Down time works better in bulk. A full day off has more restorative kick than 2 half days. Better to pack you day and have your evening free than to work "all day" but in 2-3 hour chunks.
Productivity is the point. Things that put me in the right head space to work are work even if they seem like the farthest thing from work. If taking a break and going for a walk helps me have the idea that's work. If laying down for 20 min makes the whole structure of the message crystalize than napping is work. I need to see my work environment like and artist studio where ideas and inspiration matter not like a factory where punching a clock and being at your post are the highest value. I work best when I work how I work. The goal is not to first and foremost fill a role, keep an artificial schedule, or be doing certain things the goal is to produce and what ever get me there, from spending time in prayer, to taking a shower, to reading a book count if they are making me more productive rather than less. That said...
The unpredictability of my job makes a schedule more important not less. The fact that my job will never fit neatly into a 9-5 box and that I can never accurately predict what my week will hold, when inspiration will hit, and what will be required of me means that rather than throwing a schedule out the window because I know it will have to change I need to embrace it and stick to it. I need to guard refueling time because I never know when I will be asked to give out more than I had planned. I need to be very intentional about disengaging because I never punch out and go home and if I let it the work can always be at the front of my mind. This is not good for me or the work. I need to be intentional about leaving bigger space for the bigger things because they will get swallowed up otherwise. And I need to strategically plan less work than I can get done in a week because when I'm planning know I don't know everything I will need to do that week, maybe even that day.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Working more and less
Monday, September 08, 2008
It's the End of the World as We Know It and I Feel Pretty Stoked
I'm not sure when it started. My first memory is reading "The Chrysalids" in high school although I certainly got way more out of it when I listened to it a few years back. Maybe it was watching "The Stand" for the first time, or "The Langoliers", I'm not sure. The first time I remember being able to articulate it was after I watched "28 Days Later". Currently it shows up as I'm enjoying watching the "Battlestar Gallactica" miniseries. I absolutely love post-apocalyptic stories, end of the world, everything and almost everyone is gone. The truth is that as long as I can remember, since my childhood, questions like what would I do if my whole family died or our county was destroyed or I was left alone on the planet have bounced around my mind and the resulting thoughts have fascinated me. In fact I can't think of a single post-apocalyptic story (book, movie, audio book) I haven't enjoyed. It's like I'm sort of apocalypse junkie (for the record I have copyright on that term to use it as a band name).
Ironically the actual end times and the book or Revelation have never really held any fascination for me. I'm disinterested in that aspect of scripture probably to a fault. But then again I could argue it doesn't count because I know how it works out and it's not really the end just a transition and rather than being all alone I'll be packed into a jewel encrusted cube with all the rest of the redeemed.
I'm not sure why I like this stuff so much but I have a theory. I love order and simplicity. Wipe out 99.99% of humanity and suddenly things get much more simple. I hate grind, repetitiveness, and ruts and I love a worthwhile adventure. Fighting for the survival of the race seems like it would be a daily adventure. I love to create and I love to be left to my own ingenuity. A post-apocalyptic world seems like it would provide the opportunity to do that on a grande scale. I'm not sure what it says about me but the truth is I love this stuff and think about it so much, not because I worry about it actually happening or fear what I would have to do if it did. I like thinking about it because I think I'd like to live in that world. So if the end comes, and amidst the desolation and destruction you see this one guy grinning from ear to ear say hi, it's probably me.
Well, I should be going. Bed and an audio book await. What's on the play list tonight you ask? Cormac MacCarthy's "The Road". No joke.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Don't Sacrifice - Trade.
Balancing family life and ministry is somewhere between a concise effort and a major struggle for most pastors I know. Some will say "I will never sacrifice family for ministry" and in principal I agree but the truth is the nature of the work doesn't always allow you to tuck your kids into bed EVERY night or never be away for a few days.
Other take the opposite approach and believe that an approach to ministry that causes them to shirk their God given responsibilities as a mom or dad, makes their spouse essentially a single parent, and embitters their children toward Jesus and His church is somehow justifiable or even noble.
I believe the secret is not to throw your family under the bus of ministry nor is it to pretend you can be Johnny punch clock and work a predictable 9-5 5 days a week.
Don't sacrifice, trade. Ministry creates as many positive opportunities with family as it does negative ones. The secret is to see them and grab them. Last night, unlike a lot of good fathers. I wasn't home to tuck in my kids. However this afternoon while those dads were stuck in a meeting, or swinging a hammer, or finishing up the last project I was picking Micah up from school, seeing how his day went, and enjoying a trip to the hardware store on church business. I don't make a fortune and we don't take fancy vacations but this year my kids will go on their first plane ride, not on some crowded stuff jumbo jet but in a small private plane where they will be able to talk to the pilot. It's a ministry trip. Pretty cool if you ask me.
We could go on but the point is this. Ministry is a non-traditional line of work, it will require a weird schedule sometimes, and there will be times you don't get to do all the typical parent stuff as often as you would like to. But don't sacrifice family time, trade it. Take advantage of the flexibility of your schedule, the fact that you can easily move your day off, and the cool stuff you get to do. Be available when sally punch clock is stuck at the factory/store/cubicle. Family time isn't yours to sacrifice but it is yours to trade and like trading anything from baseball cards to commodities if you are any good at it you can actually come out ahead. That's my goal.
