Anybody who has done college ministry long has the feeling of often working like a dog, putting in long hours and still not sure if much was accomplished. Part of that is a result of working with people and just not knowing all that God is doing in their lives and how He might use what you have done.
Daniel Pink in his best selling book, WHEN, THE SCIENTIFIC SECRETS OF PERFECT TIMING, shares how to end the day with a sense of accomplishment. These words are his with some editing on my part.
"When the workday ends, many of us want to tear away....to pick up my children, race home to prepare dinner.....but the science of endings suggest that instead of fleeing, we're better off reserving the final five minutes of work for a few small deliberate actions that bring the day to a fulfilling close.
1. Begin by taking two or three minutes to write down what you accomplished since the morning. Making progress is the single largest day-to-day motivator on the job. But without tracking our "dones," we often don't know whether we're progressing. Ending the day by recording what you've achieved can encode the entire day more positively. On good days, the exercise delivers feelings of completion, on bad days, it often shows me I got more done than I suspected.
2. Now use the other two or three minutes to lay out your plan for the following day. This will help close the door on today and energize you for tomorrow.
3. BONUS: If you've got an extra minute left, send someone....anyone....a thank-you email. Gratitude is a powerful restorative. It's an equally powerful form of elevation."
While his books are NOT New York Times Best Sellers as Pink's books, Arliss Dickerson is the author of five books on college ministry available in eBook format for 99 cents each at amazon.com. His book, FIXING A BROKEN COLLEGE MINISTRY, is available in paperback.
No comments:
Post a Comment