41QrD0+9OvL._SX336_BO1,204,203,200_What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Do Work That Matters Productivity isn’t just about getting more things done. It’s about getting the right things done—the things that count, make a difference, and move the world forward.

In our current era of massive overload, this is harder than ever before. So how do you get more of the right things done without confusing mere activity for actual productivity?

When we take God’s purposes into account, a revolutionary insight emerges. Surprisingly, we see that the way to be productive is to put others first—to make the welfare of other people our motive and criteria in determining what to do (what’s best next). As both the Scriptures and the best business thinkers show, generosity is the key to unlocking our productivity. It is also the key to finding meaning and fulfillment in our work.

What’s Best Next offers a practical approach for improving your productivity in all areas of life. It will help you better understand:

  • Why good works are not just rare and special things like going to Africa, but anything you do in faith even tying your shoes.
  • How to create a mission statement for your life that actually works.
  • How to delegate to people in a way that actually empowers them.
  • How to overcome time killers like procrastination, interruptions, and multitasking by turning them around and making them work for you.
  • How to process workflow efficiently and get your email inbox to zero every day.
  • How your work and life can transform the world socially, economically, and spiritually, and connect to God’s global purposes.
By anchoring your understanding of productivity in God’s purposes and plan, What’s Best Next will give you a practical approach for increasing your effectiveness in everything you do.
MY REVIEW:
Perman does a great job of building upon popular productivity principles and presents them in a gospel-centered framework. Perhaps you have tried adopting principles, patterns and methods from other productivity books but have got burned out using them and found that they just don’t translate well for you. This book is different! If you want to live a life of purpose this book will help you become a better steward of the time God has entrusted to you by helping you define what is productivity, what things are truly productive, and how they fit into your life.
MY TOP TAKEAWAYS:
Here are the top 12 Myths this book will help the reader overcome in regards to a gospel-centered view of productivity:
  1. Myth #1: Productivity is about getting more done faster.
    • Truth: Productivity is about effectiveness first, not efficiency.
  2. Myth #2: The way to be productive is to have the right techniques and tools.
    • Truth: Productivity comes first from character , not techniques. The only way to make the right decisions is first to be the right kind of person (Rom. 12: 1 – 2; 2 Peter 5: 1 – 8).
  3. Myth #3: It is not essential to give consideration to what God has to say about productivity.
    • Truth: We cannot be truly productive unless all our activity stems from love for God and the acknowledgment that he is sovereign over all our plans.
  4. Myth #4: It is not essential to make the gospel central in our view of productivity.
    • Truth: The only way to be productive is to realize that you don’t have to be productive.
  5. Myth #5: The way to be productive is to tightly manage yourself (and others!).
    • Truth: Productivity comes from engagement, not tight control; when we are motivated, we don’t need to tightly control ourselves (or others).
  6. Myth #6: The aim of time management should be our peace of mind.
    • Truth: Productivity is first about doing good for others to the glory of God.
  7. Myth #7: The way to succeed is to put yourself first.
    • Truth: We become most productive by putting others first, not ourselves.
  8. Myth #8: We will have peace of mind if we can get everything under control.
    • Truth: Basing our peace of mind on our ability to control everything will never work.
  9. Myth #9: To-do lists are enough.
    • Truth: Time is like space, and we need to see lists as support material for our activity zones, not as sufficient in themselves to keep track of what we have to do.
  10. Myth #10: Productivity is best defined by tangible outcomes.
    • Truth: The greatest evidence of productivity comes from intangibles, not tangibles.
      • More and more, productivity is about intangibles — relationships developed, connections made, and things learned. We need to incorporate intangibles into our definition of productivity or we will short-change ourselves by thinking that sitting at our desks for a certain number of hours equals a productive day. Truth: The greatest evidence of productivity comes from intangibles, not tangibles.
  11. Myth #11: The time we spend working is a good measure of our productivity.
    • Truth: We need to measure productivity by results, not by time spent working.
      • Deadlines work well for execution tasks (the realm of personal management), but they do not work well for creative tasks and ambiguity (the realm of personal leadership).
  12. Myth #12 : Having to work really hard or even suffer in our work means our priorities are screwed up or we are doing something wrong.
    • Truth: We will (sometimes) suffer from our work, and it is not sin.

Productivity is concerned with all areas of our lives — work, home, community, everything — because all areas of our lives are callings from God.

If God exists and has revealed himself, getting the right things done means doing the things God wants done — and in the way he wants them done. God is “what matters most.” Perhaps the chief competitor to God-centeredness is simply making our own aims our center. (p.55)

This is a great book that redefines purpose and productivity that I cannot recommend highly enough!

Get it on Amazon:

What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done