How do you measure productivity?

I have one major task for today and that is to publish this blog post. Do I consider it a success once I publish this article? Does this make me productive?

Productivity is not measured by the number of tasks you have done or the number of projects you have accomplished. The best way to measure your productivity is by answering this question: “How well have I served today?”

I have learned that the best way to stay productive is not to obsess over my results. The fruits are not my focus. The branch bears fruit when it is connected to the vine. In the same way, I bear much fruit when I stay connected to Jesus.

My focus, therefore, is not to count my fruits but to stay connected to Jesus.

Jesus says in John 15 that we need to remain in his love. And we stay in his love when we keep his commands. And what is his command? Love each other as Jesus has loved us.

Therefore, we will remain in Jesus when we love one another as Christ loved us. And we give the most extraordinary kind of love when we lay down our life for a friend.

The key to productivity is to remain in Christ. And the way to remain in Christ is by loving one another to the point of giving your life for a friend.

Let me give you some questions to help you assess your fruitfulness:

1. Who did you serve today?
2. What kind of service did you do to that person?
3. How much did it hurt you to serve that person?

I hope that these assessment questions will help you not just measure your success but keep your focus on serving and loving others as Christ did to you.

I have a challenge for you.

Can you think of a person who will benefit much from reading this blog post?

Why don’t you serve that person right now and forward this article to him?

If you did that then you’re on your way to greater productivity in life. Congratulations!

Photo by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash

I almost missed my blog post release today.

I was too busy for the past few days that I didn’t have time to write my article. I needed time to rest after a hectic week.

May this be a reminder to you that you need rhythms of rest in your weekly schedule:

• Give yourself permission to rest
• Make time for one whole day of rest in your weekly schedule
• Enjoy your rest day and don’t be guilty about not doing any “productive” work that day
• Make sure you minimize exposure to social media and other distractions on your rest day

How do you spend your rest day?

Distractions like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok are some of the greatest enemies of productivity. It’s easier to mindlessly scroll through Facebook than to finish your most important task for the day. It’s easier to laugh at those funny TikTok videos than to finish writing your article.

I have tried many different ways and strategies to minimize distractions on my mobile phone but none of them seemed to work for me. I want to share with you this app that helped me minimize my social media addiction. It’s called One Sec.

One Sec is a mobile phone app that helps you delay distracting apps and websites. Basically, it forces you to take a deep breath and helps you ask if you really want to open the potential time-wasting app (like TikTok or Facebook) before jumping in.

This is how it works according to its website: “One Sec works so great because it doesn’t forbid you to use apps and websites. It makes it more annoying. That way you’ll effortlessly change your habits.”

Here are 3 things One Sec has helped me with:

1. Fight against social media addiction.
By forcing me to pause for about 10 seconds before opening any social media app, it has helped me become more aware of my social media addiction. I didn’t realize I was mindlessly opening Facebook app on my phone until One Sec stopped me in my tracks.

2. Recover lost time from distractions.
This app has already helped me save 12.2 hours away from distractions in the last month I have been using it.

3. Establish a healthy relationship with social media.
By helping me become more mindful of my social media habits, I am now more purposeful in using social media apps. I no longer find myself opening Facebook automatically. I only use it now if I have a purpose.

You may want to try using the app for free so you can see it for yourself. Download it now and start redeeming lost time from distractions.

Wishing you a fruitful and successful week ahead!

And, oh, you’re welcome!

I’ve always thought productivity is all about strategies and tactics. If I could just master the latest tips and tricks then I can be very efficient in my work and maximize my full potential. If I could just minimize all distractions, then I can be more fruitful.

Although these things may help in your productivity, what I have learned to be the most effective path towards productivity is this: confessing that you don’t know anything.

Proverbs 4:7 says, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.”

If you want wisdom in your life, you need to start by confessing your need for it. If you want to be more productive, then you must start by confessing that you don’t know how.

I think Aristotle said, “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.”

The apostle Paul also said, “Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much.” (1 Corinthians 8:2 NLT)

The key to productivity is to know that you won’t be able to make it without God’s help. Your knowledge and human understanding are not enough. What you need is divine revelation.

We need to pray the prayer of Paul for the church in Ephesus. “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:18-19a)

No one knows productivity better than God himself. He is the one who created all the trees that bear fruits. He is the one who created us with the capacity to multiply and bear fruits.

Jesus said it best when he talked about the vine and the branches. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 NIV)

The key to fruitfulness is to remain in Christ. Our productivity depends on how we as the branches remain in Christ as the vine.

Here are some insights we can learn from the vine:

1. The branch gets its nutrients from the vine.
   Our source of life is God himself. We cannot produce fruits apart from the life that comes from Him. True productivity comes from Him and is sustained only by Him.

    

2. A branch that is detached from the vine cannot produce fruits.
   The greatest enemy of productivity is self-reliance. When you think you know all the answers and you think you can do it by your strength, then you are no longer dependent on God. You are now detached from the vine and you cannot produce real fruits.

    

3. A branch that is connected to the vine cannot have a will of its own.
   You cannot remain in Christ and still have your way of doing things. To remain in Christ is to do his will and to keep his commands.

    

It takes humility to admit that you don’t know it all. It takes brokenness to say that you need God. If you want to walk in fruitfulness, start by saying, “I really don’t know anything.”

Photo by Design Wala on Unsplash

Staying productive can be very challenging at times. You start your day with your goals and priorities in check but then something comes up along the way. You get distracted by social media and you end up watching a bunch of videos about self-improvement. You rationalize that you need these videos to help you become more productive. But at the end of the day, you were not able to finish the tasks you have set for yourself.

Sometimes you simply don’t have enough drive and motivation to do your most important tasks for the day. You struggle to keep your focus and you give up being productive.

Don’t worry, it happens to all of us. Distractions, time-wasters, lack of drive and motivation, and other enemies of productivity will always be there. What matters is you keep pushing through all the challenges and focus on staying productive.

Let me give you 4 tips to help you stay productive:

1. Start the day with God.
   How you start your day greatly impacts your mood and your posture for the rest of the day. Jesus regularly prayed early in the morning. That shows that his priority was to be with his Father and to do his will upon his life.

   Start your day by calling upon the name of the Lord. Simply whisper, “Lord Jesus”. Say it over and over a few times, turning your heart to him and surrendering everything to him. Calling upon his name means you need God more than anything. Without him, you can do nothing.

   Commit your day to God and set your intention to fulfill God’s purpose and plan for you for that day. “Let Your Kingdom come, let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

 

2. Remember that you were created to be fruitful.
   God’s mandate to Adam was to be fruitful, multiply and subdue the earth. And God doesn’t give us a task we are not capable of doing. This means fruitfulness, multiplication, and ruling the earth are all part of our functions as human beings.

   You were created to be fruitful and that is your identity. Productivity is in your DNA. Every part of your body is wired to bear fruit. Productivity is not something you strive to become. All you need to do is trust in God and walk in your identity.

 

3. Do everything God’s way.
   You won’t make it doing your own thing. Adam and Eve chose to do their own thing when they ate the forbidden fruit and because of that, they were banished from the garden of Eden.

   Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

 

4. Don’t focus on the results.
   Just remain faithful in fulfilling God’s purpose and assignment for your life and he will take care of the results. Our job is to serve well. Finish the task at hand and God will take care of the outcome.

 

Photo by Todd Trapani on Unsplash

“Ouch! That hurts!” The patient cried as his psychiatrist pricked his finger with a needle.

Dr. Brown had to resort to using extreme measures so he can try to talk his patient out of his absurd belief that he was already dead.

He had told his patient a week ago to read some medical textbooks to convince him that dead men don’t bleed. His patient came back a week later to confirm that medical evidence indeed proves that dead men don’t bleed.

“So if a person were to bleed, you would know for sure that he or she was not dead?”, Dr. Brown asked.

“Absolutely!”, the patient replied.

This was what Dr. Brown had been waiting for. It was the moment of truth.

How would his patient react to the pricking of his finger?

The patient looked down at his pricked finger and exclaimed, “Oh my goodness, dead men do bleed!”

People believe what they want to believe. And they will convince themselves that what they believe is the truth, even when it’s not.

What do you believe about yourself? Do you have deeply-held beliefs that limit you fulfill your potential?

I used to believe that I was a failure. I was undisciplined and inconsistent. I was too hard on myself because I could never get myself to consistently do the right thing. I would always make mistakes again and again even when I tried harder.

I knew that God sees me differently. He sees me as a victorious and productive person. But what I was seeing in my life told me otherwise.

The evidence I saw in my life reinforced my limiting beliefs that I was indeed a failure. But what if I could see them in a different light and attach a different meaning to them? What if I could see my shortcomings, not as proof of me being a failure but instead as pieces of evidence of a more empowering truth? That I can do nothing apart from God.

I think the greatest limiting belief I have is not that I am a failure. It is believing that I can do it on my own.

“I’ve got this.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

“I know I’m right.”

And when I fail at my attempt to do it on my own, I don’t admit that I need help.

Just like the patient, I would say to myself, “Oh my goodness, I was right all along in believing I’m a failure!”

I want to tell you that you are not a failure. Making mistakes doesn’t mean you’re a failure. They only show you that you need help. You need a higher being to take over your life.

God loves us so much that he already gave us a solution to our problems. He gave us a gift so that through this gift, we will be able to live out our full potential as human beings.

Jesus is God’s gift to us. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Through him, we can become fruitful and productive.

Jesus said, “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

The only way to a productive life is through the path of surrender. Concede and admit that you can’t do it on your own. Yield to a higher power and you will see a victorious life.

You don’t need me to prick your finger to believe, do you?

Image by Mika Korhonen on Unsplash