Todd Hiestand // Missional Living in Suburban America

Does Disorganization Kill You?

No, not literally.  I guess it could do that, if, like, you are so disorganized that you forget where you live and starve to death or something.  But, I’ve come to realize recently that I am way too disorganized in my work habits, I waste too much time and I am not focused enough on my work (both design and church stuff).

This was one of the big things that came out of my weekend away a few weeks back. Seems I am not the only one,

Bob Hyatt, a pastor in Portland writes,

“I’m coming to realize that, at least for me… and maybe for you… my disorganization is killing me. It’s very literally sapping all the ‘bundance out of my abundant life and leaving precious little peace.”

A hearty amen to that one.  I am taking some steps in order to try and confront some of this stuff in my own life.  I’ve already listed a few things but here are a few more:

• Setting a schedule - Since I need to spend my working time on church stuff and web design stuff I am now being intentional about not co-mingling the two (as much as possible).  As I wrote in a previous post, I am even spliting up my e-mail as it comes into my inbox this way too.
• Keeping a time clock - This isn’t too radical but for my design work, and even for some of my computer necessary church work I am keeping a time clock.  I bought this little program called “On the Job” and its been a great help.
• Asking for Accountability - this is the biggest one for me. I have learned that I naturally seek to avoid accountability in my life at all costs.  This is a bad thing.  So, I am working hard to have some personal accountability and some professional accountability from some important people in my life.  We’ve restructured our leadership team meetings at church a bit to make that more possible for all of us.

Okay, I need to stop blogging and do some work…