What to Value in Ministry « Dan Stoffer
A good friend of my who is a middle school pastor has started blogging and has some really good things to say about youth ministry. Here is an excerpt from a recent post, he is on my subscription lists!
So those values listed are it. As my friend Brad says, “there’s nothing sexy about them.” However, these values encompass so much than is described above. We are still in the process of implementing these values and making them truly the life-blood of the ministry. I am hopeful that they will help me to focus on the right things with students and help to truly awaken and inspire them to the reality of God. I would love to hear your thoughts and/or critiques. Leave me a few comments. [From What to Value in Ministry « Dan Stoffer]
Twitter in Plain English
Inbox Zero Video: How to Manage your Email by Merlin Mann - Great Resource!
Effective Blogging: a slideshow guide for the beginning blogger
I just got done putting together a slideshow for a presentation today on blogging and I thought that I would share! Once you click on the link below, just click on the screen to progress the slide show. It is also located on the Resources page, with the Podcast Ebook.
(Click on the screen to progress the slides)
Who Are These Guys group on Facebook
I just want to let all of our listeners out in blog / podcast land know that we have a Who Are These Guys group on Facebook. I am going to be putting some videos up there, especially since Josh in on vacation and I might not get another podcast out right away. (tear)Ha!But if you are on Facebook, I have a link to my profile on the right and as always if you have an questions or want a bad idea just shoot us a message!
Who Are These Guys Facebook Group
How to deal with Email like a ninja
Okay, maybe there are better ways to organize and deal with email, or maybe your volume isn’t the same as others who are “so” popular. But I never seem to have a problem cranking through email easily - but I owe it to all the productivity “gods” from lifehacker.com, 43folders.com, and others. Regardless, here is the setup I have for making sure I always stay on top of email.
@ folders:
I have 5 folders that are “sub’d” under the inbox that have the “@” sign in front of them. The “@” sign is there for two reasons; first it puts those folders at the top since most email systems organize things a-z, and secondly because my “@” folders are my “action” folders or the ones that I need to interact with the most and that contain the messages that require action from me. Here are my “@” folders:
@Action Support: This folder is for messages that I get that I will need to either take action on in the next few days, or that I still need to decide what action to take.
@To Read: This for email that is longer that I know I will need to read later, or for article links that are sent my way.
@Waitingfor: This is a folder where I place emails I have SENT to others where I am waiting for action from them. There are ways to have the message automatically moved to a certain folder after it is sent in programs like Outlook and Entourage, or I just move them manually. The benefit is having a running list of all the stuff I am waiting for, and the date and time I sent it.
@Reply: This is obvious, but there are certain emails that take some extra thought in their reply and this is where they go. Then when I need to crank through important replies I can focus just on that.
@Projects: This is a main folder that has 10 or more subfolders titled for the active or live projects I have going. Only the stuff that is “live” has a folder here, and it is where I keep track of all the information coming in about those things. So, when I see an email with just information that is FYI, I don’t even read it really, I just drag it there. Then when I am reviewing or working on that project I open that folder as a quick reference for the actions I need to take.
Inbox:
There are plenty of people (and when I say plenty I mean Josh) who have hundreds or even thousands of emails in their inbox. For me, I want my inbox as clear as possible. It represents that I have addressed everything that has come my way. Not that I have “done” it, but that I have organized it for further action. By having my “@” folders in place I can very quickly go through my inbox and organize the information that has come my way into piles of similar action or response. When I have some time to read through materials I can go to my @toread folder and read through the emails and articles there all at once. Having this systems helps me to focus better in the different “modes” that all of us have to move between during a normal work day. But usually we are flying back and forth so quickly between them that we can’t focus or address the information very well. This system helps me to do a better job taking action on my information while helping me to actually go through it a a quicker pace.
Reference:
This is one large folder where pretty much everything else goes that I need to hold onto, seriously. It has over 12,ooo emails in it right now. Why is it one large folder? Because the search on Gmail or through my Mac is faster and better at finding emails than me trying to create a large nested system of folders to wade through. Now, once a project is complete I do just drag it to reference as a sub folder cause it is already organized. And I do have a couple other sub folders under Reference, but I only go down one level. You can’t believe how much time just using search will save you vs. a large system of folders.(even if you are on a pc, I suggest Google Desktop Search, though others might be better…).
There is my system I hope that it helps. If any of you have any other “ninja” tips for email share them! Email can be one of the largest time sinks in terms of productivity, we all need help with it!
New Resources Page!
We have gotten a couple comments and emails that people would like a list of the sites, books and such that Josh and I mention. So today we have just put together a Resources page you can get to over on the right above the search in the sidebar. Enjoy!
Join me on Twitter!
Twitter is this amazing little web site that is a conversational “one to many” tool. It allows an element of networking with brief messages. Anyways, it would be awesome to build a network of young leaders and youth ministers who could ask a question or have a quick conversation through this great tool.
So, if that sounds like something you would like to connect to, my twitter is at twitter.com/tonysteward, click to add me!
Podtech: Scoble interview of Tim Ferris, author of “The 4 Hour Work Week”
If you do anything this week, and you struggle with time management, then go and watch this video with Tim Ferris. He has some very good things to say about not letting the urgency of email and digital life take away your productivity.
Book: “How to Read a Book” my summary
On a previous podcast I mentioned that I was reading a book titled, “How to read a book” which was written by Mortimer Adler. It is much more academic than it sounds, and is proving to be the catalyst in giving me advanced reading skills - most of which I hadn’t ever read.
I have only reading the first 56 pages of 350, but I have applied the wisdom in those first 50 pages and had already seen incredible results. This mainly comes from Adler’s insights into what he calls Inspectional reading, which is a process of getting to the theme and details of a book without having to read every single word. He calls it skimming, but in my mind that conjures pictures of randomly flipping through pages in a hopeless effort to find the “gems” of the book. Instead it 6 step process that is followed up by the 4 essentials questions that need answered after reading a book.
6 Steps in Inspectional Reading (a little different than book from my emphasis):
- Read the title page and/or preface (or introduction)
- Study the Tables of Contents (looking for structure to the big idea)
- Check the Index (for key words and their passages)
- Read Dust Jacket and/or Publishers Blurb
- Look at Chapters that seem to be pivotal to the Books Argument (from the general knowledge you have at this point)
- Finally, turn the pages, skimming(looking at subtitles and viewing each page quickly) and looking for lists, diagrams and interesting sections
4 Questions to Answer after reading a book
- What is the book about as a whole?
- What is being said in detail?
- Is the Book true in whole or part?
- What of it? (further study, implications, action steps)
Being the skeptic that I am I really wasn’t sure this would prove effective. So I just tried it this afternoon on a book I have been meaning to read titled, “The Starfish and the Spider”. It was actually hard for me to trust doing an Inspectional read on this book because so many people have recommended it that I didn’t want to miss anything. But after only 2 hours+ I had gone through the Inspectional Reading and had answered the 4 questions (in the books blank pages, a great way to summarize and reference the book later!), and feel like I have a stronger understanding of the book than if I had drudged through every word. Very Exciting!
I highly suggest reading “How to read a book” by Mortimer J. Adler. I even more pumped now to read the remaining 300 pages carefully so that I can grow in the discipline of reading, and to get more from it and much less time!
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