105Plan Timetakes a back seat. The current obsession with productivity
methods is a bit like being obsessed with the kind of Band- Aid
we want to use rather than sweeping up the broken glass. We
can have the perfect planner and task- capturing method, but if
we aren’t doing what matters, then none of it matters.
First things first. Knowing our priorities gets to the heart
of planning. And priorities are inextricably linked to purpose,
of which God is the only distributor. It’s one thing to be effi-
cient. Efficiency means getting a lot done in a small amount
of time. It’s quite another thing to be effective. Effectiveness
means getting the right things done.
There are myriad books and tips on being efficient. I’d
rather encourage you to focus on being effective. We do this by
keeping God’s big “dots” in mind so we can connect them. We
prioritize His priorities. We remember why we are doing all
the little day- to- day tasks. We make sure we aren’t just adding
things to our list arbitrarily. We add them because they will get
us to our goal, God’s dot for us.
Priorities, Processes, and Practical Actions
Effective planning involves three different phases. First,
priorities make up the overarching vision we have for our time
and our lives. The second phase is nailing down the processes
or methods we use to manage our tasks. The third is enacting
our processes on the practical level, through the small tasks
we do each day.
The challenge is that we can easily spend all our time
drowning in the practical tasks or building our processes
while never examining or determining our priorities. The
phrase “Can’t see the forest for the trees” is right at home