Focus Today and Tomorrow Becomes Clearer

 

Leaders have to have laser beam-like focus.  Do you agree or disagree with that statement?  It is so hard, especially in this day and age to stay focused on the task at hand.  Squirrel!  What was I saying?  Oh yeah, focus.  I recently learned that someone I know might have attention deficit disorder or ADD for short.  But that person does not seem to fit what I thought was traditional ADD.

After looking at the list of qualities of a person who has ADD, I thought I could possibly have ADD as well.  When I am tidying up I do find myself taking one thing to one room and finding something else in that room that needs to be organized, then moving stuff around to other rooms from that room.  Then I catch myself and try to focus on the first room I originally started to clean in the first place.

But how does that translate to leadership, especially in youth ministry?  That is if you're still with me.  FOCUS!  I would say most youth leaders have a hard time focusing just because that's the nature of the work of a youth pastor.  How can one stay focused in ministry?  Here are a few helpful suggestions:

1. Keep it about the mission.

Does what you're being asked to do tie in to the mission?  There are an endless supply of well-meaning people asking if you can do this or that.  Most of the things being asked of you are good things.  Not all of them are the right things for you to be doing.  Saying "no" is hard, but it allows you to focus on what God has called you to do.

2. Write it down.

I love to-do lists.  Sometimes I will be so overwhelmed thinking I have so much to do.  But when I sit down and write out what I need to get done it's not as overwhelming as my mind made it out to be in the first place.  There are some helpful digital apps to help keep you focused.  What I like about an app is it is always on my phone.  I don't have to remember where I placed that piece of paper.  I used to use wunderlist but they sold out to Microsoft ToDo and there is one feature that is missing - being able to add tasks automatically to my Google calendar.  I am trying out TickTick and Todoist right now and so far they are pretty good.  Google's Keep Notes is o.k. too.

3. Plan for distractions.

Let's face it, distractions are going to happen.  So plan for them.  If you are a planner, and want to plan out your day, leave some room in the day for drop-ins or visitations that come up.  If you end up not getting distracted, then you have time to get ahead.  Not likely, but we can always dream right?  Sometimes, as a leader, you have to be unkind.  So sometimes when distractions come your way that get in the way of staying focused you need to cut your time short with some people.

4. Shut off notifications.

With all the information we could ever want at our fingertips, there is a temptation to get distracted by what's on our phones.  Long ago I turned off notifications when I get an email.  I don't need to know every time I get an e-mail.  Most of them are not personal anyway.  I check in periodically to make sure I am not missing out on pertinent information and to reply to those I need to.  I have recently turned off Facebook Messenger notifications too.  It just got too distracting.  Again, I check in occasionally and get back to people in a reasonable amount of time.  It doesn't have to be immediate.  If it's an emergency, they know how to reach me.  If you don't want to turn off your notifications entirely, then when you are trying to focus, try turning them all off for a short period of time while you try to buckle down on getting things done.

I don't want to make this too long, so you can get back to focusing.  One last thing, though, I just got a compliment from my son (he comes to work with me occasionally).  He said, "Dad, why don't you take breaks?"  I try not to take breaks unless they are needed.  I wait to break for lunch when it is lunch time.  Some people take too many breaks.  Happy productivity.