4. Delegate Responsibility, Not Tasks
By far, one of the most productive things you can do is delegate. You cannot do everything yourself. Don’t even try. You need a team of people and volunteers working together. But many pastors delegate poorly. They just give people a task to do.
Nobody wants to be given someone else’s to-do list. Leaders want responsibility. If you want to build leaders (and keep leaders), you have to give them authority and let them lead. When you delegate to someone, give them responsibility for a certain area.
Be clear with them what the desired outcome is, give them boundaries is needed and then step away. Don’t tell them exactly what to do or how to do. Just tell them what they are responsible for, and let them lead. Only come alongside to help if they are struggling or are not achieving the desired outcome.
5. Automate Your Appointments
Use a tool like Calendly to set appointment blocks in your schedule. You pick the times when you will be available to meet. People can then look at your open time slots, and book themselves.
This saves the hassle of multiple emails back and forth trying to set a date and time for the meeting. Instead, you just send them a link to your Calendaly calendar. The appointment will automatically appear on your calendar. This is a game-changer for counseling appointments or any other meetings with church members!
6. Schedule Appointments With Yourself
If you do not fill your schedule, others will fill it for you. Schedule the most important things first. For example, if you need a few hours every Monday morning to work on your sermon, make a standing appointment for sermon prep every Monday.
Then, when people ask if you can meet at that time, you can look at your calendar and say with integrity, “Sorry, I have an appointment at that time. How about…” Think of all the things you need to do every week, month or quarter and block time for it.
7. Make a Daily To-Do List
Take Jesus’ advice. Do not worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Have a place to write down all the things you need to do in the future. I use Wunderlist.
Constantly looking at this huge list is overwhelming and unproductive. So each day, write down the five most important things you need to get done today. Accomplish these things first. Then, if you have time, move on to other tasks.
8. Set a Timer for Your Tasks
Think about how much you get done when you only have a short time to finish it. Setting a timer forces you to focus and work fast. Many people swear by this technique.
Give it a try. Set a timer for 25 minutes and see how many emails you can answer before the buzzer. Think of it as a game, and you will get a lot more done with a lot less wasted time.
9. Only Touch an Email Once
How many times have you read an email, and clicked the “mark as unread” button? This is procrastination at its worst. You don’t want to write a response, or you don’t know the answer to the question, so you push it off until later. You waste a ton of time re-reading the same email and thinking about it too long.
Make a rule to only touch a message one time. Do not check your email unless you plan on answering it. When you do, answer immediately even if the answer is brief. If the response will take too long to write, call the person or set a meeting.
