From One Degree to Another

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Design Your Day: Be Present

May 5, 2016 by Phil Auxier

I don’t know how you go about planning your day or what you’ll accomplish.  I think about this type of thing a lot because I’m one of those people who plan and stuff.  I was helped by this acronym in Claire Diaz-Ortiz’ helpful (and short!) book Design Your Day.  She calls it being present…

Pray (for guidance/direction)
Read (usually something spiritual or devotional)
Express (put some thoughts down on paper)
Schedule (sketch out an overview of the day)
Exercise (you’ll feel better moving daily)
Nourish (do something for yourself)
Track (at end of the day, trace progress in how much you accomplished in your routine)

May you could try these elements to help you day be better designed.  Listen to Claire…be present.

Filed Under: design, Planning, Productivity

Book Review – What’s Best Next

March 25, 2014 by Phil Auxier

I’ve always appreciated Matt Perman.  When he worked for Desiring God, I consulted with him on an important issue we were facing in church life and found him to be full of wisdom with theological support.  I’ve also benefitted from his time at other conferences.  He’s been approachable and always, in my interactions with him, been seeking to live out what he’s now written in this book, so I would highly recommend this book.

What is this book?  It’s entitled What’s Best Next.  How The Gospel Transforms The Way You Get Things Done.  It’s a book on how the Gospel informs productivity and, admittedly, Matt believes he’s written something that is unique.  I can’t find a weakness in this book.  I’m one of those people who find themselves where the knives go in the knife drawer.  I’m an organized person and have some borderline disorder tendencies when it comes to order (just ask those close to me).  I’ve read books on productivity, getting things done and maximizing my life and time.  But, in this book, the great content of those books is fused with a life that exists for something eternal: God’s glory and the good of people.
I’ve already given away 3 copies of this book and we’re considering using it as a Sunday School text at our church.  I think many could benefit from so many specifics in this book.  It breaks into 7 parts: 1) Making God Supreme in Productivity, 2) Gospel Driven Productivity: A New Way to Look at Getting Things Done, 3) Define: Know What’s Most Important, 4) Architect: Create a Flexible Structure, 5) Reduce: Free Up Your Time for What’s Most Important, 6) Execute: Do What’s Most Important, 7) Living This Out.  Matt’s style of writing is easy to read and includes helpful summaries and blocks at the end of each chapter and for the book as a whole at the end.

There are so many great recommendations and practical outworkings in this book.  My favorite parts were the first 2 parts where a theological foundation is laid for why we should be productive and how this is about more than self-serving tendencies.  It’s about wielding all of our time and energy in a way so that God is glorified and people are served.  These are things that are worth giving your life for and are eternal.  They’re in desperate need of being Gospel-informed.  Matt gives these connections and from there presses us into application (which is another super-helpful feature of this book).  It will not be my go-to book when I’m stuck in slow progress and evaluating how to maximize my time and energies.  

I hope you’ll read and allow God to stir your heart through Matt’s service to us.  What a blessing to have this book.  Now, there’s only one question: What’s Best Next?

Filed Under: book reviews, Matt Perman, Productivity

Easy Cord Organization

June 9, 2012 by Phil Auxier

Saw this and found it to be a great idea:

Filed Under: Organization, photo, Productivity

On Negativity…

February 9, 2010 by Phil Auxier

…from Matt Perman…

Negativity is all a matter of perspective. Negative people can make any situation, no matter how great, seem like the end of the world. And positive people can make any situation, no matter how bad, seem great.

Well said and the post gives an incredible example of what being positive can do.

Filed Under: Matt Perman, Productivity

C.J. on Productivity…

May 5, 2009 by Mere Agency Support

Productivity. Seems like an important topic these days, especially for those of us who live life eying a great day when we will stand before our Creator and give an account for the deeds done in the body (2 Corinthians 5:10). We don’t want to waste our time. We want to use it wisely to the glory of God. C.J. Mahaney recently wrote a 17 part series at his blog on Biblical Productivity. It has now been brought together into one PDF here. Enjoy and be challenged!

Filed Under: C.J., Productivity

There’s Not Enough Hours In The Day???

January 27, 2009 by Mere Agency Support

Really? Consider a day in the life of William Carey. (Carey was the father of the modern missions movement and was a translator extraordinaire. If anybody could use more hours in the day, it was him.)

HT: What’s Best Next

Filed Under: Productivity

From One Degree To Another?

Yeah, that's right. My one, consuming passion is Jesus Christ, my Lord. I'm totally gripped by one message: the Gospel - the good news that God came after me when I was far from Him. So, the life I live, I live by faith in Him: He loved me and gave Himself for me.

From One Degree To Another is the change that He's accomplishing in me by grace. Growing downward in humility, upward into Him, outward toward others, and inward with renewal characterize my existence.

This site is where I flesh all of these types of things out, including my life as a slave to Jesus, husband, father, coffee-enjoyer, and pastor. I hope it encourages you.

RSS My latest sermons at Crestview

  • Love One Another April 27, 2025
  • The Word of Contentment April 20, 2025
  • Good Friday 2025 April 19, 2025

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