LeaderLines: Self-Control in a Wired World

I discovered something about myself a long time ago: I’m capable of being a really sophisticated procrastinator.

Yep. If I’m not watching myself, I can let busyness pass for business.

Laziness, I would smugly think, was not my problem. No, Proverbs 6:10-11 wasn’t written for me:

A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest,
And poverty will come on you like a robber.

But I began to notice that I had another thief to steal away my productivity. Not laziness, for me, but busyness. And I think busyness just may be the more sneaky thief.

Laziness is easy to spot. Think chips and soda while sitting on the sofa watching a talk show. Not my problem.

But busyness? It gives you the satisfaction of action while robbing you of any real production. It’s finishing the news magazine article when you should really be writing your report. It’s organizing your to-do list when you should really be punching things off it. It’s even found in doing something that you hired office staff to do just so you can avoid what you were hired to do.

And then, lo, there appeared the computer, then the internet, and then the wifi-enabled smartphone. Crack for busyness-addicts!

We need to make sure that our productivity tools are making us, well, productive. That’s why I like this 7-minute clip from Josh Harris. It’s from a sermon on Proverbs 6, and he suggests we could paraphrase it in this way:

A little web-surfing
A little Facebook
A little folding of the hands around your smartphone
And spiritual poverty will come on you like a robber.

So, take a look at this clever clip and let the Spirit convict you of any way you’ve let busyness keep you from the things you should really be doing:


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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.