I will be the first to admit that I’m a doer that uses that
metric to measure other people or organization’s value. Clearly the more you do
the more valuable you are to your organization and to others! The difficulty is
that being busy for the sake of being busy doesn’t equate to making a real
difference in a person’s life or seeing a community go from being marginal to
becoming healthy. So how do I find a balance between being a doer and doing the
things that count?
I can remember being part of a group of pastors that shared
the same church facility for worship. One of the pastors wanted us to meet
together and just hang out. The other pastor and myself were somewhat critical
of having another meeting if it didn’t have a purpose and actually accomplish
something of value. The pastor who was leading the group was offended by our comments
and ultimately made a statement that struck me about me being a doer and how I
was too quick to judge others. I have to confess that I’m a doer and I do value
my time and want to see worthwhile things accomplished if I’m going to be part
of another meeting.
So it is important to step back I believe and evaluate what
you are doing, how you are doing it and the why of doing it. The difficulty
with multi-tasking becoming the latest fad and doing more is that we forget at
times what we are really about. I know that in the past quantity was always
more important than quality. I can remember between college and grad school
when I worked as a concrete guy doing curb and gutter for a large contractor in
the SF area. What mattered was how many linear feet output was accomplished
each day. Yes the overall quality mattered but we would never waste time to be
concerned with cosmetic blemishes when we had poured 3-4,000 feet.
It’s too easy in today’s context to no longer see people as
people but as numbers that you process and make sure they accomplish the task
before them. The difficulty comes when this model for business, doing church or
neighborhood work is derailed because of one individual that has been ignored
or hurt by being too busy to care about or the product produced was
substandard. The bottom line has to become people not products or possessions.
Do I care enough to stop, look and listen to what is really happening around
me? Do I pretend that everything is ok when in all actuality it isn’t and I
have been too busy to stop and help?
I still think it is important to keep track of what you do
but more importantly to see that the things you do actually matter and make a
difference in someone’s life! I know that I personally don’t like being viewed
as a number or a statistic.
Do the things that count!
No comments:
Post a Comment