What’s Best Next: Get Up Early! Read Late! (something like that)

As we continue to make our way through Matt Perman’s book What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done (Zondervan, 2014), we recall that we are in the fourth main section of the book, called “Architect,” which treats the concept of creating “a flexible structure” in which to do our best work and be most productive.

Chapter 15 – “Creating the Right Routines” –  gives us another part of this structure in which to get our best work done first. Perman sets forth “six routines that can  help you retain balance, flexibility, and enable you to get the right things done” (p.209).

Here are those six routines that should be part of our schedule:

1. Get Up Early! [Or stay Up Late!] – “In the end, it doesn’t matter whether you get up early or stay up late. The key is that you need a long period of uninterrupted time to get your basic workflow and key projects done. That’s the principle” (p.210).
2. Daily Workflow – “Basically, it boils down to one hour of focused, uninterrupted work each day in which you can work through a set of four core tasks [‘plan your day, execute your workflow, do your main daily activity, do some next actions or major project work’].”
3. Weekly Workflow – “Whereas the daily workflow is mostly for work tasks, the weekly workflow routine is for home tasks.”
4. Prayer and Scripture – “…the necessity of maintaining a consistent time of prayer and meditation on Scripture. …Don’t neglect it” (p.215).
5. Reading and Development – “…this is critical [I agree 200%!]. …Remember that, as Mortimer Adler has said, ‘marking up a book is not an act of mutilation but of love.’ …You can do more than just read for your learning and growth. The Teaching Company, for example, has many excellent courses on a full range of subjects” (p.215).
6. Rest – “So this one is simple: take at least one full day off each week” (p.216) [That day for Christians is Sunday, the Lord’s day.].