What's Best Next

1. God-Centered Productivity: Love in Action

We are to use all that we have, in all areas of life, for the good of others, to the glory of God—and that this is the most exciting life.

Gospel-Driven Productivity (GDP). It's about using all resources, in every aspect of life, to benefit others and glorify God. This approach integrates biblical principles with practical methods, emphasizing that serving others is the most fulfilling path. It's not just about getting things done, but about doing good works that reflect God's love and purpose.

The essence of GDP. It is to be on the lookout to do good for others to the glory of God, in all areas of life, and to do this with creativity and competence. Further, being gospel-driven also means knowing how to get things done so that we can serve others in a way that really helps, in all areas of life, without making ourselves miserable in the process through overload, overwhelm, and hard-to-keep-up systems.

All areas of life matter. This isn't just about your work life, though it is about that. Our personal lives should be given just as much attention and intentionality as our work lives. This book aims to help you in all areas of your life, because every area of your life is a calling from God.

2. Effectiveness Over Efficiency: Prioritizing the Right Tasks

Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.

Effectiveness first. True productivity isn't about doing more things faster, but about doing the right things. Efficiency is secondary; it doesn't matter how quickly you complete tasks if they don't align with your goals and values. Prioritize effectiveness to ensure your efforts are meaningful and impactful.

The pitfalls of efficiency. Focusing solely on efficiency can lead to wasted effort and even undermine true productivity. It can cause you to do the wrong things faster, overlook the importance of intangibles like relationships, and undermine the true source of effectiveness: people.

Tangible vs. Intangible. The greatest evidence of productivity comes from intangibles, not tangibles. We need to incorporate intangibles into our definition of productivity or we will short-change ourselves by thinking that sitting at our desks for a certain number of hours equals a productive day.

3. The DARE Model: A Practical Framework

We are to put productivity practices and tools in the service of God’s purpose for us, which is that we do good for others, in all areas of life, to his glory.

Four steps to effectiveness. The DARE model provides a structured approach to productivity: Define, Architect, Reduce, and Execute. This framework helps you clarify your priorities, create a flexible structure, eliminate unnecessary tasks, and take effective action.

DARE:

• Define: Know what's most important based on God's word.
• Architect: Structure your life around a flexible routine.
• Reduce: Eliminate distractions and non-essential tasks.
• Execute: Implement daily tactics to achieve your goals.

Adventure in doing good. The acronym DARE reminds us to approach productivity with a sense of adventure, creativity, and generosity. It's about being radical and abundant in using our effectiveness to make life better for others, recognizing that this is the most exciting life.

4. Define: Aligning with God's Purpose

Define what’s most important in your life based on what God says, not first on what you (or others) think.

Mission, vision, roles, and goals. Defining involves clarifying your mission, vision, roles, and goals in alignment with God's word. This step is about identifying the right values and basing your life on those that God lifts up as central.

The essence of defining. It can be summarized this way: Define what’s most important in your life based on what God says, not first on what you (or others) think. This is the only way to build a life that lasts and thus is truly productive.

Building a life that lasts. This is the only way to build a life that lasts and thus is truly productive (Matt. 7:21 – 27; Prov. 3:5 – 6; 14:12).

5. Architect: Structuring Time for Key Priorities

Structure your life by living your life mainly from a flexible routine, not a set of lists.

Intentions are not enough. A bad (or nonexistent) structure for your life will undo the best of intentions. Setting up a flexible framework for your life also frees you to be less dependent on lists.

Time is like space. Just as there is only so much stuff that we can fit into our closets, so also there is only so much stuff that we can fit into our days. If we don’t think in terms of a basic schedule with slots for our main types of tasks, we end up in overload.

Living from a routine. The essence of the architecture step can be summarized this way: Structure your life by living your life mainly from a flexible routine, not a set of lists.

6. Reduce: Freeing Time by Strategic Elimination

Reduce on the basis of what’s most important, not on the basis of misguided notions of living a minimalistic life, and do this by implementing systems that enable you to ultimately expand your capacity overall.

Making everything fit. After creating this structure, often you’ll find that making everything fit is the biggest obstacle. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve architected wrong; it just means you need to reduce.

The DEAD process. You need to know what’s most important (define), weave it into your life (architect), and then get rid of the rest (reduce). But you don’t get rid of the rest by simply letting balls drop. Rather, you do it by creating systems and using tactics that ultimately expand your capacity. This brings us into the realm of the core practices of day-to-day time management, including delegating, eliminating, automating, and deferring (the DEAD process we will learn).

Expanding capacity. The essence of reducing can be summarized this way: Reduce on the basis of what’s most important, not on the basis of misguided notions of living a minimalistic life, and do this by implementing systems that enable you to ultimately expand your capacity overall.

7. Execute: Daily Disciplines for Impact

The better you get, the better you’d better get.

Making things happen. This is the stage of making things happen in the moment. It is easy to think of execution as synonymous with productivity, but in reality it is actually only the last step.

Clear path for execution. When you have done the previous steps (define, architect, and reduce), the path is clear for efficient and enjoyable execution. This section will look at the best tactics for making things happen every day.

The last step. Execution is actually only the last step. When you have done the previous steps (define, architect, and reduce), the path is clear for efficient and enjoyable execution.

8. Productivity Beyond the Individual: Organizational and Societal Transformation

Modern society depends for its functioning, if not for its survival, on the effectiveness of large-scale organizations, on their performance and results, and on their values, standards, and self-demands.

Broader sense of productivity. We need to understand productivity not simply in the sense of personal productivity but also in a broader sense—seeing it as about making our organizations, cities, and society as a whole more productive as well.

Lifting the poor out of poverty. We will also see that one of the chief things we should seek to do with our increased productivity is to take action to help lift the poor out of poverty, because this is at the heart of the righteousness God requires.

Transformation of the world. The ultimate result of GDP is the transformation of the world socially, economically, and spiritually, to the glory of God. For as we seek to do good for others to God’s glory, the light of the gospel shines through our words and deeds.

9. The Gospel-Driven Life: A Life of Abundant Good Works

If only every Christian in the Church today were living the Sermon on the Mount [which is the anchor of GDP], the great revival for which we are praying and longing would already have started.

Transformation of the world. The ultimate result of GDP is the transformation of the world socially, economically, and spiritually, to the glory of God. For as we seek to do good for others to God’s glory, the light of the gospel shines through our words and deeds.

The gospel is the key. The power behind our productivity comes from realizing that, through faith in the gospel, we are accepted by God in Christ apart from what we do. This puts wind in our sails and unleashes the power of the Spirit in our lives (Gal. 3:5).

The gospel is the key. The only way to be productive is to realize that you don’t have to be productive.

10. The Importance of Character: Wisdom and Discernment

The question isn’t, What do I want to do for God? but, What does God want me to do?

Character over techniques. The foundation of effectiveness is not first techniques or tools, but character. The only way to make the right decisions is first to be the right kind of person (Rom. 12:1 – 2; 2 Peter 5:1 – 8).

Productivity from character. Productivity comes first from character, not techniques.

God's will. We cannot be truly productive unless all our activity stems from love for God and the acknowledgment that he is sovereign over all our plans.

Last updated: April 8, 2025