We started this blog to provide tools, insights, and resources for leaders in the missions world. And there are so many great resources that we have learned from that we want to point you towards! We’ll regularly have these “Quick Reads” posts to provide some of the best articles, books, quotes, videos, and miscellaneous things that have helped us grow as leaders over the years. And because all leaders need humor (ours tends towards the self-deprecating and dark comedy flavors) or to explore feelings (through poems or art!), we’ll throw one of those in there too.
Quote:
“One reason we are so harried and hurried is that we make yesterday and tomorrow our business, when all that legitimately concerns us is today. If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda which God did not put there. Let us submit the list to Him and ask Him to indicate which items we must delete. There is always time to do the will of God. If we are too busy to do that, we are too busy.”
Elisabeth Elliot
Comic:
Main Resource:
The 80/20 Rule
Leaders can often feel overwhelmed by ministry responsibilities, and struggle with how to best prioritize and allocate their time. The Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule, is a general framework that we use to guide our schedules, commitments, and boundaries. The 80-20 rule states that a small amount of inputs will lead to the majority of impact. Pareto calls it the rule of the “vital few and the trivial many.” With this mindset, we try to focus on only the most important inputs and find peace with releasing the trivial many.
For example, if we had 10 church planting teams under our leadership, we could “equally” coach all ten leaders. But we have limitations on our own capacity and time! However, suppose one of those church planting leaders actually disciples 8 of the ten teams! By focusing on that one person, we trust we are influencing 80% of the teams with minimal energy and time spent.