REview of Do More Better By Tim Challies

“I don’t consider myself busy.”

Those were the words of Tim Challies back in 2012. Ever since reading those words I’ve been intrigued by and glued to anything Tim writes on productivity tips. I say that because I know he likely accomplishes more than I do each day and I feel at times way too busy. So, I’ve come to the conclusion that either Tim is a robot, a clone, or he’s got a few secrets he’s employing that I’m clearly not.

Until I met him at T4G in 2014 I was leaning very heavily towards the first option—that Tim Challies is really just a robot. I still haven’t ruled out the second option, but after reading his new book, Do More Better, I’m strongly leaning towards accepting the fact that he’s a real person who has learned a few helpful things about productivity.

The book begins where it should, by outlining the purpose behind productivity. He does this with a little catechism on productivity. At the end his conclusion is that our purpose—and the reason we strive to be productive—is “to glorify God by doing good to others”. This is the reason we should strive to do more better. As Challies says, “God calls you to productivity, but he calls you to the right kind of productivity. He calls you to be productive for his sake, not your own.”

The system that Challies suggests is quite simple. Mercifully simple. That’s one of the things I appreciate about this book. I’ve read productivity books but they were so rigorous and had such a steep learning curve I found myself unable to implement them. Challies really gets at the heart of why we do productivity and then gives a relatively simple way to help us be more productive.

I’ll give you the reader’s digest version of his simple system, but you need to know that if you get the book you’ll find a ton of practical pointers along the way. Here it is in a nutshell: Root out (repent of) productivity thieves, write our all of your responsibilities, consider (write) your mission, now consider how your mission and responsibilities are related. Then you need to decide what to do with the responsibilities you have that do not fit into your mission statement—you can drop them, delegate them, or just do them. Once you’ve done this you need to find the right tools for task management, scheduling, and processing information. Then you master the tools and live it out and keep on living it out. That’s really it, in a nutshell. He also tacks on a helpful chapter on how to get control of your email account.

As I said earlier I’ve read several productivity books but most of them were, ironically, more time consuming than helpful. Tim gives several options for the tools to use to manage your time, schedule, and information. He also gives us a very helpful and simple principle: “A home for everything and like goes with like.” This is helpful because so often what robs my time are the things that I’m doing without purpose. Not everything has a place and so I end up wasting time or energy. Also, my lack of organizing information causes me to spend unnecessary time tracking down quotes and such.

I’ve downloaded the programs that Tim suggested and I’m going to give it a whirl. I pray that I can master these and that the learning curve isn’t too steep. But more than anything his definition or productivity has caused me to be more intentional. I’m realizing that this isn’t just a matter of accomplishing more for myself. This is a holiness issue. To not work hard at being a good steward of my time is a gospel issue. I need to do more better.

If you think you do as well, this is a great resource to get you going. You can get your copy of Do More Better, here.