Author: Randy Elster

Thought for today: Saturday, February 13, 2016

Ideas don’t happen because they are great—or by accident. The misconception that great ideas inevitably lead to success has prevailed for too long. . . . Creative people are known for winging it: improvising and acting on intuition is, in some way, the haloed essence of what we do and who we are. However, when we closely analyze how the most successful and productive creatives, entrepreneurs, and business people truly make ideas happen, it turns out that “having the idea” is just a small part of the process, perhaps only 1 percent of the journey.

—Scott Belsky

HT: What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done by Matt Perman

Truth for tonight: Thursday, February 11, 2016

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

—Exodus 20:13-17 NIV

Thought for today: Thursday, February 11, 2016

Brilliant insight, hard work, and good intentions are not enough. Effectiveness is a distinct skill that must be learned. Some people are more inclined to it than others, and everyone is naturally built to be capable of effectiveness, but effectiveness is something we learn—like reading.

—Matt Perman

HT: What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done by Matt Perman

Thought for today: Wednesday, February 10, 2016

In more than fifty years of consulting, Peter Drucker pointed out that he never found a “natural,” someone who is instinctively effective. Every effective person he encountered—and as perhaps the greatest consultant and business thinker of the twentieth century, that’s a lot—had to work at becoming effective.

—Matt Perman

HT: What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done by Matt Perman

Truth for tonight: Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

—Exodus 20:8-11 NIV

Thought for today: Tuesday, February 8, 2016

Most of us haven’t paid sufficient attention to the skill of defining our work clearly. This is why it so often feels like our workdays never stop. When you don’t have your work clearly defined, there can never be any finish point.

—Matt Perman

HT: What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done by Matt Perman