End ResultSample

Ordering Actions that Count

During a critical phase of multiple client deliveries, I had several speaking assignments in various churches alongside a national-level professional conference. The Biblical principle of Mt 6:33 came alive as I prioritized the pulpit ministry. Thereon, I reviewed the client deliverables, assessed the high-priority dependencies, delineated urgent from important, took care of the urgent, and prioritized the conference content that needed to be curated. When a critical CEO presentation came in, reconfiguring priorities ensured the achievement of those diverse demands, seamlessly! Providing pre-eminence to God in my work-a-day world ensures I have divine enablement to achieve the diverse aspects of my deliverables.

With increasing complexities, spiraling expectations, and crashing timelines, the corporate executive is stretched to deliver ever-growing and often competing work demands. When confronted with equally important and pressing deliverables, you are constantly torn as to where to invest your attention, resources, and time. Prioritization is an essential skill; the effective integration of science and art that needs to be nurtured to achieve those moving targets, every day.

Mary and Martha present the right backdrop to bring home this truth. The devotion of both women was unparalleled, however one was concerned with the temporal while the other with the transcendental. Jesus places a higher premium on the eternal than earthly pursuits (Lk 10:42). The choice to be Mary or Martha is yours on a daily basis. The fundamental question is what takes precedence in your life? Is it the pursuit of temporal, transient goals or the transcendental one? (Mt 6:33). Reflect often on ‘who’ and ‘what’ are your priorities? (Deut 4). You will give time and effort to what you prioritize.

Prioritization of actions to achieve designated goals is a management imperative; prioritization of His Word over your work is a Scriptural injunction. Often you end up addressing the ‘urgent’, while the ‘important’ is relegated to the back burner. Ensuring the ‘important’ are prioritized and given their due attention, should minimize the occurrences of ‘urgent’. When you prioritize Him, He prioritizes your tasks and gives grace from above to achieve and surpass your goals.

Dear Lord, enable me to have ‘You’ pre-eminent in my life so that my life, my pursuits, my all will come second to You, Your purposes, and Your desires. Amen