7 Ways to Be Productive When You Don’t Feel like it

We know productivity is important. We understand that God wants us to use this life He has given us for His glory. Yet, year after year we fall into patterns of wasting time, procrastinating, and not getting stuff done. Maybe it’s because we only want to do things when we “feel like it”. Ephesians 5:15-16 says, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” The phrase “making the best use of the time” reminds us that wise use of time does not just happen. Here are 7 easy ways to be productive, even when you don’t feel like it.

1.     Make a weekly plan

A weekly plan is a way to tell the week where you want it to go. It is a fixed, yet flexible decision of what you will do and accomplish in the week. Part of my Sunday routine is to get out my planner and first write down appointments, responsibilities, and required to-dos. I then go back through and schedule meals and extra household chores to fill each day. I’ve found by being structured in the way I plan my week, it allows me to accept or reject things that come up. I have the flexibility to change my schedule as God leads me, but it gives me a framework.

2.     Decide on priority tasks.

Within your planner, it is important to decide what tasks are priorities for you. I like to choose 3 tasks for home/blogging and 3 tasks for work. These tasks are in addition to regular daily habits. Every day after I finish my priority tasks, I can decide to do more if I’m feeling up to it or just stop. By putting these tasks in writing in my planner, I am held accountable to complete them. It’s important to remember that these do not have to be done if God has something better in store for your time.

3.     Know your limits

The first thing we have to accept is that we have limits. We also have to be okay with the idea that not everyone’s limits are the same. We must have grace for our limits being less than someone else’s limits. God has formed us in His image with limitations. Our limits remind us that we are not God, the limitless King! The work He has given us will be within our limits.

4.     Set a timer

A timer is a great tool to help get you beyond your feelings and into action! I use the Pomodoro Technique when working to complete tasks. The idea is that you work for 25 minutes and take a break for 5 minutes. During the Pomodoro (25 minutes), you only focus on the task at hand. You continue this cycle of work then rest four times, then take a longer (15-30 minute break). 

5.     Reward yourself

Simple rewards give you something to work towards. If I complete a task, I may reward myself by reading a book, walking outside, or calling a friend. I try to avoid rewarding myself with television or social media time because both of those tend to be time traps for me.

6.     Learn to say “no”

No one wants to say “no”. We are conditioned to think “yes” is the only answer. Lysa TerKeurst talks in her book “The Best Yes” about sacrificing a “yes” for your “best yes”. She says in her book, “Saying yes all the time won’t make me Wonder Woman. It will make me a worn out woman.” Maybe the secret to the “best yes” is learning to throw in a “no” when encountered with a lesser request. It goes back to the passage from Ephesians 5 about “looking carefully how you walk….as wise” (Ephesians 5:15-16 ESV). God is the only one whose promises are always “yes” (2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV).

7.     Be purposeful in how you use technology

Lastly, I think it is crucial that we evaluate the way we use technology. Technology can be such a time trap and a controller for us if we allow it to be. When making decisions about the way we use technology, we need to consider what our purpose is for using it. If we do not make purposeful decisions about how we use it, I fear it will control us. As people of God, we must control what influence we allow a device to have over our time and space.

 Where we have influence over our time and productivity, we should use it. God blessed us with minds to think and make decisions over our daily lives. Purposeful decisions to allow or refuse requests will allow for a purposeful life. Our feelings do not have the final word in how we live our lives. God is honored when we thank Him for our lives by stewarding it well.  

Biblical Call for Productivity

Appointments, home chores, work tasks, gatherings, hobbies, oh my! At times, it can feel like there are not enough hours in the day to do the things we want or need to do. Productivity is an ideal that most people long to reach so they can have time for what is important. Productivity is not just a worldly goal, but there is a Biblical mandate for it. In the first chapter of the Bible, Adam and Eve were put to work by God. They were called to have children and be rulers over living things (Genesis 1:28). Even now, God has called us to make “the best use of the time” (Ephesians 5: 16 ESV). Here are some ways Biblical productivity may differ from worldly productivity:

1.     Productivity is not about us.

As I was perusing Pinterest for productivity quotes, I was amazed by the self-glorification found in the quotes. There was a mirage of sayings like “Only you can make it happen,” “I got this.” and “Things are always working out for me.” According to these sayings, the goal of productivity is to win at being me. This pursuit of self-excellence ignores the real goal of productivity. The goal of being a productive person is to do your work so you are available for what God may be calling you to do. Consider the command given by Jesus,

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the great and first commandment.

And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22:36-40 ESV).

By taking care of the things God has called us to manage, we are freed to be present for those God is calling us to be there for.

2.     Doing more does not give us an identity.

Look around and you’ll see to-do lists a mile long. If you’ve seen the large sections in planners these days, you know what I’m talking about! Some of us have something planned for every hour of the day. It’s almost as if we are trying to find our identity in the length and extent of our to-do lists. More does not equal better. We may be sacrificing a better “yes” by feeling the need to be it all for all people. Paul tells us that by “testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2 ESV). The more we are in tune with who God is, the more we will know who He has called us to be. Our reflection as a child of God is expressed through our doing the things God has specifically called us to do. By applying this to our lives, we may not only be doing the best things but may also shorten our to-do list.

3.     A completed to-do list is not the goal.

A pen mark through a task on my to-do list is a satisfying feeling. Nothing beats seeing a to-do list completely finished. There may be a time for an incomplete to-do list. Often, Jesus was interrupted when He was doing His Earthly ministry. His to-do list was probably more often than not left unfinished. As Jesus was teaching His disciples about fasting, a man approached Jesus. The man told Jesus that his daughter had just died, but wanted Jesus to touch the girl. In a moment that could have been looked at as a distraction, “Jesus rose and followed him, with His disciples” (Matthew 9:19 ESV). What began as an afternoon of teaching twelve disciples became an opportunity for healing. The remarkable nature of this healing would spread to neighboring districts. Maybe God was trying to show us that distractions to our to-do lists could be the most important “yes’s that we allow. It’s often when we give of our selves sacrificially, we see God use us in the most remarkable ways.

Understandably, it is difficult to lay our schedules down before God and ask for direction. Maybe, like me, you have also found identity in doing more. The more I have grown to accept what God has called me to do, the less overwhelmed I feel. Jesus said, “my toke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30 ESV). Perhaps when we lay down the weight of trying to earn acceptance, we can truly gain freedom to worship Go

Busyness Is Not a Badge of Honor

“How are you doing?” “Busy.” “How’s your job?” “Busy.” “How’s your relationship with God?” “Busy.” If our life is characterized by the word “busy”, we might need to make some changes in our schedule. God’s Word says that our lives will have different seasons, a time for war and a time for peace (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 ESV). The problem comes when our schedule starts to get in the way of our work for God.

Here are a few questions that can be helpful when looking at our schedules:

1.     Am I being a good manager of the time God has given me?

We are called to be wise in the way we manage our time (Ephesians 5:15-16 ESV). God has given us this time on Earth to make His name great. If we don’t tell each minute where it should go, our schedule ends up controlling us. Things we never intended to spend an hour on end up floating away. The opportunity exists to make our time on Earth count by being intentional in the way we spend our time.

2.     Am I busy doing things that matter?

In our culture, we have made “me time” a thing. We justify bing-watching Gilmore Girls or scrolling through Instagram, rather than spending time with God. God never intended to shame us into spending time with Him; rather, it is an opportunity. Often when I feel I don’t have time for community with believers or spending time in the Bible, it’s because I’ve filled my time with mindless distractions. When I consider the brevity of life and work that He has called me to do (John 9:4 ESV), I am encouraged to spend my days seeking His will for my time. C.S. Lewis said, “God doesn’t want something from us. He simply wants us.”

3.     Am I able to be present with the people around me?

A relational God formed us to be relational beings. We are meant to be present, fully engaged, with those in our sphere. When our to-do list is never-ending, we don’t recognize and are unavailable to the needs of others. What if God is calling us to be a listening ear for a friend in trouble, but we miss it because of the whirlwind speed of our life? It takes a great deal of humility to “look not only to his [our] own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phillipians 2:4 ESV). May God remove any selfishness that leads to putting our schedule over selfless servanthood for others.

4.     Am I trying to solve problems God never gave me?

God promises that we will have troubles in this life (John 16:33 ESV). There are specific troubles that God has sent us to weather with His strength. This does not mean that every problem is God-sent for us to try to solve. In addition, some problems are meant to be given to God and not dealt with by us. Prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit are necessary to know what problems are God-ordained.

5.     Am I making space for God in my daily life?

Lastly and most importantly, we must spend time with God daily. If we have not maximized the most important part of our day, none of the minimizing of unimportant things matters. Here’s the reality: we will never accidentally fall into spending time with God. We can fall into a lot of habits (binging, overeating, gossiping), but time with the Lord takes intentionality. Our identity is not based on what we do, but whom we do it for. If our relationship with God is not healthy, our motivation to change our schedule will not be genuine.  

Amongst our busy lives, we have to let our schedule show that God is ruler of our life. This may mean we have to ask ourselves really tough questions and get real with our priorities. We have to invite God into our hearts to rearrange some attitudes that are not developing good habits. Our life should reflect to others that God is enough.