So this is a quick post to detail my search for a blogging app. Simplenote can publish direct to WordPress and is available on all platforms.
How amazing is this. I can now work on posts on any and all devices using Simplenote and publish from anywhere. I feel an app review coming on.
Watch this space…
The obvious answer to this question is yes. Yes we believe in grace. I am however coming to the conclusion that this answer is too simple. There are bigger questions and the answer to these questions, I fear, reveals that we do not really believe in grace that much.
I am talking about practical applications of a belief in grace. Or to put it another way, what does our practice in our ministries, our churches and our lives show us about our theology?
I think there are elements of our preaching, our evangelism, our discipleship, our pastoral care, our training, our church leadership, how we relate to one another and how we run our ministries that highlight a deficient theology of grace.
This is a project of mine. I’ve called it the grace project. My aim in doing this is to highlight my own deficiencies in my theology if grace. To showcase Biblical teaching in grace and build a doctrine of grace that is correct and therefore to shape my life, relationships and ministry by this grace. To practically live out God’s grace to me and in me every day. To have my thinking and heart shaped by it.
Over the next week’s and months, I am going to spend time reading, thinking, praying and then writing about various different areas and how a biblical and applied theology of grace should shape us.
If you have the time, and the desire, you can join me in this grace project. And you could pray for me as I work through all this.
As I start this post I need to explain why I am developing a new system. I have a new job. It starts in February but I will finish up my current job at the end of November. This will also involve a move to a new city. Because of all these big changes, I’ve decided that the best way to mentally draw a line under things and move on, is to set up a new system.
Hopefully this new system will deal with some of the deficiencies in my old system. I like the way I was using the Time Sector System, and it was helping me to cut out unnecessary elements of my system that just bogged me down and took up wasted time. However, my mind needs to see things in projects. This is how I think and this is how I work.
So the biggest changes are that I have largely reverted to a project based set up in my task manager. The second big change is that I am trialing ClickUp for project management, task management and planning. Evernote remains as my notes app. But in a third change, I will try doing my project work using the Docs feature of ClickUp.
This system is still in development and will largely come into play when I start my new job in February. But over the next 3 months I plan to use this system and develop it further. I have not yet finalised my workflow but this is the flow of it so far.
ClickUp will become the new hub. This will replace Evernote & Notion for my planning. I may still keep planning checklists in Evernote as it is helpful to have a different window open. But, my command center will be in ClickUp. I will likely continue to do my higher level Year, Quarter and month planning in Evernote but the weekly and daily planning will take place in ClickUp.
My project list will be in ClickUp, my projects will be in ClickUp and my tasks will be in ClickUp. My notes and big picture planning will be in Evernote.
So, my vision, value and goals will be mapped out in Evernote. I will likely create a way to reflect these in ClickUp. From this I will plan out the projects and goals to develop each year. Setting priorities for the next 12 months. Given I am moving and changing jobs in January/February, I will need to do some high level planning at this time but in large part I will stick to the September – August year. From this I will develop and map out each term and the summer months. Setting projects and goals. From this I will plan each month. All this will be done in Evernote.
Projects will then be created as separate lists in ClickUp when they become active and tasks will be mapped out within these lists. I have created a custom field that is ‘Deadline’. The reason for this is I use the in-built ‘Due Date’ field to set the date I will do something. Not perfect but the way ClickUp works makes this a more sensible approach.
Each week, I will look at my month plan and select which projects I will work on, changing their status from Active to This Week. I will then schedule projects from the project list to specific days and time slots, both in ClickUp and on my Calendar. I will then go through each project for this week and determine which tasks I will work on from the project, again scheduling them for the specific day, within ClickUp. I will then review each area of Focus and schedule the tasks within it for specific days of the week. Always referring back to my month plans, goals and vision to ensure I am giving my time to the right things.
Each day, I will set priorities. This will be done at the end of the day for the next day. A red flag, denotes an objective that must be done. A yellow flag denotes a morning task. A blue flag an afternoon task and a gray flag, an evening task. The aim is to have 10-15 tasks flagged as red, yellow or blue and 2 or 3 flagged as gray. Tasks with no flag are less important.
Each morning when I start, I will do my Corum Deo. Reviewing my calendar and priorities for the day. I will write the objectives and project focus in my journal and plan an rough agenda. I have not yet decided if I will plan the agenda in Evernote, my journal or in ClickUp. In ClickUp I could use the calendar feature to set an agenda, or a Doc, or text box in my Command Center or the notepad feature. I’m going to play around with this and will make a decision before I start my new job, trying each idea in turn for a week and seeing what works best for me.
The Corum Deo should take about 10 minutes. Then I crack on. Do the work Mr Wood. Do the work.
So my plan had been to write a post entitled ‘The Tools you can use’. It was going to be (and it will be) an overview of the different tools you can use to get your work done. To be effective. But I’ve pressed pause on that and am instead going to write about the Tools I use. Then I will do an overview of how my personal productivity system works. Let’s get going.
As I’ve mentioned before, a good system needs 3 basic tools. A calendar, a notes app and a to do list app. My productivity hub is in my notes app. This is where everything starts really. I am using Evernote for this. Evernote have recently updated themselves and I am impressed with what they are doing and excited for what is to come. I use Evernote in 4 main ways. First as my planner. This is where I generate ideas, plan years, quarters and months. It is where I have my day ‘command center’ showing my plan and focus for the day. Second, it is for straight up note taking. Books, meetings, thoughts etc they all go in Evernote. Third, I manage projects here. Plans, notes, actual work and tasks (though more on this below). Fourth and finally as a record keeper for important stuff like receipts and other documents.
The main reasons for using Evernote at present are, the ease of integration, the quick capture, the ease of organising and the search. All of these are some of the best in their class. I’ve looked at other apps, some I prefer in some ways but in these core functions, they are not as good.
My To-Do list manager is ToDoist. But first a quick mention of Pleexy. Pleexy is an automation app. I’m on Pleexy’s free plan and basically any note I create in Evernote, if I tag it with @auto-todoist and then create To-Do items in the note, then they are automatically synced to ToDoist. This is a bi-directional sync. It just means I can manage tasks in Evernote and ToDoist for my projects with ease and without duplicating work.
ToDoist – this is where I plan out my tasks for the day, and the week. I have tasks from projects, areas of focus and my simple routine tasks. I like ToDoist for the global quick capture shortcuts on every device, the lightning fast sync, the ease of organisation, the flexibility and ultimately how intuitive it is to use.
For my calendar, I just use google. Simple, effective and does what I need it to.
Those are my 3 core apps. Around these apps and tools are many others.
For all my writing work, spreadsheets etc I tend to use Google’s suite of tools as they are available anywhere though for some work stuff I have to use Word and Excel. I am even toying with using google docs right now to write this post and have an add on which should export it to my blog.
I use Toggl to track my time so I can see how I am using it and my current browser of choice is the Brave Browser. I like the privacy features alongside its similarity to Chrome. For password management I have recently switched from Lastpass to Bitwarden.
I track all my finances in Moneydance.
Lastly, physical tools. I have a notebook and 2 sets of pens that I use. The notebook is an AHGXG Soft Cover A5 Dotted Notebook that I bought from Amazon. So far, the best notebook I have ever bought and I will continue to use them. I have a set of 20 coloured Staedtler triplus fineliners which I use for most writing and then a similar number of different coloured Papermate Flair medium felt tipped pens for headers and bold text.
That is about it really. That is what I use. As I go through my system in the next post, you will see how those tools all play their part.
I have to be honest, when I first saw these in July 2019, I was very sceptical. It should be known, and hopefully as this blog develops, it will become known, that I have an issue with shallow books and resources. I think we too much pander our desire for an easy life and so most books published today are short and shallow. We translate this as ‘accessible’.
The name, devotional dipper, made me think that compared to other devotional materials for families, these would follow that trend and be light. I’ve been very surprised. When I serve my little ones their dinner, I don’t give them different food to me but I do cut it up for them into smaller chunks they can chew and swallow. This is what the devotional dippers do. We’ve been going through the pack on God. What we are getting is a solid, deep and meaty theology of God, cut up small into 40 chunks. Over the course of the past 36 days we have examined the character and work of the Triune God in depth I was not expecting. I’ve even learned things I did not know.
The format is simple. There is statement of truth. A bible passage that links to and supports that statement. A question or two to cement the idea and suggestions for thanksgiving and prayer.
Individually, the dippers have been good but the cumulative effect over the past month has been to build a solid doctrine of God. I am very thankful for this resource and the children love it.
I highly recommend these for family devotionals over breakfast.
https://www.10ofthose.com/uk/products/24362/devotional-dippers-3-pack
So I said I would keep you posted. These past few months have not been good on the app switching front. I’ve changed my notes app 3 times since I ‘settled’ on Notion.
Notion is a powerful app, but it isn’t really designed specifically to take on any key role in your workflow. It is like a Swiss army knife of tools. It can be a saw, but it isn’t the best saw. It can be a bottle opener, but it isn’t the best bottle opener. Everything in Notion feels like a workaround. Feels like you are hacking an app to do something it wasn’t really designed for. So I moved on.
Nimbus note is excellent but even after a fix was applied I found I could not trust the integrity of my notes and therefore…don’t even go there.
So I love OneNote. But the disparity between available functions and features across devices was hampering my workflow. The lack of consistent tagging system and the lack of targeted reminders.
In the end, I have chosen to return to Evernote. I do not feel Evernote is the best app and I have frustrations with what you can and can’t do in the note editor. That having been said, o like the look and feel of the new Evernote. It is improving quite rapidly as well. Also, the consistency of functionality across all platforms means I never feel the frustration that ‘if only I had my windows work pc I could do this….’ It means I can be effective when I just have my tablet or phone.
So, like Carl Pullein and Francesco D’Alessio I am sticking with Evernote.
Theology Matters. The subject of this part of the blog and the subject of this post. This post comes about as I have reflected on Ephesians 4:15…
Ephesians 4:15 (ESV): Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
This passage is used a lot to outline the basic model of ministry in evangelical circles. This is a model of ministry I thoroughly support. But, there are two things I want the flag up that often don’t get mentioned. One is a something underplayed that we cannot say often enough. The other is a mistake we can often make.
A thing underplayed…
Theology Matters. We are to truth in love. As Christian brothers and sisters, we are to speak the truth in love to each other as often as we are able? Why? Well that is verse 14. So we are not blown all over the shop by every wind of doctrine. Here’s the point. How do we speak the truth in love to one another in a way that guards against false doctrine. We speak true doctrine. Putting down deep roots in true doctrine, in good theology, that is what guards us against error.
So, we must take every opportunity to help one another put down deep roots in healthy doctrine and theology. We can do this by reading the Bible together, by reading books together, by speaking gospel truth in our everyday conversation and applying this to our every day lives.
We grow in this together as we speak to one another. And as we work to deepen our understanding of the Word of God so we can better build one another up.
A slight word to pastors and teachers here. Your job is to train and equip the saints, so don’t skimp on doctrine and depth. Train your congregation in healthy doctrine. That is what they need.
A mistake we can often make
False teaching and false doctrine does not always have it’s source from within the church. You’d be amazed at how frequently the prevailing ideologies of our culture can creep into our minds and our world view and then impact our theology.
Maybe we start to worship our careers and give them a place in our lives higher than we ought. Tossed to and fro by a false theology of work.
Maybe it’s money and possessions. Maybe it’s our understanding of dating, relationships and marriage. Maybe it’s gender issues, our take on other religions or anything under the sun.
The message of our world around us whispers to us and without healthy doctrine we are sitting ducks. Without a Christian mind, a mind shaped by Christ and the truth of his gospel, without the ability to clearly see and refute the errors therein, we will be like “children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”
So let’s not underplay it. Theology Matters. Let’s speak theology.
I have a confession to make. I’m sure many of you will agree. Note taking is something I love. Not just notes but ideas, thoughts, hopes and everything else. But I just cannot find a notes app that does it for me. App switching is a big issue when it comes to productivity and when it comes to Notes apps, I have been back and forth more times than I can count. I’ve tried Evernote, OneNote, Nimbus Note, Google Keep and recently, Notion.
Here’s the bottom line. Every app I have tried, has features and functionalities that I need and that I like. Every app that I have tried is sorely lacking in features and functionality that I need. So, until Doist build a notes app, I will have to settle for something less than perfect.
The Grandaddy of the note taking app market. Recently they tried to jazz it up a bit, took them long enough. In so doing they have removed several features and functions that I loved. Gone now. I do not like Evernote’s note editor, the hierarchy of notebooks is too inflexible and the tag system just gets messy if you use it.
A good app. For me the note hierarchy is great, I love the free form nature of the note editor but I have issues. I don’t like the inconsistency between platforms, I don’t like the fact that printing anything is just a no go area. The tagging system could be great but until you can make use of it on all platforms with custom tags that sync, it’s pretty useless. I really dislike the font Calibri, which OneNote seems to constantly switch back to.
This is an app I love, but with a caveat. Those Caveats being, I’ve encountered some bugs which don’t seem to get fixed and, in terms of note editor functionality, it is basically the same as Notion but with several things missing. There was a time when I thought Nimbus Note was the perfect notes app. But then I discovered the bugs, then I began to notice how slow it can be to load notes up. The simplicity when compared to Notion, could be an advantage. It has a fantastic web clipper as well.
A powerful app if ever there was one. A black hole of features and functions that threaten to swallow and drown the unwary at every turn. But, no real quick capture function, I’m not sure how you export data out if you need to and it just feels like there will be so much I am missing out on that I will forever be tweaking the set up and feature set I use. Hence the black hole! Plus, I would love tables that were not databases and so could make use of some better formatting functions. For me, to be perfect, Notion needs to add a basic table and really up its game on quick capture and how you get stuff into it.
I am looking for an app that has feature parity across devices, as far as is possible. Quick capture functionality on desktop and mobile. The ability to e-mail notes in. A free form note editor. Powerful links between notes or databases. An excellent web clipper. Powerful search.
For now, I am settling on Notion. I will use either a chrome short cut or Google Keep for quick capture on my phone and possibly on desktop as well.
I’ll keep you posted.
So I decided to get the point out the way in the tile. Read Books. I don’t know who you might be, maybe you read loads of books when you were younger but now you don’t have time (this is me!). Maybe you hardly read any Christian books, maybe you are till reading loads of books all the time. Primarily, we tend to view reading books as a nice added extra, it has value, we know this, but we don’t have the time, and we aren’t sure we ever will, but really it is no big loss to me or to the church.
You could just read the bible more. That would be a valid choice and I would praise God for that. But, here is my wisdom on it.
You have time to read the bible, but you may not have the time or capacity to study it in depth for long periods of time. Theologians and Authors do, it’s their job, and they have written down the insights they have gained into the revelation of God into books to edify and build up the church. You may have 30 minutes a day to read Scripture but you are not going to understand the Holiness of God or the Trinity, or the incarnation or nature of the cross as well in 30 minutes a day as you would if you were in a position to spend months in a specialist devotion to reading and meditating on that aspect of God’s character or doctrine. Reading books, therefore, enables us to benefit from others work, from others time, and that is the gift God has given them to serve the Church. Reading books therefore also deepens our understanding of Scripture and it actually helps us as we read the Bible ourselves. A fuller grasp of biblical Christian doctrine and truth can help us to see more deeply when we read God’s word. Similar to studying the Bible with other people or listening to a sermon does. It doesn’t replace the reading of God’s word, but supplements it.
Reading is something is our culture no longer values. Look at the changes in the internet and much more. Culture is moving towards sharing information in short statements of fact or short videos. Our consumption of knowledge in this way has good points and bad points, but let me focus on the negative. It is re-wiring our brains to lack the ability to focus and concentrate and we develop an addiction to distraction. It also means that the information we absorb is shallow and lacks any element of evaluation, deeper consideration and, more critically, application. Devoting time to reading books, and deep, lengthy, meaty books will offset this trend. Our final reason for reading books is that our culture is changing, Christian truth is not currently in vogue. It is likely that in years to come this vast avenue of edification and growth will shut down as books are removed from circulation.
So how to approach reading Christian books?
Some book suggestions
Right, so now you have a system full of tasks that you have collected. What next? Well a good start point is to think of your aim. Moment to moment, day to day you want to give your best thinking to achieving your goals and completing quality work. You do not want to be giving vast amounts of mental energy to figuring out what you should be doing at any given moment. Therefore your system needs to be organised in such a way that minimal decision-making is required of this kind.
This requires a little bit of planning. Some of us hate planning and think it is a waste of time. But if you spend an hour a week and 10 minutes a day planning ahead, I wouldn’t be surprised if you got twice as much done with your time. Not just in terms of quantity of work but in terms of quality and impact.
There are many things I could do now but I am going to show you how I organise things. I follow Carl Pullein’s approach in large part and every task is one of 3 things. It is a simple routine task that has to be done but is pretty isolated and I don’t really want to focus my energy here – like ‘clean and take out the bins’. It could fit into an area of focus. I tend to think of these as specific areas that I will be continually working on. The tasks will always relate to a specific thing, but there is no end date or point at which it will ‘complete’. For example, I manage a church building. A multitude of tasks emerge, and will continue to emerge. There is no defined end point unless things got so bad the building collapsed. Then I have projects. These are specific things I am working, that require multiple different steps to complete but they will one day complete. They may recurr in 6 months or a year’s time but even then the project is completable. This could be for example, in my line of work, arranging a weekend away. It happens annually but the project will complete every year.
So every task that comes into my inbox gets allocated like this. Now, David Allen’s getting things done approach uses contexts to organise things in a deeper way, the contexts would be locations, tools or people. So you’d have a list for every person or location. The idea being when you arrive at that location, open the list and there you go. A readymade Todo list for your context.
I pretty much work in the same place with the same tools everyday so this makes little sense to my work. Instead I organise things by ‘zone’. Something I borrowed from a friend. There is a little duplication here with areas of focus and that needs to be addressed in the future. But the zones may be buildings, finances, operations, publicity etc for every role I have on in my work. In order to action this in ToDoist, my task manager of choice, I assign labels to each task. I’ll talk about how I plan my week in the next post and that will more fully explain how and when I decide what I will be working on.
So, when I have a task in my inbox that I have collected, assuming it isn’t an event for my calendar and it is actually a task, I run through a series of questions in my mind. Firstly, what area of work does this relate to? This determines what labels/tags I use. I’ll also ask if this task involves speaking with another person. I have labels for all those people and these can get assigned here as well. I will then ask if this task belongs in a specific project, or does it go in an area of focus, Sometimes it may be a new routine task but it is rare at the moment to add to this list. Lastly, I ask if this task needs to be completed by a certain day or on a certain day and I will then add a date to the task.
This approach breaks down what would be a fairly sizeable to do list, into manageable chunks that can be sorted and filtered in many different ways.
The next post will focus on how I plan my week and that is the hub really of this or any other system so please watch this space.
Stuff Matters 