Jeb Blount wrote a fascinating book about fanatical prospecting and how important it is for salespeople to keep the first things first. Here’s how that relates to pastors.
Key Points:
- Protect the golden hours. Block your time so you can focus on the important things when those things need to be attended to.
- In pastoring and disciple-making, the golden hours should be about taking 1-2 hours per day to focus on: training, connecting, following up.
- The platinum hours. This is where you do the things that are important but not as important as the “golden hour” things.
Talk About It
- What is your initial reaction to this topic? What jumped out at you?
- Why is it important to block out the “golden hours”? What have you seen to be true – or untrue – about this point?
- What things are preventing you from regimenting your time? Is it feasible for you to block out golden hours? Explain.
- What would “training” look like in your ministry context? How important do you rank it among your responsibilities or goals? Explain.
- What would “connecting” look like in your ministry context? How important do you rank it among your responsibilities or goals? Explain.
- What would “following up” look like in your ministry context? How important do you rank it among your responsibilities or goals? Explain.
- What would you say are your “trivial” things? Your “platinum” things? Your “golden” things? Explain.
- Write a personal action step based on this conversation.
