Issue #180

Your weekly roundup of insights and resources to help you get more done for the glory of God.

​Read on the Web​

In Today’s Issue:

• Priority #1: His Kingdom & Righteousness
• Defining Success in Your Job
• Benefits of Writing
• Sync Notion & Zotero
• Ray Comfort on Christians & Self-Help

Dear steward,

Stephen Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, famously said, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

Pithy advice. But the trick is knowing exactly what the main thing should be.

It’s easy to get lost in the flood of goals, to-dos, and general busyness of life, so much so that we lose track of our priorities.

But God has made the main thing clear for us.

In context, Jesus is saying that we should focus on these spiritual matters above what we might consider the most urgent issues of life: food, drink, and clothing—literally, the very basics we need to survive. Talk about the main thing!

While we might nod our heads to those words in pious agreement, the truth is that in busy seasons of life, we can be tempted to put spiritual matters on hold: “Let me just get through this week.” When we feel that survival is on the line, we turn to our ingenuity or productivity to save us. But these are exactly the moments when we should be keeping the main thing the main thing.

The truth is that when we prioritize God’s priorities, we entrust ourselves to the one who controls everything. There is no safer place to be.

So this week, make the main thing the main thing, seek first His kingdom and righteousness. And let the other matters of life get in line behind.

Now, a word from our friends at Dwell, and then we’ll dive into the link roundup.

With Dwell you can turn your commute, workout, or any moment into a time of spiritual growth. Whether you have five minutes or an hour, listening to the Bible fits into your schedule, not the other way around.

Join thousands of other active professionals who’ve found a way to bring the Bible back into their daily rhythm by listening to it.

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​dwellbible.com/redeemingprod​

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​Defining Success in My 9–5 Job (6 mins)

John Piper / Desiring God

This is a great question, and I appreciated Piper’s answer.

​The Science-Based Benefits of Writing (5 mins)

Anne-Laure Le Cunff / Ness Labs

This article discusses some of the benefits researchers have found for people who write regularly. They match my own experience.

But I would like to add that writing also has numerous spiritual benefits. That’s one of the reasons I include Writing as the W in the POWER morning acronym. Even if you’re not a “writer,” just keeping a daily journal can be an unexpected blessing.

​Sync Notion & Zotero (7 mins)

Holly Jane / YouTube

This will be relevant to like 2 of you, tops. You both can thank me later.

​Zotero is a free tool for managing bibliographic content. Someone turned me onto it in seminary, and I’ve used it for every paper or book I’ve written since. But I had yet to learn you could sync it with my favorite productivity app, Notion!

If you’re a user of our Christian Productivity Planner, this is a great way to upgrade your research.

Readers sometimes ask how I curate the links I include in these roundup emails each week. My big secret is that I use Readwise Reader to save interesting articles, videos, or podcasts I stumble across during the week. I also use their RSS feature to subscribe to the feeds of various blogs and outlets I like.

Then, when I have some downtime throughout the week, instead of checking social media, I casually read through things I’ve saved, highlighting, tagging, and taking notes as I go. It’s a great way to curate a newsletter, but more so, it’s simply a great way to curate your information diet instead of leaving what you consume up to the whims of social media algorithms.

If you want to give it a try, I reached out to Readwise Reader, and they set me up with a link that will give you a 60-day free trial.

​https://readwise.io/redeemingproductivity​

​Responding to Ray Comfort on Christian Self-Development (12 mins)

Ray Comfort had some comments on self-development and productivity books this week on the Living Waters podcast. Here’s my video response.

​How to Do a Christ-Honoring Weekly Review (6 mins)

A dead-simple weekly review strategy for Christians who want to get more done. Follow this step-by-step plan to more intentionally steward your weeks.

I’ll be on the road for the next few weeks, so I might be slower in responding to your emails. But I do love hearing from you guys. So just reply if you have any questions or suggestions or want to say “hello.”

For His glory,

Reagan Rose

Reagan Rose

I talk about personal productivity from a Christian perspective. Creator of ​Redeeming Productivity​.

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