Do More Better

We have the joy and the responsibility of stewarding our gifts, talents, time, energy, and enthusiasm for the good of others and the glory of God. This is your privilege and this is your purpose. So go and do. Do more better.

Do More Better by Tim Challies isn’t your typical productivity book. Full of both practical tips and big-picture theology, it will bring your life into focus and give you tools to accomplish more.

Summary

Don’t try to do it all. Do more good. Better. I am no productivity guru. I am a writer, a church leader, a husband, and a father—a Christian with a lot of responsibilities and with new tasks coming at me all the time. I wrote this short, fast-paced, practical guide to productivity to share what I have learned about getting things done in today’s digital world. Whether you are a student or a professional, a work-from-home dad or a stay-at-home mom, it will help you learn to structure your life to do the most good to the glory of God. In Do More Better, you will learn:
Common obstacles to productivity
The great purpose behind productivity
3 essential tools for getting things done
The power of daily and weekly routines
And much more, including bonus material on taming your email and embracing the inevitable messiness of productivity.
It really is possible to live a calm and orderly life, sure of your responsibilities and confident in your progress. You can do more better. And I would love to help you get there.

This book presents an effective system for organizing your life. Ever since I started his process, I remember tasks, find information, and keep track of my appointments. I don’t discount the value in the system he lays out, and for the past two weeks, it’s bolstered by productivity.

However, this book is not a magic pill to increase your motivation. Sinful humans avoid the most important work no matter what new tool they use.

If you apply this book, instead of feeling like you’re juggling a half-dozen greased octopi, you’ll arrange all your octopi in a glass case with labels and dates. But that doesn’t make them any less slimy.
The system needs discipline, and that’s your responsibility. No book can help with that. As the author states:

“No amount of organization and time management will compensate for a lack of Christian character, not when it comes to this great calling of glory through good—bringing glory to God by doing good to others.”
-pg. 25

I still recommend the book, but understand what you’re going to learn before you begin.

Our Purpose

Before anything else, the author takes one chapter to explain—what is Biblical productivity? It’s not business. It’s not only getting things done. We are called to bring glory to God by doing good to others.

This was eye-opening to me, and freeing. To-do lists and calendars don’t define our lives. Doing good to others is what matters. This mission clarifies the why behind many tasks, while knocking others off the priority list altogether.

If someone in need upends your day and throws your to-do list out the second-story window, don’t think you wasted the time. Quite the opposite. You’re doing what God gave you to do.

A Life in Order

Half the book isn’t the nuts-and-bolts tips common of this genre. This may surprise you, as it did me. But the opening chapters help you understand what a productive life is.

He explains we carry broad areas of responsibility in life. God has given us each different realms of influence. Some of these are our personal life, jobs, family, friends, and church. Since everyone is different, everyone’s list will vary.

For example, as a writer, I have a responsibility to you, my reader. I’m accountable to God to write the best I can. You may not write, but you probably have a different area of responsibility I don’t.

Secondly, we move on to specific roles. Within your responsibility to your church, you may have the role of leading a Bible study or playing the piano. Some of these roles are universal, while others are specific to you.

The author leads you to write a mission statement for each area of responsibility. If you don’t have a reason for doing something, then perhaps consider dropping it.

The Tools of the Trade

Now we arrive at the day-to-day practical methods for getting things done. You need three tools. Something for task management, appointments, and storing information.

The book recommends Todoist, Google Calendar, and Evernote, respectively. Familiarize yourself with these three, because you’re going to be using them a lot moving forward.

I used to prefer physical tools for productivity, like a paper to-do list on my desk instead of a software. And maybe you’re the same way. But as I adopted his system, I found that today’s tools really are more efficient. They might take more work up-front, especially if you’re not technologically inclined, but you have a truckload of organizational tools built into them.

(One quick note. Two of the three softwares Challies recommends (Todoist and Evernote) require monthly subscriptions to fully accomplish the things he talks about in the book. Todoist doesn’t fit the requirements without a subscription. Evernote works, but is clunky unless you pay for premium. This may deter you if you’re on a tight budget, but roughly $12 a month for the two programs is definitely worth the benefits you’ll reap from their features.)

The following chapters dive into more technical information that I won’t try to repeat here, but in summary, he explains how to set the software up following your predetermined areas of responsibility.

In Todoist, all of your tasks get assigned to a role. This post was at one time a task called “Draft: Book review” inside a project called “Blog”. And in Evernote, you organize information into folders and sub-folders. You might have a folder called “Personal” with a sub-folder “Spiritual growth” where you store an article on Bible study.

These tools have been extraordinarily helpful for me over the past two weeks. Evernote, in particular, has been a life-changer in cataloging information. I used to have articles about every topic, from publishing to money management tossed into the ball pit of websites that were my browser bookmarks. But now, instead of scrolling through some hundred-odd websites, I can search in Evernote, and there it is.

Overall

This review is already getting long, so I’ll cut this section short. Here’s my concise review—get Do More Better. Read it. Maybe read it two or three times and let all that wisdom soak in. Couple Challies’ advice with personal discipline, and you’ll see the results.

Thanks for reading!