Man oh man, I finally got season 3 of Doing Ministry Well episode 44 posted!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat down to publish and for some reason or another just couldn’t get it done.

Even this morning I ran into all kinds of technical problems.  The last few times I tried to export from garage band it just would not export.

A huge thank you to Bryan Entzminger from The Engaging Mission show he has been a constant podcasting encouragement to me.  Honestly, without his encouragement Doing Ministry Well would have died a while ago.

I got reinspired recently by the how productive Andrew Huang is.

He also has a video that he posted recently about batch processing, which helped me a lot.

I’ve realized that I need “systems” in my life.  Things need to be orderly and make sense and be effecient.  I remember learning the word erganomics and enterpenuership in elementary school, 2nd grade I think and just loving both of those words.  That and propaganda… which is marketing.  Interesting how I can remember learning those concepts and liking them even at a young age.  So things like batch processing help me make more sense and reduce the chaos in my work flow.

I’ve also realized I need encouragement to keep going.  That sounds lame and immature, but it’s true.  I function best if I feel what I’m doing is appreciated and it matters.  I almost feel guilty for saying that, guilty because the voice in my mind says things like “I need to be working as unto the Lord.”  And “I shouldn’t have to thank you for doing your job.”

These kind of statements make me think I’m less than, because I’ve acknowledged that optimal Jim works best when what I’m doing is appreciated.  Which leads me to wonder if others feel that way.  And if that’s the case, imagine if there was a culture of encouragement and appreciation, how much more productive everyone would be.  Oh gosh, am I a milenial?

I think the difference here is the self esteem generation wants affirmation for showing up, I’m saying it’s nice to be affirmed when we produce something.  Eh… who knows, maybe I do have some milenial tendencies.

If you’re one of those work horses who can keep your head down, and do what needs to be done, and don’t ever need a word of encouragement, well done.  I hope I get there someday, but for now, I’m just being honest about where I’m at.

The hardest thing about vulnerability is… the fear that when I’m most vulnerable, that thing will be used against me.

Anyway, I think the one thing that I will regret most on my deathbed is that I’d didn’t “produce” more.  I’m so inspired by Andrew Huang and the videos that he puts out.  For people that can consistenly put out creative content.  I want to be pumping out more good content on a regular basis.

Here’s to hoping the inspiriation continues, and the motivation keeps flowing and that when those two fail the discipline pushes me through with a little sprinkle of encouragement from you guys.

What helps keep you going?  Lemme know in the comments.