I keep this little pin in my desk drawer…I see it pretty much everyday. It serves as a reminder for a couple of things. First it reminds me of my friend Glenn Garvin, who gave it to me. Glenn works for Royal Family Kids’ Camp. If you’re not familiar with them, I encourage you to look them up – they have an incredible ministry. Secondly it reminds me of the importance of individuals.

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the story of the starfish, but just in case:

“A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.

She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!” 

The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied,

     Take a look at the picture – when you first looked at it, did you see half a face of a man looking at you or someone looking to the left? It took me a minute, but after looking a third time I could see both. To see both though, I had to look at it differently.

There are a lot of problems that require a second or third look and often from a different perspectives.

My pastor has a great little phrase (he’s very quotable) “A change of pace, A change of place, equals a change of perspective.”  Have you ever experienced the strange productivity phenomenon of an “off-site” work day? I have often been amazed by how much more work I can get done siting at Starbucks vs. sitting in my office (I’m actually writing this sitting at Starbucks now…)

One of the greatest hindrances to creativity is routine. But one of the greatest tools for problem solving is creativity. If you approach every problem from the same perspective, then most of your solutions will be similar. This isn’t all bad, but it isn’t all good either. Bro. Jim always told me “A rut is just a grave with the ends kicked out.” A rut stops you from thinking differently.

Maybe it’s time you start looking at some challenges from a different perspective. Do you need another voice on your team? Do you need to go out-of-town for a day? Do you need to go work in a coffee shop? Here’s a hard one – What routines have you settled into that prevent you from looking at something with a different perspective?

Problems can seem overwhelming at times.  Especially if you only have one solution. If the only tool in your tool box is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail to be hit. You need to expand you tool kit and approach from a different angle. You’ll be amazed at how many old “impossible” situations you can work though with just a few little changes.

     If you know anything about me, you know I “own” the Elliptical at the gym. All you have to do is follow me for a day or so on twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to see me post something about working out. And when I go, it’s typically for one of two things – a spinning class or the elliptical. I enjoy these and have a decent level of comfort doing them.

Trainers will tell you: “Don’t do the same thing all the time, your body will adjust and you won’t get the most out of your workouts!” Typically, this is yelled at you at a very high volume. So, last week I added something new. INTERVALS. (I also added jogging, but that’s another post.) For those who do not know of what I speak, let me fill you in. Intervals involve short bursts of high intensity exercise. Last week, I did an interval routine that was 3 minutes of walking and 30 seconds (gotta start somewhere) of running. As you can see from the picture in this post, my heart rate really spiked during the running. Doing intervals will help me build up endurance, get the most out of my workouts, and lose weight quicker.  Sounds like a WIN/WIN/WIN!

I think intervals can help beyond your daily fitness training though. I spend a lot of time coaching folks in ministry with, what I think are the fundamentals of ministry–priority management and being organized. It’s amazing how many time my conversations head towards the same subject. “How do I get the most out of my day?” “I’m not a detail person.” “I like people more than paper.” These are all pretty common statements or questions. Personally, I find it funny that people ask me these questions because I am not a naturally organized person. I’ve learned to be organized and live by priorities, but it has taken time.

So with that in mind, I want to give a suggestion to those that are just starting out on the path of becoming more organized.

A lot of folks make the mistake of deciding one day “Today will be the most productive day of my life. I’m going to lock myself in my office and not come out until I have accomplished everything on my list.” And then the first thing they do is create the list…but that level of concentrated effort wears them out. But they decide to press on and complete their goal of having the most productive day of their life. Who has had this kind of personal declaration day? How many have failed miserably at it? For people who do not live by lists, details, and schedules, this level of seclusion is a form of torture. They haven’t conditioned themselves for a marathon session in their office.

Here’s what you need to do: START WITH INTERVALS! If you are ADD, like many pastors, start with small intervals. When you run a marathon, you don’t just hop out there and run 26.2 miles! You build up to it, you have to put in your “road time.” You need to do the same thing with your “desk time.”

Before declaring the marathon of work, train for it. You may have to lock yourself away in your office for an hour and then give yourself a 10 minute break (or longer, depending on your level of “fitness”.) If you build up, in intervals, the amount of time you dedicate to working flat-out as hard as you can – eventually, you’ll be able to accomplish an amazing amount of work through your ability to focus for extended periods of time.

Give yourself the greatest opportunity for success – build up to the place you want to be, don’t force it all to happen at once!

At the race this past weekend, the 8K was started by Team Hoyt. If you don’t know who they are, you should click the link and watch the video. It’s powerful.

It was a perfect example of Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourself.” The members of Team Hoyt don’t run for personal glory – they run so someone else, who cannot run on their own, can have the joy of the race. When we learn to put others first, it doesn’t matter what place you come in…you always win.