Okay, I was sitting in my office one day multitasking. You know, that word that only really entered into common vernacular in the last oh decade or so. I had multiple programs running on my computer…email, web browser, Bible software, Word Processor, to-do task list and a few books open on my desk. In between making phone calls I was reading my email and separating the “wheat from the chaff” so to speak. Oh, and I was drinking a coffee too.

On the way home that day I was just drifting in thought thinking about all the things that technology has enabled me to do (probably not a good idea while behind the wheel by the way) and then started internally debating whether this technology has made me any more productive.

“Productive” is such a relative term isn’t it? It’s definition can’t really be pinned down to any one set of criteria since for different people in different circumstances the qualification of what constitutes productivity could have such a wide variety of standards and has too much dependence on the perspective of the person evaluating. For example: A greenhouse operator and environment aficionado might see a day planting trees as productive whereas a logger would see a day cutting down trees as productive. Who is the productive one? It depends on your perspective.

I’ve got a confession to make. I’m addicted to lists. The problem is, my addiction can be a bit overwhelming at times. You may ask, what do you mean an addiction to “lists”? Well let’s just say I’ve got more todo lists floating around than aliens at a trekkie convention. And it’s just as silly too.

I’ve got a todo list in the admin section of each website I maintain (4), I’ve got a todo list on my desktop at work, I’ve got a todo list on the stikkit webservice (well actually more than one todo list), I’ve written simple text files that contain todo lists for various coding projects I do as a hobby, I maintain a todo list on my Palm Tungsten E, and last but not list (err least) I have a nice fancy todo list on a pad of paper in my home office desk drawer (albeit it’s been sitting there since…well a long time).

I’ve tried to convince myself that I keep all these lists for the right reasons:

1. De-clutters my brain to help me focus on what I am doing rather than wasting precious bio-computing power on remembering what I’ve got to do.

I recently came across this article in Newsweek (January 8, 2007, Jerry Adler) - here’s an excerpt,

‘Hi my name is Lindy and I deny the existence of the Holy Spirit and you should too.’

With that five-second submission to YouTube, a 24-year-old who uses the name “menotsimple” has either condemned herself to an eternity of punishment in the afterlife or struck a courageous blow against superstition. She’s one of more than 400 mostly young people who have joined a campaign by the Web site BlasphemyChallenge.com to stake their souls against the existence of God. That, of course, is the ultimate no-win wager, as the 17th-century French mathematician Blaise Pascal calculated?it can’t be settled until you’re dead, and if you lose, you go to hell.

I went and visited the site and discovered that the “blasphemy challenge” offers an incentive for those who would do what Lindy did. Guess what the incentive is? People who take up the challenge and follow the instructions (which include the requirement to explicitly say, “I deny the existence of the Holy Spirit” in their video) will receive a free copy of “The God Who Wasn’t There”.

This is some thinking I had on leadership recently…

A key to great leaders is that they are discerning followers. Why is that?

Everyone follows something/someone.

The claim, “I don’t follow anything” is groundless. From the moment of birth our lives are impacted by external stimuli bombarding our senses. Some of these things we have no choice over initially (the environment we start out life in, our parents/guardians, where we live etc.) but as we grow the amount of choice we have with the influences in our lives increases exponentially. With these increased choices comes the opportunity for us to choose what we follow.
This is where the difference between the average person and great leaders has a stark contrast. Great leaders are careful in choosing (where they have control over) what they will follow, the average person is more indiscriminate.

The evidence isn’t discovered until after the fact…

Great leaders aren’t always observed until sufficient time has passed that filters the great things they have been involved in. In hindsight, studying a great leader will reveal that their discernment in what they followed had bearing on what they accomplished. Whether it was a school of thought, influential individuals, certain habits or practices - these followings had a definite role in the outcome of the leader and thus contributed to what made them “great”.

I came across this interesting article by Peter C. Glover called Child Discipline and the Limits of the Civil Law. In the article Peter addresses the topic of when civil laws begin to dictate the limits of discipline allowable by parents on their children (i.e. spanking) what the appropriate response of parents should be.? I think Peter does a fairly good job of handling the subject of spanking or physical discipline as well both from a bibilical and practical viewpoint.

Personally, I believe parents should have the freedom to physically discipline their child however in my home, spanking is always a last resort and only used in situations that warrant it.? I think a more important key to discipline is that your children are discouraged from doing the wrong activity again.? If parents are diligent in understanding their children (through spending time with them), they will learn what appropriate form of punishment works best with each child.? For example, I could spank one of my children ’till their bum was raw and I was blue in the face (a figure of speech, I would never do that of course) and it wouldn’t have the slightest effect on his behavior.? But if I was to put them in a corner and make them stay there for 5 minutes it definitely affects his behavior.? Another one of my children has a favorite blanket and if the discipline is removal of her blanket for a day that is the most effective discipline we could use.? The point is that parents need to learn what is the most effective discipline for their child and use it.