Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Ministry Tips 1-25

1. On a day when you don't have very much to do, don't do very much.
2. Repeat people's names back several times after first being told them.
3. Diary the travelling time before and after meetings.
4. If meeting is likely to generate things to do, diary the time to do them.
5. Take a lunch break.
6. Do the things that need most concentration at the time when you concentrate best.
7. Put paper away, even if you haven't dealt with it yet. Make a note on your 'jobs' list if you need to deal with it.
8. Walk round the lake (http://stevetilley.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/walk-around-lake.html)
9. Don't value the person you're with more than the person you should be with. Be punctual. Leave on time.
10. Be available to people you have delegated to but don't interfere.
11. Do things outside church.
12. Doing ten things well enough is better than doing one thing excellently. Excellence is a fraud.
13. Projects need a champion; you can't always be that yourself.
14. Find something specific and pathetic to be angry about; it will save you being inappropriately angry elsewhere.
15. Treating people as if they are pleasant makes them more pleasant.
16. Know that 1 in 10 upset people write complaints; 1 in 100 pleased people write thanks (source Julian Richer 'The Richer Way')
17. Take something to think about to a meeting where you won't be involved in every item.
18. Make yourself popular with wedding photographers; they will tell others.
19. Learn the names of the undertakers' bearers.
20. Use the names of the supermarket check-out staff.
21. Become especially knowledgable about something. Chapter of the Bible. Birds in your garden. A particular illness.
22. If you drive like a maniac it will get around.
23. Don't skip breakfast.
24. Don't read emails in the last part of your day. Certainly don't answer them if you read them by accident.
25. Reply to communication using the same means or make it more personal - never less. Don't email in response to a phone message.

2 comments:

Steve Tilley said...

26-50 now at http://stevetilley.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/ministry-tips-26-50.html

Unknown said...

Excellent stuff, Mr T. I'm a huge believer in no.15, and I think no.14 is top advice. And I really wish I could put no. 7 into practice.