Being productive and maximizing your potential can not only be a game changer in living out YOUR best life but to better the lives of OTHERS. For many years there has been endless amounts of research and studies that will attempt to explain the formula for productivity and maximizing your potential. There are lots of tools and resources that are out there to assist with this topic. 

However, you will discover in this blog post is my best attempt to uncover and reveal the deep root that holds it all together. It is not a completed equation or formula that will have your head spinning when you read it. It is really simple and straightforward. So take hold of a mental shovel with me and let’s get to digging, one shovel full at a time.

GOD IS THE ULTIMATE PLANNER

Proverbs 16:9 (NIV) “In their hearts humans plan their course but the Lord establishes their steps.” 

I feel like most people love to plan. We love to plan our days, weeks, months and even years. How many times have we planned something out and it did not go exactly the way we planned it?

I am so thankful that the Lord gave us the ability to plan. For me I am a huge planner, I enjoy organizing and planning out my calendar to get the satisfaction that I am being productive and maximizing my potential. I will often find pockets in my calendar and try to fill it up. Most days I can say that whatever I have planned for the day does not go as planned. It sometimes does a 180 degree turn and the calendar will be all thrown off. 

UNDERSTAND STEWARDSHIP

It can be so frustrating and upsetting. I feel that if things do not go according to plan, the feeling of unproductivity starts to creep into my mind, like heavy fog settling on the earth, making it difficult to see what is right in front of you. I love Proverbs 16:9 because when I read the verse, I pray, and ask the Lord for help and give up my day and plans to Him. He will begin to clear away the fog of unproductivity allowing the light to penetrate through the fog, giving the Lord room to show us the steps to take.

It has taken me many years and a lot of foggy times to truly understand the meaning of productivity and maximizing my potential. To simplify even more, there is one word that can wrap this topic around…. Stewardship… when someone reads or hears the word stewardship they almost immediately think of finances or money. Yes stewardship does correlate to finances or money but it also has a good variety of meanings and implications.

In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, stewardship is defined as the conducting, supervising, or managing something. 

Whether you are a believer of Jesus Christ or not, you are a steward of your time, talents and abilities. The choice is yours. We can choose to be a steward or not. For believers, I feel that stewardship means to use God-given abilities, managing God-given resources and time to accomplish God-ordained results.

WHAT GOD TAUGHT ME

Roughly a year and a half ago, I had a life altering moment when I was praying to God for wisdom and direction in my life. I was at a point in time that I was ready for the next step. Shortly after that prayer, I felt a deep calling to write a book and share my story to potentially help motivate, change and impact others. I hopped on social media and announced that I was going to write and publish my first book before they year ended. It was late July when I made that announcement and I honestly had no idea what I was doing.

Four months have passed by so quickly and I had not even finished half of the first rough draft before the year was up. I remember my thoughts and feelings during that moment. I felt like I had let myself down and the potential readers. My plan did not go according to my course at all. 

During those six months I had solely relied on my own energy and plans get it done and what do you know, it did not happen. When I wrote the book outline for the first time, I was going to end it differently. Throughout the next year I had lots of different life encounters that altered my outline and changed the end of the book. 

When I realized there was more to the book that I had to live out in order to write, stewardship kicked into high gear. Everyday I would pray and ask God to show me what to write about and how to go about it and from then on, the words flowed out from heart to my fingertips onto the keyboard.

 Roughly a year and a half later, I will go on to publish my first book. One of my biggest goals that God help my set. I had to be a steward of my God-given abilities, managing God-given resources and time to accomplish God-ordained results.

WHERE IS YOUR HEART?

I know deep down in my heart that stewardship begins in the heart and where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If you do a self analysis, do you use our abilities to serve Him or not? Do you manage your resources and time to praise Him or not? These questions are super basic and simple and will guide your intentions and your energy away from yourself to Jesus.

Being productive and maximizing your potential is more than just getting a plan or a course together. It is opening your heart to the Lord and allowing Him to guide your steps and to take control of your life. 

When you do turn away from yourself and turn your focus and energy on Him, He will open so many more doors that you could not even imagine. You will be so surprised on just how productive you really can be, maximizing your potential with Jesus guiding your every step. Here is where you can evaluate your stewardship through these areas:

BEING FAITHFUL IN THE LITTLE:

If you are reading this and feeling the time has passed by and the season is not right for you, stewardship can be applied in your life today even if you have very little or much. 

Luke 16:10 (NIV) “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” 

TIME:

We have all been given the same amount of time in the day and in the night. We all get 24 hours in a day, no one on this Earth gets any more or any less. How are you spending your time? Is your time spent on embracing every little moment when at work/school or hanging out with family, friends, or loved ones.

REST:

Even when we rest, are you being a good steward of how you rest or how long you rest? Embracing moments whether the little or the huge ones plays a factor in just how productive you can be. 

WILLINGNESS:

Stewardship also requires willingness. You and I have to take that first step to understand that you desire change that will lead into great productivity, maximizing your potential. To be willing the change, when change is called for. To be willing to learn and listen. To be willing to take on the mission that God has planned for your life, to change, impact and motivate others. 

It’s difficult but you can still do it.

It is very scary, stepping out of your plans and into God’s plans. He will stretch you so that you do not remain the same to make room for your faith in the Lord. At first it may seem scary or uncomfortable but know that He is with you every step in your mission. Because of this, God will enable you to reach the pinnacle of productivity and maximize your potential through Him.

Thank you for reading,

David Bond

Co-founder of The Simple Mission