Colin Harman

I wear a lot of hats at my job. And while at times it can be somewhat overwhelming, it is truly a privilege to be able to do what I do. It is sometimes easy to lose sight of what is most important when you are in the daily grind of work, especially in “ministry”. Things become mundane or routine and the monotony of maintenance can definitely skew priorities if not proactively managed.

A place riddled with unmotivated and defunct attitude toward the concept of work is absent of vision. Vision that gives meaning and purpose to why you are putting in the effort toward the greater cause. Effort and work are essentially the same thing, but the former has purpose, where the latter is no more than a means to achieve status quo. We as people, as living, breathing, feeling humans, love to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. Knowing we have a chance to be a spoke in the wheel of something that has purpose and a goal emits a virally contagious energy. Yet, often we miss that part, we just see the goal, the product, but not the “why”.

However, the “why” is what what matters most, people will go above and beyond for something they believe in, and yet that is often poorly communicated. For myself, I have to constantly remind myself of the reason that I do what I do, because when it comes down to it, on a core level, I just make things prettier, or simpler, or less confusing. What good does that really do though?

If it was just me that’s all it would be, but God in some miraculous inexplicable way takes the inadequacy that I have to offer and uses it to draw people to Him. And on a day to day for me, He allows me to help people have to do less of the logistics of ministry (or at least do it more effectively and efficiently), so that they can do actual ministry in the lives of others. Now that is the vision that keeps me going.I get to be a part of helping others help others.

That is how God uses my abilities, my passions, my skills. It’s all from Him, and for Him. I need that reminder everyday. That I am called not to do the same thing over and over again (thus slowly fading into irrelevance) but to continually seek ways to allow other people to more effectively interact with other people. For me that isn’t work, it’s a vision that I can pour my efforts into, furthering the continual progress God has called me to.

Well these may not be the only ways to work better. This idea was birthed out of a page in my Moleskine from a few months back that I had written while sitting in a Starbucks in San Francisco. These may not be the only ways in the world to work better, in fact I know their not. However, they are a few ways that have helped me in a few situations and I would venture to say that they are things that will keep me from making some piss-poor decisions in the future.

This 18″x42″ print hangs to the front-right of my desk at work, and it’s always a reminder that helps me get through the frustrating times. The design of it was super simple, but I think that with a short list of simple thoughts like I have, something flamboyantly exquisite may not have been the right mode of communicating simplicity.

What other things can you think that you would add to this? What helps you work better?

Do tell.