Episode 853 The Tool Isn’t the Secret
[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 853 of the inspired stewardship podcast.
[00:00:07] Jeff Wald: [00:00:07] I'm Jeff Wald. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out your calling, having the ability to focus on how your work impacts the world is key.
[00:00:27] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.
[00:00:39] Scott Maderer: [00:00:39] but the problem is that because they've never taken the time and the energy to identify them. They're not applying them consistently. And because they're not applying them consistently, they're not getting the constant improvement, the increase in effort isn't coming through and paid off performance.
[00:01:00] [00:01:00] Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.
[00:01:26]and today's episode about impacting the world by stewarding your time. I talk with you about why we often look for the perfect tool. I share why looking for the perfect tool can be a complete waste of time. And I also share why an imperfect tool use consistently with the right methods is better than the perfect tool as we talk about stewarding your time.
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[00:02:16] Let me tell you the perfect secret tool that you can use to manage your time better. It's the thing that will let you schedule all of your time. Perfectly. It's the thing that will let you get it all done. Everything that you want will come the way. If you just use, fill in the blank. No, the problem is I have folks all the time looking for the tool that will solve their budgeting problem or the tool that are solved their productivity problem or the tool that'll solve their energy problem.
[00:02:47] I just got out of a session with another coach doing a training on having those, no matter what moments, finding the way to just get it done, no matter what and how we get in our own [00:03:00] way, know the truth is we often waste a ton of time looking for the perfect tool, looking for the one app or the one secret tool that will solve all of our productivity problems.
[00:03:14] And I hate to tell you this, but that tool doesn't exist. At least not in the way that you're looking for it. The truth is the tool to solve your productivity. Problems is looking at you in the mirror. The fact is your biggest problem. And you're also the biggest solution to that problem. So spending all of your time, looking for the perfect app is a total waste of time.
[00:03:37] It's like rocking in a rocking chair and hoping that you make it across the room. In fact, it's a hedging behavior. It's an excuse speaking behavior. See if it's about the app. Then I don't have to actually work on myself to make myself more productive. It's just that I haven't found the right tool yet.
[00:03:54] If I keep searching, if I find the right system and the right process and the right day planner and the [00:04:00] right app, then that'll solve all the problems. I just haven't found it yet. It's out there somewhere. And that's of course, one of the ways that millions of planners are sold and millions of apps are downloaded and PayPal pay for all of these things to be able to do their management of their time and their energy.
[00:04:20] And it turns out that it's not that the tool is the problem. That's why they can't find the perfect tool because you've got to stop looking for just the perfect tool. And you've got to recognize that it's more about the methods and the systems and how you interface with that tool, how you use the tool and you is more important than the tool itself.
[00:04:42] In fact, if you found a tool and you think to yourself, it's not perfect, but if you start applying that tool and using it consistently, With the method of just looking for ways to make a little bit of improvement every single day, you will make more progress [00:05:00] than if you actually had the perfect tool in the first place, but then didn't actually use it consistently.
[00:05:07] See the truth is the secret is about the consistency. The secret is about the methodology. And what's the right method is stepping back and looking at what you do and how you need information. How do you process things? How do you study? See most productivity tools are made for people with one kind of personality, the kind of personality.
[00:05:29] That matches the person who invented that particular productivity system. That's one of the reasons that when I'm working with clients, I try to ask a lot of questions about how you work. What's worked for you in the past, because the truth is we often can harvest out of that ideas that they already know that are working for them.
[00:05:48] But the problem is that because they've never taken the time and the energy to identify them. They're not applying them consistently. And because they're not applying them consistently, they're not [00:06:00] getting the constant improvement, the increase in effort isn't coming through in paid off performance. But what happens instead is when we step back and we begin to look at what can we delegate?
[00:06:14] What can we eliminate? And what can we. If make it more efficient, then all of a sudden we begin to identify places where now putting a tool into place, make sense. See, often we try to use the tool to fix things that turn out to not really be the problem. We can make something really efficient, but if it's not the right thing, who cares?
[00:06:36] If you get really good at doing the wrong thing quickly, I care more that you do the right thing. And then make it quick. See the truth is we build efficiencies often before we've actually figured out what the problem is. So the truth is it's not the tool isn't the problem. And the tool is that the solution, I hate to tell you this, [00:07:00] but your both the problem and the solution, how you work is more important than what you work with.
[00:07:08] Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying there aren't any good tools out there. I'm not saying there aren't any good apps. I'm not saying you shouldn't find a way to create an external brain and offload things out of your brain and into some sort of to-do list or system or method for capturing information.
[00:07:23] What I'm saying is we spend all of our time, right? Worrying about the tool. When in reality, we should worry about what we're doing with that tool instead. Thanks for listening.
[00:07:35]thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of time, be sure to sign up. For our stewardship of time tips [00:08:00] series by going to inspired stewardship.com/time or texting four four, two, two, two time tips.
[00:08:12] And that'll get you our best tips on stewarding your time until next time. Invest your time. Your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact the world. .