As 2009 draws to a close, I’m amazed by what a full year it has been.  I’ve had a bit of time off work to reflect on the most impacting aspects of the year, and the list was very long.  I’ve categorized the list and would love to share it with you over these final days of 2009.  Here goes:

The Most Impacting People in My Life in 2009

Carol Egbert – My wife continues to rock my world.  In a tumultuous year filled with many ups and downs, her unconditional love remained steadfast and sure.  She has continued to grow as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend and servant.  She continues to inspire and amaze me.  She influenced my life by giving me courage and strength and building me up when the enemy sought to tear me down.

Pastor Reginah – She runs a school for the most disadvantaged in Nairobi, Kenya.  I had the privilege of meeting her in February while there on a short-term mission trip.  Her unstoppable faith, in light of her constant lack of resources, moved me deeply.  She influenced my life by challenging my beliefs that under-resourcing limits what I can accomplish.

Joanie Woodall - Her husband Joe lost his battle to cancer recently.  I watched Joanie live out her faith in God for the whole world to see.  I’ve never met anyone like her, with such an upbeat and even joyful outlook on life, regardless of her circumstances.  She influenced my life by showing me that God really is enough, even in our times of greatest turmoil and pain.

David Gates – He is the Christian counselor I saw earlier in the year when I was struggling with my grief over the loss of our grandson, Ryan.  He certainly helped me with that, but he also helped me in so many other ways that I did not anticipate, or even initially seek.  He influenced my life by helping me to see and begin to combat unhealthy life-long patterns of thinking and believing.

Mac Lake – He is the Development Pastor at Seacoast Church in South Carolina.  In a simple breakfast meeting, a short video shoot afterwards, and then working with him to get Leading Multisite going, I began to see opportunities for impact develop before my eyes.  He influenced my life by expanding my thinking and dreaming of how I might be able to serve God.

While I’ve only listed five here, the cast of characters is really far more extensive than that.  I would include all of my children.  Each one has influenced me in a different way this year.  I would include my extended family, as they have done the same.  I would also include all who I am privileged to work with.  2009 has been a fun and action-packed year at The Chapel, and doing it with people you love and respect make all the difference.

Who are the people who have been most impacting in your life this year?

In my next post, I’ll reveal the most impacting spiritual events of 2009.

The never-ending deluge of email creates stress for many of us.  Like many folks, I get a ton of email every day.  It is one of those parts of my job that I can’t control.  People can send two minutes writing an email with a few open-ended questions that could take 30 minutes to answer.  An accumulation of 25 emails might take me 1o minutes to process, or several hours.  That’s what I mean about not being able to control it.  But not being able to control it doesn’t mean that I can’t manage it.

Here are some steps that anyone can take to reduce the stress created by our email:

• Deal with each email in turn. I don’t know about you, but I have a tendency to take care of emails that I address quickly.  This shrinks the list and gives me the impression of productivity, but often leaves me with the more daunting ones that I tend to procrastinate with.  That results in a backlog of waiting emails, ones that I’m trying to avoid anyway.  Instead, as you go through each email, take one of the following actions:

1. Delete it. If no further action is required, then delete it.  Don’t leave it in your inbox.  Some of us want to do that in case we ever need to refer back to it at a later date, but most email software, such as Outlook or Entourage, keep a copy of anything you delete in a folder.
2. Delegate it. If the required action is someone else’s to take, forward the email.  Keep your remarks to the minimum needed.
3. Do it. If the required action is yours to take, determine if that action can be accomplished in two minutes or less.  If so, git ‘er done.
4. Put it into your @Action folder – If the required task is yours to take, but that task will take you more than two minutes, save it off in this folder to address later.  This is the folder that you will go through in your Weekly Review, which I discussed in a post earlier in the week.

• Put time in your schedule – Set up time to work your email, much as you would make time for any other important task.  Acting like we can absorb all that email management work is delusional.  And there’s something deep inside us that knows that we really can’t do that.  Instead, that part of us knows that we’re going to spend time tonight after we get the kids in bed trying to catch up.  I am setting up two times per day to check and process my email – once in the morning and another time before I head home.

• Turn off your notifier – All those great notifiers (on our Outlook or Entourage or iPhone) that tell us when we have new emails are terribly distracting.  They draw us away from whatever we were concentrating on.  I turned them off and leave all my email for my scheduled email times.  I felt immediate relief from the stress of the mounting pile.  What good does it do me to think and fret about the growing mound of emails that have come in?  All that doesn’t help me one bit.  It only gives me that familiar sinking feeling.  I didn’t need that, and neither do you.

• Limit your responses – There’s a school of thought that recommends that you limit your responses to no more than five sentences.  While I’m not a big fan of arbitrary rules or guidelines, I do think that most of us could be more concise and use less words in our email correspondence.  It also saves us precious time.

Don’t let your email run your life.  You can get your inbox down to zero, and you’ll experience less stress

In my last post, I referred several times to my ‘to-do manager.’  This is the tool I use to keep track of ALL my tasks.  This could be as low-tech as a pad of paper, but most people depend upon some type of software or web service.  I have tried many different  tools and have found one that meets all my to-do needs.  I’ll say up front that it has the stupidest name I’ve ever heard.  It was almost bad enough to keep me from giving it a try.  I use a web service called, “Toodledo.”  I picked this product for several reasons:

1. Flexibility - The vast majority of products, both paper and technology based, are designed around the organizational beliefs, practices and preferences of the product designer.  This is great if you agree with that designer, but I often found solutions either over or under engineered.  How each person manages their to-do’s is a very personal thing, so flexibility is very important, at least to me.  Toodledo provides a robust set of features with maximum customization.  You can configure it to work the way you do.  I have a folder set up for each key initiative (or project) in my world, and then tasks are listed within folder.  As my needs change, the system is easily tweaked to meet them.  Some times I want to view my tasks in due date order.  Other times I want to see them listed by folder.  Toodledo provides complete control over what you see and how the product will work.
2. Web-Based – I prefer web-based services over having to buy, download and maintain software on my laptop.  The Toodledo service is well-maintained and all that is transparent to me.  Yes, it’s true that I can’t get to it if I don’t have an internet connection, but that is rarely a reality for me.  Of course, it’s password protected to provide the necessary security.  You also don’t have to worry about backing up your data.  They do it for you.
3. Price – The web service is free to use (www.toodledo.com).  You can upgrade to a premium version if you want advanced features, but I’ve not found that to be necessary.  The free version is full-bodied (rather than lite).
4. Portable – There is a sweet Toodledo app for the iPhone that syncs up nicely with the web service.  It’ll cost you $2.99, but it is well worth it.  The most heavily used online features are available within the app.

If you’re looking for a tool to help you manage all the tasks in your life, give it a try.

I’ll wrap up this series of posts next time by talking about managing the never-ending avalanche of email.