In my last column, I introduced our readers to “the fine art of monkey management.” Borrowing from the term “the monkey on your back,” I defined a “monkey” simply as “the responsibility to take the next step.” Every youth pastor faces hundreds of monkeys every day.
Great monkey managers start each day facing one undeniable reality: It will never all get done.
So does that mean we are destined to stay mired and overwhelmed with endless to do lists? I don’t think so
Follow the general rule of life management: 80% of our work gets accomplished in only 20% of our time. With the other 80% of our time, we accomplish only 20% of the things that really matter.
The secret begins with a three-step process that every youth pastor needs to become an expert monkey manager:
- Have Your Most Important Monkeys Before You Every Day. The most important monkeys are always the easiest ones to miss. They seldom demand our attention.
Here are some of the polite little monkeys all of us who lead youth ministries face every day:
- Recruiting of all leaders for the current ministry as well as all the leaders needed for next year’s ministry
- goal-setting and strategic planning for the youth ministry
- getting (and keeping) parents, the senior pastor and the church leadership on your team
- keeping students connected
- developing a plan for discipling every youth under your care
- engaging youth in the overall life of the church
- being prepared for crisis situations that youth and families may encounter
- having an intentional curriculum
- making sure youth events are well attended
- engaging volunteers to share the work load
- reading
- establishing a campus presence
- taking time to take care of your own spiritual life
- and taking time to rest
I call these monkeys “polite” because they seldom interrupt us or cry for our attention. But the more we ignore these monkeys, the less satisfied we will be in our ministries.
- Intentionally Procrastinate Everything on Your List Until Your Two Most Important Monkeys Are Addressed. I know what you’ve been told: Procrastination is bad. Not always. The truth is that you will procrastinate about something. Exceptional monkey managers relentlessly refuse to procrastinate on the most important things.
The least important monkeys scream for our attention (the incessantly ringing telephone, email or instant messages, people that just happen to wander into our office). Follow the general rule of life management: 80% of our work gets accomplished in only 20% of our time. With the other 80% of our time, we accomplish only 20% of the things that really matter. Procrastinate on everything but the most important 20%.
- Schedule the Screaming Monkeys into Your Day. Screaming monkeys—urgent calls that must be returned, reports that must be turned in, talks that must be prepared—are a natural part of youth ministry. But screaming monkeys seldom move a ministry forward. So identify and schedule them only after you have taken steps one and two.
It’s 9:00 a.m. Do you know where your monkeys are?
Mark DeVries is the founder of Youth Ministry Architects (www.YMArchitects.com), and he leads a team of monkey management consultants working with churches desiring to build sustainable, deep-impact youth ministries.
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