Book Blurb:

Manage your time the way Jesus managed his with a biblical antidote to swamped to-do lists and hurried schedules.

“A highly practical road map.”–Mark Batterson, New York Times bestselling author and lead pastor of National Community Church

Despite the overwhelming amount of resources for time management and work-life balance, the ability to cultivate the efficiency and equilibrium needed to manage all our worthy pursuits can often feel frustratingly out of reach. The reason for our struggle is that productivity and time-management systems focus on individual habits rather than more meaningful and lasting lifestyle changes. But as it turns out, there is a better way to reach our full potential.

We don’t need just another approach to changing our habits. What we need is an operating system that takes into account the full scope of our lives. In these pages, bestselling author Jordan Raynor presents this system, using seven powerful time- management principles drawn from the example of how Jesus lived:

1. Start with the Word: Find meaningful connection with the author of time daily.
2. Let Your Yes Be Yes: Accept only the commitments you can fulfill.
3. Dissent from the Kingdom of Noise: Create room for silence, stillness, and reflection.
4. Prioritize Your Yeses: Confidently maintain your commitments.
5. Accept Your “Unipresence” Focus on one important thing at a time.
6. Embrace Productive Rest: Live the God-designed rhythms of rest which are productive for our goals and souls.
7. Eliminate All Hurry: Embrace productive busyness while ruthlessly eliminating hurry from our lives.

With these principles, you’ll see how Jesus managed his time on earth and how he responded to human constraints much like the ones you face today. More than that, you’ll discover corresponding practices that will help you embrace the best, most Christlike version of yourself possible: purposeful, present, and wildly productive.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. All comments and opinions are entirely my own, and I am writing a voluntary review.

AnnaScott’s Review:

This was – by far – the best book I’ve read on productivity. And trust me, I’ve read a lot of them.

Let’s start with Jordan’s writing style. In this book, he would seamlessly transition from quoting C.S. Lewis to quoting Taylor Swift, and referencing some of the greatest theologians to referencing Hamilton or The Office. It made this book fun to read and it made Jordan relatable, while still keeping the theology solid and the conversation productive. Also, with his concise writing style he packed a ton of knowledge into 256 pages, so I learned a lot without having to spend hours and hours working through the book (like some others I could mention).

On to the actual content. While most productivity books largely focus on either theory or best practices, this book effortlessly meshed the two. Each of the seven topics covered started with their theological basis, then explained how they were scientifically valid, and ended with a list of ways to implement the idea into your life in a practical manner.

The best part of this book was that, because each of the seven principles was based on Jesus’ life, the priority was not ‘get what you have to do done so you can go have fun.’ The focus was on using your time to the best of your ability so that you can glorify God as much as possible, whether that means finishing your to-do list or postponing it to help a neighbor. So many books prioritize what’s best for you or what you want to do, and this has made me a bit uncomfortable when it comes down to implementing the practices they suggest. Because Jordan’s principles prioritize Jesus, though, I feel no hesitation doing anything he suggests.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to everyone looking to use their time to the best of their ability.

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