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Eighty-five percent of what we do, anyone can do: checking email, answering messages, attending meetings, reading the news or trade journals, and making simple decisions. These tasks don’t require an elite expertise or specialized skill. Many of these tasks can be delegated to others so we can concentrate on what’s most important to the job we have been given to do.
Ten percent of what we do, someone with a modicum of training should be able to accomplish. After all, if we were trained to do what we do, someone else of like capability could learn how to run the computer program, solve the problem, lead the meeting, or do the tasks that we do.
With appropriate schooling and experience, someone else can perform a surgery, manage an engineering project, or sell real estate. Certain aspects of those activities can be assigned to trained individuals.
But 5 percent of what I do, only I can do! This is the most important 5 percent for me. I can’t delegate these initiatives to anyone else. I can’t hire someone else to take my place in any of these activities because they require that I be there! This five percent will determine the validity of the other 95 percent.
My 5 percent may differ from yours, but the principle is transferrable to everyone—married, single, widowed, old or young. It is true for those with children, empty nesters, or young couples just starting out in life.
I had to rethink what was most important to me – what God had asked me to do – and how I could restructure my life to concentrate on these priorities in my final stretch. I had to think what my last 5% would include. What were the things that only I could do and, if neglected, would affect the rest of my life?
Here are the responsibilities I wrote down:
1. A vibrant, growing relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
2. A healthy and genuine relationship with my spouse
3. An authentic family that is close to God and close to one another
4. A God-pleasing ministry
5. A physically healthy body and a creative soul
6. Taking time to enjoy life with family and friends
These six items require a daily investment of my time and heart. In fact, the condition of these six areas will, to a large extent, determine the state of my life. If these areas are compromised, the consequences will be felt in other areas. If this 5 percent fell into disrepair or neglect, my life would grind to a halt until these priorities were once again restored.
What shapes our souls
We often fill our days with the 85 percent because it requires so little of us. We then dip into the next 10 percent. But during my season of burnout, even that drained me completely. I had nothing left for the crucial 5 percent, knowing that this would require the most of me.
And the crucial 5 percent is what God will one day hold you accountable for. It will not necessarily be the 85% that will shape your future, or the 10% that will build your legacy. It may impress the world, it may burnish your resume, but it won’t impress God as much as that all-important 5 percent. Your choice of what is most important will shape your soul.
We won’t be held accountable for how much we have done, but for how much we have done of what He has asked us to do.
What makes up your most important 5 percent? Identify them and write them down.
Excerpted fromLeading on Empty, by Wayne Cordeiro (Bethany House, 2009).
Photo source: istock
 | Wayne Cordeiro is the founding pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu, Hawaii. New Hope is also listed as one of the top ten most innovative churches in America with Outreach Magazine listing them as one of the “top five churches to learn from.” New Hope is known for redeeming the arts and technology. New Hope has seen over 73,000 first time decisions in Hawaii since its inception over 32 years ago. |
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