Consider: “Demystifying Decision-Making”

Published on by Kim

Do you struggle with making decisions? Aimee Joseph has recently published Demystifying Decision-Making: A Practical Guide, and it may be a helpful resource for you.

Here are three excerpts for you to evaluate:

“Through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, believers are invited into the freedom of making decisions as children of God. Rather than following the whims of their heart, believers are invited to place the desires of their hearts alongside the word of God as a ruler. God’s word, God’s Spirit, and God’s people are intended to help instruct us in the series of decisions that constitutes life.”

“We far too easily demand clarity from our Creator when, instead of clarity, he would rather cultivate faith in us. Obviously, clarity remains an end goal of the process of decision-making; however, faith precedes clarity…Every decision, even those well-thought-out and prayed through, requires faith of some sort. It takes faith to stay in the states to minister in our neighborhoods just as it requires faith to leave the states to share the gospel in a foreign context. It takes faith to walk as a single man or woman just as it takes faith the enter the covenant of marriage with a spouse…Thus, when we are asking the Lord to give ample clarity, it is helpful to recognize that even decisions that have become clear require trusting faith.”

“Only when our minds are more shaped by God and his values than by the surrounding world can we have the clarity of thought to discern the will of God moment by moment, decision by decision.”

These books are set here as possibilities for you to explore. Posts and links are not blanket endorsements or paid publicity.

Good Idea: Structured App

Published on by Kim

Are you interested in a tool that will help you build and/or maintain your daily routine? Do you use your smartphone in the fight for good habits? If so, the Structured app may be a good idea for you.

Structured is a calendar app that allows you to plan out both tasks and commitments so that you can see your day at a glance. The free version gives you the basic calendar format, but you can upgrade to Pro (for $4.99 in the App Store) to get notifications and sync other calendars.

When you create an entry, you have options to set icons (which allows you to visually tag what you are doing, i.e., project, meeting, shopping, etc.), color code, make it a repeating entry, and add any notes you may need.

One beauty of this is how you can build your morning routine and evening routine into your daily schedule — then set reminders to start each piece of the routine, which will keep you moving on through. You can create a 15-minute block for one or three or however many tasks you need in that space. You can make a notification to alert you that it is time to start what you have determined to do.

There is also an in-box where you can keep “to-do” tasks that do not have an assigned time yet, along with how long you think they will take. When you see a time block free, you are able to go to the in-box, see which item(s) will fit best, and quickly add it to your schedule.

The day view will alert you to what is coming and any free time you may have available. Sometimes it is nice to know how much time you have until the next appointment! You have, at a glance, the path for your day with any available margin.

If a paper planner is not for you, or if Google calendars have not quite done it for you, this may be an option that will do the trick for your time management. If you do use it, or have used it, please comment below with what has worked well for you. Thanks!