Productivity tools and theology

One of the things I decided to do as I come down the homestretch of working on my software engineering degree was to get a Blackberry.  To tell the truth, I was an early adopter of Blackberries back in 2003, before many people I knew had them.  After a few years, as business tapered off, I decided that it wasn’t worth the $40/month that a data plan would cost for it.  Since many of the carriers have reduced their data plan prices, I decided to jump back in with a Bold 9700, and a 2GB data plan.  After having the data plan for several months, I’ve decided to go down to the 200MB plan, since I just don’t use that much data, even with 5 email accounts connected.

Since I’m taking two courses this semester and next, I decided to use Task Planning software on my Blackberry.  I have found ToDoMatrix is the best out there, and has really helped me to focus my life and achieve a level of calmness that I was looking for.  I spend more of my time focusing on tasks that benefit me, and are important.  I like the fact that it combines the best features of Franklin/Covey’s system of quadrants, and the Getting Things Done workflow method by David Allen.

One thing I used the extra dimension field for (D7), was to track how the things on my task list related to spiritual disciplines.  I created a list that included:

#Fellowship

#Confession

#Sacrifice

#Frugality

#ServingNeighbor

#Bible Study

#Journaling

#Vocation

#Fasting

#Meditation

#Contemplation

#Prayer

One thing that I found is that most of my activities fall into the #Vocation category.  While I’m a Baptist, I do find the Lutheran doctrine of vocation appealing. For instance, see this link as an introduction to this idea.  I grew up thinking that the highest vocation was doing ministry, but as I get older and having studied theology I’m realizing that as Christians we need to get more involved in applying Christian principles to our understanding of work, and the greater role it plays in God’s outworking of grace in us.

There are probably other disciplines that could be added to the list.  One other way I’ve used the software is as a gentle reminder to pray the hours.  During my busy workday, taking time out every three hours to pray has been beneficial, and helps me to thank and worship God, who has ordained vocations by which others can be served, as Christ has commanded us to do, in giving our lives in service to others (Mark 10:44-45).