For my part, I have now decided to make use of it. You see, I have found myself the recipient of as many as two to three hundred e-mails a day – a significant portion of which have come, not from individuals, but from organizations.
After fifteen years of surfing the web, I have just gotten to the point that I am suffering from information and communication overload. The cumulative effect of clicking here and clicking there has begun to exact its toll. Any and every organization has been flooding my inbox with daily e-mails.
Furthermore, what has been happening in my inbox is only symptomatic of my life as a whole. I have just had entirely too much going on and entirely too may entities vying for my time and attention. The result of all of this has been that both my energy and my effectiveness in any one area have been diminished by the demands of so many concerns in so many areas.
Thus, as one of my new year’s resolutions, I have decided to do something about all of this. I have decided to simplify and streamline my life. As a result, I have begun “unsubscribing” to a great many things - not just e-mails, but also organizations and commitments as well.
It is reported that D. L. Moody once said, “I would rather say ‘This one thing I do’ than say, ‘These forty things I dabble with.’” Such is where I now am. I have become increasingly convicted by the fact that, up until now, I have spent a fair portion of my life, both professional and personal, dabbling as opposed to doing. In the time I have left in this world, I would like to change all that. I would like to do more and to dabble less.
I want to become more focused; so that, as a result, I can do less, and yet accomplish more. Because of this, I have now stepped down from leadership positions, or else backed away from my general involvement in, several organizations. Now, to be sure, each of these entities, ranging from a crisis pregnancy center to the literacy council, are very worthwhile.
However, by becoming involved in too many such endeavors, I have limited my effectiveness in any single one of them. I have therefore concluded that I cannot continue to spread myself so thin; for in so doing, I have become increasingly unproductive.
I now hope to redeem the time I would have otherwise spent in these endeavors by more vigorously pursuing a select few commitments. Among these will be the continued development of my web page. I sincerely appreciate those of you who visit frequently. In the future, I hope to have more time to develop this site as it was originally envisioned. I have been reasonably faithful to update my blog; but other sections woefully need attention.
In the near future, I hope to make these needed changes and upgrades. I will appreciate your prayers as I move in this bold new direction. May God be glorified by this endeavor.