09/19/2023
Have you ever stopped to think that sometimes what you don’t do is just as important as what you do?
I recently looked at a “screen time” report on my phone. After an assessment of how much time was being spent, I made the tough decision to delete a few apps and cut way back on others. We all have our interests, passions, and methods of communication. I also recognize that for a pastor, there are many benefits of creating a platform by which we can share the Gospel. Amen.
However, for me, social media has become a distraction rather than a ministry tool. Too many times I have found myself getting sucked into the vortex of scrolling through the endless stream of posts, pictures, and products, and thirty minutes later, I come up for air wondering where the time went.
Most people are familiar with the Pareto Principle, first introduced in the 1790s by Vilfredo Pareto, that 20% of our efforts produce 80% of results. In 1951, Joseph Moses Juran expanded the idea to “the Law of the Vital Few” (Quality-Control Handbook). His approach was that you can massively improve a product by solving a fraction of the problems.
Richard Koch, author of several books applying the Pareto Principle, distinguished how the “trivial many” from the “vital few” can be applied to almost any human endeavor. Warren Buffet picked up on this idea as he famously said, “Our investment philosophy borders on lethargy” (Essentialism, 44). He owes 90% of his wealth to just ten investments.
Sometimes, what you don’t do is just as important as what you do. Jesus communicated this as an eternal truth when he summarized the 612 laws of the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments, and God’s three requirements (Micah 6:8) down to two: “Jesus replied: `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40, NIV).
You will probably agree with me that life is complicated enough, and our calendars are overflowing with abundance. We don’t need more filler to the margins of our lives. What we need is to move from the trivial many to the vital few of loving God and loving our neighbor.
What are you currently doing that sucks you into the timeless vortex of triviality?
I needed to cut out some trivial time on my phone in order to reclaim the time for social, physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual health (https://sourcehealth.org/spies-overview). I encourage you to do a time assessment as well and discover what not to do so you have the time to do what matters.
