I must admit that I am drawn to anything that can improve my productivity. However, I am also painfully aware of my sinful heart which makes me keenly interested in Daniel Patterson’s article included below. Patterson, the chief of staff of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, has been challenged after reading Cal Newport’s Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. Patterson’s conclusions surfaced three powerful cautionary points that we should all be aware of in our quest to squeeze more out of every day. 

3 Spiritual Dangers of Productivity

by Daniel Patterson

Being productive with one’s time is a topic I read and think about a great deal, and even enjoy doing so. If you’re anything like me, you care about productivity and leadership because of a desire to invest time and energy well.

And yet, the simple and ironic truth is that you might be wasting your life—and doing so precisely because you’re obsessed with being productive.

What got me thinking about this reality was an excellent book I read last year by Cal Newport, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. The book itself is not written from a Christian perspective or for a Christian audience, but it offers a number of insights that are deeply resonant with the Christian vision of reality and enormously helpful in evaluating how one is investing time and energy.

Newport’s central argument throughout the book is that, in a world that increasingly prioritizes the shallow, it is those who commit to deep work who succeed. Deep work requires time, sharp focus, and distraction-free concentration.

Thanks to Andreas Klassen for his picture fon Unsplash