The 3 Steps You're Missing When Planning Anything—Including Sermon Prep
Photo by Dilyara Garifullina on Unsplash
Let’s say you’re planning a dinner party for special guests.
You imagine a lovely evening with such delectable dishes that the guests ask for the recipes.
It won’t be that hard to pull off. You figure:
Trip to store: 30 minutes
Grocery shopping: one hour
Trip back: 30 minutes
Cooking time: three hours
Total prep time: five hours
Easy! You’ve got this!
But here’s what actually happens.
Search recipe books: one hour
Make grocery list: thirty minutes
Search for phone before leaving the house: 10 minutes
Road construction on way to store, so trip there: 45 minutes
It’s peak shopping hours with crowded aisles and long checkout lanes. Plus you run into a parishioner who was at the store searching for comfort food because she’d just come from the vet’s after putting her dog down, so total time in grocery store: 2 hours
Load groceries into car: 15 minutes
To avoid the road construction you take the “scenic” route, but there was an interminably long train crossing so return trip: one hour
Unload groceries and put them away: 30 minutes
Forgot to get key ingredient so agonized about going back to the store, then searching for a substitute: 20 minutes
Spouse calls with urgent need: 15 minutes
New recipe more complicated than expected so search for and watch YouTube video for technique: 45 minutes
Actual cooking time: 4 hours
Search cupboards for table decorations: 20 minutes
Set the table: 30 minutes
Make kitchen presentable: 45 minutes
Shower: 30 minutes
Total prep time: 815 minutes, or 14 hours, 18 minutes.
And though the food was as good as hoped and recipes were requested all around, you gotta wonder whether the four hours lost off the end of your life because of the stress from everything taking longer than you thought was worth ever holding another dinner party!
But what would have happened instead if you had imagined the worst?
The worst for how long things will take, that is!
To wit, how much of the above that went “wrong” is ridiculous?
I didn’t outline a catastrophe or an unrealistic scenario.
I just outlined the tasks that weren’t included in the estimate, the energy needed, and a few things you can count on going sideways.
When we envision ourselves undertaking tasks under the “worst”—or, Ahem!—realistic circumstances, we’re far more likely to get closer to reality.
Sermon prep is no different.
Consider these three strategies to bring your idealistic expectations in line with the realities of life.
1. Use your five senses to envision every detail of what’s required
This is a big reason projects, including sermon prep, take longer than we expect: we don’t take into account every single step.
We are overly optimistic by lumping all the steps together and imagining ourselves engaged in the major part of the task.
We forget to consider the time needed to prepare for and clean up after the task.
For instance, imagine yourself reading the texts for your next sermon.
What do you see in your mind’s eye? Run through your five senses:
What do you see? The view out your window? Your computer screen? Others at the coffee shop you’ve gone to?
What do you smell? Coffee? Tea? Fresh flowers in the vase on your desk?
What do you taste? Biscotti? Scones? Iced water?
What do you hear? Silence? Music? The background buzz of café patrons? A knock on your office door, your phone buzzing, or pings from computer notifications (and are these what you want to hear)?
What do you touch? Computer keys? Pen? Paper? Napkin? What table or desk top?
Now what does it take for each of these things to be there? Each of these things require your decisions, effort, and dismantling when you’re done with them.
Each requires your time and energy.
For a realistic estimate of time, each one needs to be accounted for.
2. Envision your not-best self
Just like we try to account for the time rush hour adds to driving, or peak shopping time that adds minutes to our errands, we also need to take into account the extra time required when we have to work against our natural energy rhythms.
The mistake we make is to envision our tasks being done when we’re at our most energetic and productive.
We fail to account for our personal energy “traffic jams” and “peak shopping hours” when we have to work at sub-optimal energy levels so tasks take longer and demand more from us.
For example, if you’re a morning person but the “traffic jams” of morning meetings means sermon prep waits until evening, that prep will probably take more time and effort, and deplete your energy faster.
Or if your best time of day is late afternoon but that’s your household’s “peak shopping hours” when your spouse gets home from work and wants to talk about their day, and you’ve got to cook dinner and help the kids with homework, then sermon prep either has to move so you’re working at a time that’s less than your best, or perhaps you can work it out with your spouse to take over the household for an hour while you optimize your energy for your work.
Take into account, then, whether your task will actually be done when you’re at your best—or less than that.
3. Envision the task when things go “wrong” (aka real life)
Note: That question isn’t what might go wrong but what will.
When we plan for the tasks ahead, we tend to envision the time the task requires when it goes perfectly and under ideal conditions.
Reality tells us that from road construction to trains, to forgetting items at the store, to searching for those darned candelabras, the unexpected always happens and adds hours to “the best laid plans.”
You know how it works—every. single. week.
The unexpected funeral
The unexpected pastoral crisis
The unexpected loss of electricity and downed internet
The “unexpected” meeting you forgot about that requires dedicated prep time
The unexpected cold that lays you flat for three days
The unexpected search for and resetting of lost internet passwords
The unexpected dead end for your sermon idea
Imagine doing your tasks while you’re getting “lifed” because that’s how it’s probably going to play out.
Now imagine having people to talk to about ministry and sermon prep, people who “get it” and can help you think these situations through.
That’s what Backstory Preaching is all about.
Need a change
in your preaching life?
Ready to tackle last-minute sermon prep that eats your personal time?
Wrestling burnout? Or have a feeling you’re just stuck in a preaching rut?
Maybe you wish you could grow in your preaching skills while deepening
your connection to God.
The Backstory Preaching Mentorship
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Get all the details, hear from mentorship grads about their experience,
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