Do New Things

Do New Things (Guest Post)

This post was written by Marshall Sherman of Advancing His Kingdom.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always get what you’ve always had.” That quote rings true not only throughout time, but throughout generations. It applies not only to adults, but to teens. A lot of times teens do the same thing and expect different results. It doesn’t work that way! You can’t plant an apple seed, and get a pear tree! Every time you put an apple seed in the ground, you’re going to get an apple tree! Every single time. I don’t care if you pray over it, coax it, or yell at it; it will always produce an apple.

Whatever you sow, that will you reap.

But another thing I think is often overlooked in applying this quote, is going with the flow. Not only is it true that you, personally, will not get different results from the same actions, but you will not get different results if you do the same things as other people. For instance, if you dress the same way as a non-Christian, talk the same way as a non-Christian, go to the same movies as a non-Christian, surf the same websites as a non-Christian, read the same books as a non-Christian, you can’t expect God to move in your life anymore than He does, or is allowed to, in a non-Christians life.

Alex and Brett’s excellent post, A Lesson From The Vikings: Do Hard Things, created an excellent point. However, in addition to making an excellent point, they also provide an example for mine. The Vikings did hard things, but what they did was also new. Alex and Brett gave the example of the Greeks and the Romans and how they had galley slaves, whereas the Vikings…well…I’m not going to give it away, check out the post. Nevertheless, the Vikings did a new thing, and in turn, it made them successful.

So here’s the challenge, and it follows right along the same lines as Alex and Brett’s: (Strange how God does that isn’t it? Tells more than one person the same thing…) Do hard things, but don’t do just hard things, do new things. If you are not getting satisfactory results, pray, and then change. God literally changed the world, and the course of history, with 12 men who were willing to do something hard, and something new. I wanna’ be a leader in the next wave…what about you?

A Lesson From the Vikings: Do Hard Things

A Lesson From The Vikings: Do Hard Things

The Vikings were fierce pirates and warriors who terrorized Europe from the late 700’s to about A.D. 1100. Brutal and fearsome they looted and burned parts of England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, and Spain. Other Europeans were so frightened of the Vikings that a special prayer for protection was offered in the churches: “God, deliver us from the fury of the Northmen.”

Most historians attribute the Vikings devastating effectiveness to their warships, which were swift and light and could be easily dragged ashore. This allowed them to strike suddenly and then quickly retreat to the safety of the sea. However, my wise father has identified another contributing factor—one that holds incredible significance for all of us: The Vikings rowed themselves to battle.

Unlike the Romans, who used galley slaves to row their great warships, the Vikings took full responsibility for this strenuous activity. This tells us two things: 1) the Vikings didn’t feel that rowing was beneath them—they pursued competence in every area pertaining to their success, and 2) they were seriously ripped. No wonder the people of Europe were afraid of these guys—their muscles were moving twenty-ton boats through the water!

Here’s The Rebelution’s challenge: Do hard things. Learn a lesson from the Vikings. Do hard things and you will carry the battle every time. If you are willing to take on responsibilities that others delegate or neglect you will gain the benefits of that exertion.

Too often we delegate the responsibility for our education, our character, our future, etc. to others who hold far less of a stake in how things turn out. And more often than not a failure to perform in the areas of character and competence are due to a lack of past exertion.

Look around you. Many American young people are doing little more than “making it”—and this in a culture of unbelievably low standards. Few shoulder the burden of doing more than is required—yet that was the key to the Viking’s success!

In subsequent posts we will examine how we can “do hard things” by educating ourselves, tackling and maintaining normal responsibilities, and attempting the “impossible.” For now, I want you to ask yourselves the following questions:

• Am I choosing to Do Hard Things in my personal life? In my education? In the goals I set?

• Am I exceeding expectations or just getting by?

• Am I robbing myself of greater achievements because I’m unwilling to take on certain responsibilities?

Laptops vs. Learning

Laptops vs. Learning

“Could you repeat the question?”

That has become the most common response to questions I pose to my law students at Georgetown University. It is usually asked while the student glances up from the laptop screen that otherwise occupies his or her field of vision. After I repeat the question, the student’s gaze as often as not returns to the computer screen as if the answer might magically appear… Who knows, with instant messaging, maybe it will.

- David Cole, Laptops vs. Learning, Washington Post, April 7th, 2007 -

Earlier this month, David Cole, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Post about banning laptop computers from his college classroom. As rebelutionaries, his words give us much food for thought.

Brett and I have written a lot about our generation and technology, both here and elsewhere. Many of the themes we’ve highlighted are echoed by Professor Cole:

With the aid of Microsoft and Google, we have effectively put at every seat a library of magazines, a television and the opportunity for real-time side conversations and invited our students to check out whenever they find their attention wandering… As for multitasking, I don’t buy it. Attention diverted is attention diverted.

Another reason for the laptop ban? Note-taking on a laptop encourages students to go into “stenographic mode,” focusing on getting a word-for-word transcript instead of actually listening, thinking and prioritizing the most important themes.

The results of Professor Cole’s experiment were strikingly positive:

About 80 percent reported that they are more engaged in class discussion when they are laptop-free. Seventy percent said that, on balance, they liked the no-laptop policy. 95 percent admitted that they use their laptops in class for “purposes other than taking notes, such as surfing the Web, checking e-mail, instant messaging and the like.”

Brett and I won’t be attending college until Fall 2008, but our day-to-day experience confirms what Professor Cole has observed. We can say we’re “listening” as we work on our laptops, but we know we’re not really listening (or learning) as well as we would if we stopped, turned and gave our undivided attention. More often than not, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot.

This brings us to the question: As rebelutionaries, are we willing to shut down, turn off, and (as my mom always says) “pivot” for the sake of greater competence?

Professor Cole concludes his op-ed piece with these words:

I am sure that the Internet can be a useful pedagogical tool in some settings and for some subjects. But for most classes, it is little more than an attractive nuisance. Technology has outstripped us on this one, and we need to reassess its appropriate and inappropriate role in teaching. The personal computer has revolutionized our lives, in many ways for the better. But it also threatens to take over our lives. At least for some purposes, unplugging may still be the best response.

For our currently college-attending readers: How common are laptops in class at your school? Do you use one? On balance, do you find that a laptop helps you be more engaged in your classes? If not, are you willing to go without it?

Brett and I are interested in hearing everyone’s input on this. Just remember, convenience (by itself) is not an argument here. As young adults, our focus is on preparation. As rebelutionaries, our goal is to travel the path that leads to the greatest level of competence, and that usually means doing hard things.

Multitasking: Bringing It All Together

Multitasking: Bringing It All Together

At the risk of sounding sentimental, I cautiously venture to say that I’m going to miss our series on multitasking. In fact, some of you may have noticed that while this was originally booked as a four-part series, you are now reading the fifth installment.

The purpose of this post is to bring to your attention three points that encapsulate what I believe is an appropriate response to all that we have learned over the past several weeks.

Each of the last three installments have included examples from my own life of practical application. Today, I hope to define more clearly an appropriate mindset with which to approach the issue of multitasking. Here are three principles we need to remember:

1.) Christians Can’t Multitask

Of course I don’t mean that Christians should never multitask. Multitasking can often be useful and is truly a unique ability that God has given to man. But what I do mean is that Christians don’t have the option to do anything besides the one thing we have been called to do. Yes, we may do many different activities, but everything we do — what we watch, listen to, think about, etc. — falls under one all-encompassing activity: Representing Jesus Christ.

This means that the standard is not “Am I multitasking or not multitasking?” but rather, “How well am I representing Christ in His commitment to glorifying God?”

Christ lived His life with one purpose: to glorify His Father. And in 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul issues us the same challenge when he says, “…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). That means that whether we’re multitasking or not multitasking, the purpose of everything we do is to bring God glory.

The purpose of this series was to give all of us a framework with which to evaluate this prevalent aspect of modern culture in light of the question: “Does it glorify God?” By recognizing the pitfalls of multitasking we are more prepared to answer that question.

The truth is that multitasking almost always hampers productivity, stifles thought, and harms relationships. For these reasons we can answer that, “no,” multitasking hardly ever helps us glorify God.

However, the danger is that the lazy part of us wants jump on that to say, “No multitasking, ever.” It’s much easier to make a legalistic declaration than to continue asking the right questions.

But many, including myself, would be quick to point out that certain forms of multitasking have the potential in some situations to improve efficiency, raise levels of thought, and even increase interaction. Because of that we must take the harder road of not rejecting multitasking entirely, but of carefully evaluating each situation on its own merits.

2.) Consider What You’re Not Doing

“The problem [with the electronic movement],” says Edward Hallowell, author of the book CrazyBusy, “is what you are not doing if [it] grows too large. You are not having family dinner, you are not having conversations . . . you are not going on a family ski trip or taking time just to veg. It’s not so much that the video game is going to rot your brain, it’s what you are not doing that’s going to rot your life.”

Whether it is focusing on our work, thinking hard thoughts, or loving others with our attention, it’s what we’re not doing that suffers most from our generation’s obsession with media and multitasking. And the reason that we often fail to glorify God is not because what we’re doing is necessarily sinful (it may be completely harmless), but because we’re not doing something else that we could/should be doing.

Because of that our first consideration should not be, “Am I giving all of my IM conversations adequate attention?” but rather, “Is there something better I could be doing with my time?”

While all the perfect people who are reading this might only need to keep all of the important things they do from fragmenting their focus, the rest of us will probably find that many of the activities that hamper our productivity, stifle our thought life, and hurt our relationships are purely extraneous. When that comes to our attention we must have the maturity and humility to limit or eliminate those distractions.

3.) Take Technology Back

A common theme throughout our series on multitasking — specifically, media multitasking — is that our work, our thoughts, and our relationships are being degraded, not by technology itself, but by our unbalanced use of it.

Technology is not our problem. Our problems are a lack of self-control and a lack of vision. We are severely overusing the distractions of media and technology, yet woefully underusing the countless opportunities they provide.

Though nearly all of us have abused one of technology’s latest offerings — namely, online video — few of us have even begun to explore our new ability to produce and distribute quality video and/or audio presentations on the web, using nothing more than a computer’s built-in camera and microphone and a high-speed Internet connection.

Because the ability to mindlessly consume and aggressively produce exist within the same object — a computer — we shouldn’t say that technology is bad and then live without it. Every gadget has the potential to be used as a tool or wasted as a toy. Technology has and will cause the greatest crises of our generation. But it also has and will provide the greatest opportunities that any generation has ever faced for communicating truth to the entire world.

If there ever was an area where Christian young people should lead, technology is it. As rebelutionaries we have an exciting task — to show the world what new technology can really do when fused with character, competence, and truth. But it’s also up to us to show the rest of our generation what it can’t do, and that there’s life beyond the screen.

We won’t be able to do that if we’re just as distracted as everyone else. For that reason we must stand with the Apostle Paul — following him as he followed Christ — and throw off the weight and the sin that so easily entangles, and run with endurance the race marked out for us.

It won’t be easy, but it will be good.

Read: Intro / Productivity / Thought Life / Relationships / Closing

True Love Meets Multitasking

True Love Meets Multitasking

Imagine a movie where the noncommittal boyfriend finally gets down on his knees, looks up into the eyes of his sweetheart, and solemnly intones, “Darling, to signify how important our relationship has become to me, I am now removing the second earpiece of my iPod.”

Soaring orchestral music rises in triumph as he reaches to his ear, never taking his eyes off of her, and in a radical display of commitment removes the glistening piece of white plastic and places it carefully in his pocket for later use.

After several moments of silence, while his sweetheart allows the last strains of Coldplay to fade from her own remaining earpiece, she returns the display of devotion. Then, they kiss. This is Hollywood at its best.

Laughing At Them? Or At Ourselves?
Of course, we can laugh at the characters’ seemingly shallow idea of love and commitment, but at the same time, we need to be careful that we’re not laughing at ourselves. An ongoing, four-year study of modern family life led by Elinor Ochs, director of UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives of Families, shows that technology is having a profound impact on what happens — and what doesn’t happen — at the end of the workday when families reunite.

“We saw that when the [father] comes through the door, the other spouse and the kids are so absorbed by what they’re doing that they don’t give [him] the time of day,” says Ochs. “About half the time the kids ignored him or didn’t stop what they were doing, multitasking and monitoring their various electronic gadgets.”

TIME Magazine’s interviews with teens participating in Ochs’ study reveal statements like these: “When I talk to my best friend he’ll have one earpiece [of his iPod] in and one out.” Or “If a friend thinks she’s not getting my full attention, I just make it very clear that she is, even though I’m also listening to music.”

This Is Not Just A “Them” Problem
Even in my own life I often find myself working in the kitchen with my siblings — with both earpieces of my iPod in! Or perhaps I’m sitting in our living room for a family meeting and I’m absorbed in my laptop computer. Just a quick review of the past week convinces me that I could learn something from our “Hollywood Couple” and their not-so-shallow expression of love. I might not listen to my iPod if I was with a girl I liked, but when was the last time I removed an earpiece for my sister or brother? When was the last time closed my laptop for my mother or father?

We laughed at our fictional “Hollywood Couple” because their expression of love was so obvious! “The most basic sign of affection is attention,” we think, “everyone knows that!” Yet we’re really laughing at ourselves because our generation is setting records for how long and how completely we can withhold this basic expression of love.

Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Do we stand out from the rest of world because of the way we show love for others? Or, are we just like the rest of our generation — so connected that we’re disconnected — distracted from the people God has placed in our lives?

These are hard questions. But we must challenge ourselves to answer them honestly and with humility. And then we must make ourselves respond appropriately to what we see in ourselves.

Making Things Practical, And Eternal
For me this has meant setting limits on when I can get on the computer, not listening to my iPod when I’m working with my family, and not taking calls in the evenings. For me it’s a question of selfishness vs. selflessness. A question of whether I’m going to love my family by being with them 100%, or love myself by partially ignoring them.

I’m not perfect at this, my family can tell you that. And it’s not always glamorous either — there’s no soaring orchestral music when I turn off my iPod. Oftentimes I don’t even feel like loving my family and I have to cry out to God to help me love them from the heart. He doesn’t usually answer that prayer immediately; He seems to prefer that — by still obeying His command to love my family, even when I don’t feel that love — I act myself into a better way of feeling, rather than “feel” myself into a better way of acting.

I think that is part of what the Bible calls the obedience of faith — trusting God’s wisdom and goodness enough to obey Him, even when I don’t feel like it. And as I look to Christ my King — who commanded this love — I know with unwavering clarity that His approval, not my entertainment, is all that matters and ever will.

Read: Intro / Productivity / Thought Life / Relationships / Closing