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I can’t remember the last time I asked someone how they were doing and “busy” wasn’t part of their response. Busyness is cool. It’s a sign of importance. It says, “I have a demanding job, family, and life” and sometimes adds, “and I’m not afraid to let you know.” It’s not always in pride. In reality, most of us are busy. It’s a badge of honor worn proudly, and we can’t help but let people see it. Kevin DeYoung, one of my favorite authors, has written a “mercifully short book” about busyness–Crazy Busy. I appreciate DeYoung because although he’s significantly smarter than me, he writes in a clear way, with well-thought through concepts that get to the heart of the matter. He’s not afraid to share his own journey and struggles, which line the pages of Crazy Busy in an honest and helpful way. Weighing in at just over 100 and some pages, Crazy Busy is crazy short. It’s made up of 10 chapters, with the majority of the book being seven diagnostic chapters that help us identify the roots of our busyness. ...

I’m passionate about stewardship. I believe the Lord entrusts each of us with certain talents and treasures to be used for His Glory and His Kingdom. Niki and I often joke that after being disciples of Jesus, we are secondly disciples of Dave Ramsey. We both write often about budgeting. We love to give. But I still haven’t perfected the balance of when to buy something and when to wait. Buying material things is very much a spiritual matter with lots of gray area. Some purchases are no-brainers. If your wife is sick, buy her the medicine she needs. If your car is out of gas, put gas in the car, man! These are easy things. Many purchases aren’t just about essentials. There are countless opportunities for us to use our discretion on buying things, because we have more money than we need for meeting just our needs. I tried to find a good set of questions for helping Christians process through making purchases for our wants, and my somewhat limited search turned up few helpful results. So, I’ve created my own list of questions that I hope aid believers in stewarding well what the Lord has given us. I am not a perfect money manager for God. But I want to grow in this area. ...

Sometimes, at the end of the day, I wonder to myself, “Have I done anything that really matters today?” Honestly, the answer, at least to me, feels like “No!” on some days. So I decided to come up with a list of things that do matter and that make a difference in your life and the lives of others. Encourage Text, call, tweet or message to someone you know. Let them know you care about them and you’re praying for them. Be specific and use their name. ...

Base hits win games. I’m not much of a baseball fan, but I know that getting on base is a solid strategy for putting up runs and scoring more than the other team. If everyone keeps getting on base, you don’t need home runs. Overnight success happens over a lot of nights. People you’ve just heard of have likely been slugging away at their business, craft, or ministry for years or decades or their entire life. No one is an overnight expert. Perhaps an overnight celebrity thanks to YouTube videos with catchy auto tune action, but surely not a success. These people aren’t hitting home runs, they’ve been faithfully and consistently building their skill over time. In fact, overnight success isn’t ideal. Here are a few problems with attempting home runs every at bat. The problem with swinging for the fences When you swing for a home run every time, you’re going to strikeout often. That comes with the territory. If you’re swinging hard and fast, you’re going to whiff pretty regularly. Your timing is going to be a bit off when the pitches aren’t coming as you intended. You’re going to get frustrated quickly. If your goal is a home run, a base hit won’t satisfy you. If you’re just trying to get on base, day in and day out, when the homer comes, you’re going to be ecstatic. And trust me, it will come. ...

Responsive design, web design that enables websites to automatically resize and reformat to provide the best experience for the user’s screen, is critical to the future success of websites. I’m downright aghast and quick to navigate away to a new site (because surely the information is out there somewhere else) when a blog doesn’t instantly accommodate me. I’m a bit of a fanatic here (and in lots of other ways) but I think the sentiment is common: serve up the same content in the best way, no matter how I access your site. A full-sized, desktop-oriented web page displayed on my much smaller phone screen makes standard web font turn into an eye exam. Practically any major website you can think of has responsive design enabled, and even mom and pop sites (like this one) can figure out responsive design with a template or a few simple coding tweaks. Nearly a third of all traffic to my blog comes from mobile devices, and serving up content on a mobile device the same way I would to someone using a laptop or desktop computer is frustrating for the user. It communicates, “I know this looks like crap, but it’s better than nothing.” Responsive design follows the same logic of restaurants offering kid portions, small portions and large portions–the right size for the right person, even though the content (the meal) may be the same. ...

There’s a new most-used app on my iPhone. Upon first inspection it seems to be a simple note-taking app. But underneath the hood it’s the equivalent of a hybrid electric car getting over 200 miles per gallon. I came across Drafts for iOS thanks to David Sparks of MacSparky. I’ve mentioned the app before, but I thought I’d share more in-depth about how I’ve come to use and love it and how it’s made it’s way into the illustrious iPhone dock. First, here’s a sampling of what I use it for. I’ll get into the specifics a bit further down: Writing reminders for myself Taking down notes and quotes from (library) books I’m reading Writing tweets and sending them to Buffer Sending emails to myself Sending a text to Niki (or a saved group) Copying down people’s contact information Saving my workout plans Adding new notes to Evernote Adding to my reading list Adding to my wish list Creating calendar events Saving documents to Dropbox Writing short notes in Markdown Searching my blog Looking for products on Amazon Finding a saved password in 1Password Jotting down a quick idea and saving it to my ideas list In just the list above, it takes the place of using at least 11 different apps. And that’s just scratching the surface. Here’s why Drafts is awesome. ...

A life well lived can be summed up in one sentence. Abraham Lincoln isn’t known for all of his failures (often grossly exaggerated but present nonetheless)–his failed businesses, battling depression and unsuccessful attempts at a few other political offices. He’s known for abolishing slavery and reuniting the United States of America. One sentence about a man who changed the world. His decisions were unpopular with a hefty chunk of his constituents, but we look back on him as one of the greatest presidents (and men) our country has ever been graced with. Bill Gates decided to change his sentence from one about putting a computer on the desk of everyone in America to one about charity and being a voice for generosity. He used his skills and his platform to pursue what he deemed was a more important goal. He decided to rewrite his sentence. There’s a long list of people living with unrelenting, singularly-focused visions for their lives and their hopes for others. ...

Mediocrity is the new “world changing”. Not everyone has the gusto to strive for this type of life, but for those who have the courage to not make a difference here’s how to get started. Get into debt Don’t have enough cash to buy what you want right now? No problem! Max out your credit cards (the reward points make it worth it), take out fat student loans so you can spring break with your friends, and once you graduate and get a big-girl job making more than you ever have in your life, buy a house with nothing down and snag a car on lease (so you can turn it in and get a newer model in a couple of years). Budgeting is for people who are dumb. Just keep a mental tab of how much is coming in and going out and loosely track the figures. If you end up maxing a card out, just do a balance transfer. Easy peezy! Be stingy Even though you’re making a nice income, don’t even think about giving that money away. You’re not making that much. Besides, you have the rest of your life to give money away (and that’s what wills are for anyway). Stay comfortable Get as much house, as much car, and as much stuff as you can. Don’t make sacrifices for anyone. You’ve worked hard to get where you are. Your wife says she wants to go to counseling? Ain’t nobody got time for that! That sounds uncomfortable. If she doesn’t like you the way you are, send her packing. Wives, same advice applies to you. Tell him to hit the road if he’s not giving you or getting you what you want, especially if your house is too small and he doesn’t appreciate all you do. ...

I don’t have an uncanny memory. I try hard to remember names because it communicates love and respect so tangibly, but otherwise I can barely remember what day of the week it is.  At the same time, I don’t think I missed a single assignment in high school or college (mostly because I’m a nerd) and I always finish my work when I say I will. How does that all happen? First and foremost, by not relying on my brain and these other seven secrets. 1. Don’t trust yourself. I don’t have an unlimited memory capacity. So the first step to remembering everything is acknowledging that I can’t remember it on my own. I need to have a system and I need to actually use that system to make sure everything gets done. ...

It’s no secret I’m a fan of online shopping. I enjoy the privilege of actually holding, testing and seeing the products I’m purchasing, and I can’t get that online. But what’s normally lacking in a traditional store is the wealth of knowledge from experienced buyers. In other words, I live for reviews. I’m not an impulsive buyer. I read dozens of reviews on Amazon before trying something (and I always start with the most negative review rated most helpful). Here are the circumstances when I have to read reviews. If… I haven’t used a product before the item hasn’t come highly recommended from a friend or respectable acquaintance (i.e. Twitter) it is fairly expensive purchase ($50+) there is a cornucopia of options (e.g. iPad Bluetooth keyboards) I haven’t heard of it from another source before (in the case of books or movies) I’m in a new city looking for local food Here are the two situations when I don’t read reviews: I want it right that second (e.g. food, candy bars) It is a cheap consumer staple (e.g. toilet paper; but now that I think about it, I’m going to check into some reviews) So the short list of non-review situations is pretty pathetic. I’m a review-o-holic. I normally share the love in return via Twitter or this blog, because I’m an evangelist in every sense of the word for things worth talking about. All of this to say, I know it’s an issue. ...