The Art Of Getting Things Done

Desire realized is sweet to the soul.
–Proverbs 13:19

If you could accomplish only three goals before you die, what would they be? It might be to jump out of an airplane. It might be to run for public office. It might be to write a bestselling book. Take a minute to think about those three things you want to accomplish. But there is a difference between knowing your dreams and actually fulfilling your dreams, isn’t there? It is one thing to clarify and say, “Yes, this is what I would like to do.” It is an altogether different thing to actually accomplish those things.

What is the difference between clarifying your dreams and fulfilling your dreams? In a word: execution. In the bestselling book “Execution: The Discipline Of Getting Things Done,” the authors wrote, “Every great leader has had an instinct for execution. He has said, in effect, ‘Unless I can make this plan happen, it’s not going to matter.’” It is one thing to have a dream; it is an altogether different thing to see that dream become reality.

How do you turn your dreams, no matter what they are, into reality? In Nehemiah chapter 2, Nehemiah is going to share with us five steps for getting things done. Remember Nehemiah’s situation. He was a Jew who was living in Persia, and he heard that the wall around Jerusalem was still in a rubble. This was giving reason for the enemies of God to say, “If God cannot take care of His city any better than this, why would we want to serve Him?” When Nehemiah heard that report, something stirred inside of him and he said, “I have got to go back and rebuild that wall around Jerusalem. That is what God is calling me to do.” That was his God-given vision. How Nehemiah turned his vision into reality is the subject of our study for the next two weeks.

The leadership principles we are discovering in the book of Nehemiah are applicable for whatever organization you are leading. You may be the leader of a corporation, and you need to know how to take your business goals and turn them into reality. You may be the leader of a classroom, and you are trying to lead your students from point A to point B. You may be the leader of your family, and you are trying to lead your family to find their God-given purpose in life and fulfill it. If you are going to succeed in whatever you believe God is leading you to do, it is imperative that you know God’s way of accomplishing this goal. That is what we are going to learn from Nehemiah.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “The Art Of Getting Things Done” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2010.

Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, “Execution: The Discipline Of Getting Things Done” (New York: Crown Business, 2002), 35.

Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.