Books that Have Shaped Me: Productivity and Rest

Do you ever have this nagging feeling that you should be doing more?

Do you ever have this nagging feeling that you’re doing too much?

If you answered “yes” to both of those questions, you and I are dear friends. You are not alone. I have been on a journey of learning true productivity and true rest for several years now. Here are the books that have shaped my current beliefs and practice. They are presented here in the order that I recommend reading them.

The Bible. You may be surprised to learn that the Bible has a lot to say on this topic. Here is just a sampling to get you started. And yes, the Bible is the place to start on this and every topic!

“Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.” (Exodus 20:9-10 [ESV]) This is the biblical pattern for work and rest, and I have seen that following this pattern is life-giving in so many ways. When I work less than six full days, I fall behind in my God-given responsibilities. When I neglect a day off each week, I slowly fade into less productivity and more irritability. When I work and rest within this God-ordained rhythm, it’s like I find the rhythm I was created to live.

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15) God created the first man and placed him in a place to work and keep that place. We were created for good work. Consider also Paul’s words to the church in Ephesus, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) With the thorns and thistles of the fall and the negativity of our current culture, the word “work” begins to sound like the word “torture”. But work that God has given us is a good and beautiful thing!

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.” (Proverbs 21:5) There is something about rushing into our work that kills it. Instead of being hasty in our work, we must seek diligence. Not only do we need to find the pace of work and rest in our weeks, we also need to find the proper pace of our work within each day. (Proverbs has a LOT to say on the topics of work and rest- read through it and you’ll glean a lot!)

“Do More Better” by Tim Challies. This book is very helpful for Christian productivity. There are countless productivity books and gurus out there, but this one is biblical, short, and practical. I recommend working through this book slowly and putting into practice the systems that he recommends.

“Manage Your Energy Not Your Time” and “Who’s Got the Monkey?” These are two Harvard Business Review articles that have been very helpful for me. A few caveats on these articles: 1) They are not Christian, but they are excellent, practical advice, 2) They are longer than your average blog article, but highly worth the time investment. Each of these articles will give you clear mental frameworks for common productivity problems.

“Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout” by Cal Newport. This is one of my favorite books on this topic at the prsent moment. I find his thoughts extremely helpful and timely. Newport’s thoughts will take you on a deeper dive into the things you learned and the processes you set up with Challies in “Do More Better” (above).

“The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by John Mark Comer. This one is great. Comer shows us that hurrying through life is robbing our spiritual walk with God and our relationships with everyone else. I have already read this one twice and plan to read it again every few years- it’s that good (and I am prone to forget!).

“Busy: Tackling the Problem of an Overloaded Christian Life” by Ian Carmichael. This one is kind of fascinating. On the cover, this is a productivity book. However, at the end of the book, Carmichael gets to the most important thing in our life- relationships. Brilliant.

“Thank God for Bedtime: What God Says about Our Sleep and Why it Matters More Than You Think” by Geoff Robson. You are likely reading this article because you have a stressful job- perhaps the military or the pastorate. Stressful jobs have a knack for robbing us of sleep. We need a deep and accurate theology of sleep so that we can enjoy the sleep the Lord offers us.

“Digital Minimalism: Choosing Focus in a Noisy World” by Cal Newport. Let’s be honest: the thing that is robbing us of both godly work and godly rest is our inability to tame the digital devices in our lives. Newport offers a practical philosophy as a solution. If this is an acute challenge for you currently, you may want to start here (after the Bible of course).

The beauty about all of these books (and most books I recommend) is that they’re all short! As always, start with the Bible first, and then work your way on from there!

I love you guys,

Brian O’Day

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