Imagine walking into your backyard and discovering that your apple tree isn't producing enough fruit.
So you do the obvious thing.
You buy some apples.
Then you get a stapler.
Within twenty minutes, that tree looks fantastic.
This is also how many of us manage life and ministry.
I found this frame in my own thinking a number of years ago...
We see an outcome we don't like, so we attack the outcome.
I'm tired. ➡️ I need more energy.
I'm behind. ➡️ I need to be more productive.
I've gained weight. ➡️ I need to lose weight.
I'm stressed. ➡️ I need to relax.
My sermons feel rushed. ➡️ I need to prepare better.
My family isn't getting enough of me. ➡️ I need more family time.
Before long, you've got six problems, seven goals, four apps, and a color-coded spreadsheet monitoring all of it.
Congratulations.
You have successfully made simplifying your life exhausting.
Look Upstream
There's another way to think about optimization.
Instead of asking:
What do I need to fix?
Ask:
What is upstream of what I need to fix?
Some behaviors produce only one benefit.
Others create a cascade.
Change one thing upstream, and several things downstream begin changing with it.
I call these upstream habits.
For example, suppose you want to improve your physique.
You could focus on your weight, waist measurement, body-fat percentage, arms, chest, calories burned, cardio minutes, and whether your bathroom scale is conspiring against you.
Or you could focus heavily on one thing:
Getting stronger.
Progressive resistance training tends to build muscle.
More muscle changes body composition.
Strength makes everyday movement easier.
It helps preserve function as you age.
And if you're eating reasonably, your physique often begins changing along the way.
You started by chasing strength.
Several other things came with it.
That's an upstream habit.
Your Calendar Is Upstream Too
Here's another one I've experienced.
You could make separate goals to:
Be less stressed.
Remember appointments.
Get more done.
Stop thinking about work at dinner.
Prepare earlier.
Quit waking up at 2:00 a.m. remembering something you forgot to do.
Or you could build one trustworthy system for calendaring and capturing what needs to be done.
Once your brain believes that everything important has a place, something interesting happens.
It quits trying to remember everything.
That's a big deal.
Your brain is wonderful at thinking.
It is considerably less wonderful as a filing cabinet.
Yet some of us spend our days asking it to hold 37 open loops while simultaneously preparing a sermon on the peace of God.
(There's probably an illustration in there somewhere.)
A trustworthy calendar and task system doesn't merely make you more productive.
It creates mental freedom.
It reduces uncertainty.
It makes you more present.
It helps you say no because you can actually see what you've already said yes to.
Productivity is only one of the downstream benefits.
Find the Thing That Fixes Other Things
This is where upstream thinking becomes powerful.
When something in your life isn't working, don't immediately add another goal.
Trace the problem backward.
Suppose Sunday mornings feel rushed and you're exhausted by Sunday afternoon.
The obvious solution might be to work on your Sunday routine.
But maybe Sunday isn't the problem.
Maybe Saturday night is.
And maybe Saturday night isn't the problem either.
Maybe the real problem is that your sermon isn't finished until Saturday.
Suddenly, finishing your sermon earlier becomes an upstream habit.
Finish earlier and Saturday changes.
Saturday changes and sleep changes.
Sleep changes and Sunday morning changes.
Sunday changes and Sunday afternoon changes.
One change.
Multiple wins.
That's leverage.
And optimization is largely the pursuit of leverage.
Pastors Need This More Than Most
Pastoral ministry has an unusual ability to produce a hundred legitimate priorities simultaneously.
Study.
Preach.
Lead.
Counsel.
Visit.
Plan.
Develop leaders.
Return calls.
Answer email.
Take care of your body.
Spend time with your family.
Pray.
Read.
Think.
And, apparently, determine who keeps changing the church thermostat.
(I think your posture just dropped after only reading the list.)
They're all real.
That's why merely trying harder at everything doesn't work.
You don't have enough hours.
You don't have enough energy.
And you definitely don't have enough attention.
The better question is:
Which habits sit upstream of several things that matter?
Maybe it's going to bed at the same time.
Better sleep can improve energy, appetite regulation, training, concentration, emotional control, and patience.
Maybe it's protecting the first two hours of your morning.
That one boundary could improve sermon preparation, strategic thinking, project completion, and your ability to leave work at work.
Maybe it's a weekly planning session.
Thirty minutes spent looking ahead could prevent hours of reacting later.
The best habit may not solve your biggest problem directly.
It may solve four smaller problems that are creating your biggest problem.
We Already Believe This Spiritually
Of course, none of this should sound particularly revolutionary to Christians.
Jesus gave us an upstream model a long time ago.
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” — John 15:4
Notice where Jesus puts the emphasis.
Not on fruit management.
On connection to the vine.
The fruit is downstream.
That's an important distinction because Christians can make the same mistake spiritually that we make practically.
We can spend enormous energy trying to staple patience, joy, self-control, kindness, and spiritual vitality onto our lives.
Try harder.
Do better.
Be nicer.
Stop getting irritated.
Produce more fruit.
But fruit isn't manufactured by the branch.
It grows from abiding.
The root determines the fruit.
That doesn't eliminate discipline. It tells us where discipline should be aimed.
And I think the same principle applies to much of life.
Stop Adding. Start Tracing.
So here's something to try this week.
Pick an area of your life that feels unnecessarily difficult.
Don't ask what new habit you need to add.
Instead, trace the problem upstream.
Ask:
What keeps producing this problem?
Then go one level higher:
What's producing that?
Keep going until you find a behavior you can actually change.
Then ask the question I think matters most:
If I change this one thing, what else gets better with it?
That's probably where your attention belongs.
Because the best optimization isn't always doing more things well.
Sometimes it's finding the one thing that makes several other things easier.
Find the upstream habit.
Work on the root.
And you may discover you've been spending an awful lot of time polishing apples.