Pastors love to organize.
We’ve got sermon notes in folders, sermons in Dropbox, and Dropbox folders in folders.
So, it’s no surprise we try to organize our lives the same way.
Ministry life.
Family life.
Health life.
Private life.
Each in its own tidy little box...
Like we’re sorting eternity with a label maker.
Here’s the problem...
Life doesn’t work that way.
Life isn’t a filing cabinet—it’s an ecosystem.
Everything touches everything else.
Your sleep touches your patience.
Your diet touches your focus.
Your exercise touches your productivity.
One part breaks, the rest start limping.
How One Weak Link Wrecks the System
Eat a giant plate of spaghetti at lunch and see how “spiritual” you feel at 2 p.m.
That’s not the devil attacking your focus.
It’s your pancreas waving the white flag.
Now you’re staring at your sermon notes like they’re in Hebrew and you never took that class.
Skip the gym for a few weeks.
Your physical margin drops.
Your emotional fuse shortens.
Next thing you know, you’re mad at your sound guy for... being the sound guy.
Even the spiritual is dependent on the physical...
Lose sleep three nights in a row and watch how quickly your sanctification unravels.
Suddenly, a mildly critical email feels like persecution.
And when your body’s wrecked, your mind follows.
That’s why you find yourself scrolling Instagram at midnight instead of praying.
You’re not “backslidden.”
You’re fried.
The Fallacy of Over-Spiritualizing Problems
Now let’s talk about a favorite pastime:
Over-spiritualizing what God told us to steward.
We love to pray about things we should just do.
(Read that sentence again.)
Be honest...
As a rule, which gets you better health faster?
Praying your way into it?
or exercising your way into it?
Listen, I believe miracles are possible.
But presuming on God’s intervention because you ignored His instruction?
That’s not faith.
That’s laziness dressed in Sunday clothes.
Adam wasn’t given a finished paradise. He was given unrealized potential.
"The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden to work it and take care of it." (Genesis 2:15)
That’s stewardship...
God gives the materials.
You build the results.
Faith doesn’t replace responsibility. It supercharges it.
So stop praying for a harvest when you haven’t planted the seed.
(Or worse, sitting on the couch praying for “crop insurance.”)
The Pastor’s Ecosystem
You don’t have a “ministry life” and a “personal life.”
You have one life.
And every part affects the other.
Your body fuels your focus and resilience.
Your focus and resilience determines your productivity.
Your productivity shapes your impact.
And your impact, when aligned with your spiritual health, produces joy, fruit, and longevity.
Break one area, and your life starts grinding like a 30-year-old church van in second gear.
The Optimized Pastor Paradigm
That’s why The Optimized Pastor Newsletter exists.
I'm not here just to help you eat better or get more done.
I'm here to help you rebuild your whole system—body, time, resilience, focus—so every piece strengthens the other parts.
When your body is fit, your mind is clear.
When your time is ordered, your emotions stabilize.
When your output is maximal, your ministry thrives.
Integration isn’t optional.
Integration is how God designed it all to work.
You can’t preach well if you feel terrible.
You can’t love your people well if you’re running on fumes.
And you can’t hear God clearly when you’re living in constant fog.
Bottom Line
Stop asking God to bless what you refuse to steward.
He’s already given you the garden. Now pick up the shovel.
You are not a set of compartments.
You’re one integrated creation, fearfully and wonderfully made.
Optimize the entire system, and so all the parts will flourish together, while each support the other.
That’s not self-help.
That’s stewardship.
And it’s time we treated it that way.
(And if you need motivation, just remember... Adam didn’t get crop insurance either.)
More Resources To Help You Optimize
🥤Momentum Shake: The Complete Longevity Shake for Optimal Health
🎥 Sermon Shots: Repurpose Sermons Into Clips & Other Engaging Content in Minutes
💊 My (Scott's) full supplement regimen