Dear Friends,
I was recently asked by a young man, “Tom where do you get all of
your stories and ideas for sermons and for writing your daily “Leadership
Thoughts?”
My answer was simple, “I try to file everything I read or hear so
I won’t forget them.” Even personal experiences that might have future
value, I make a note of them and file them away, so they might become
available to share with others.
If you were to come into my office, you would see a four by six
hand crafted wooden cabinet built by a member of a former church I served.
Inside the cabinet are five drawers containing thousands and thousands of
3-5 cards.
I started in the 70’s filing everything I thought would be of
future value. When I read a good story, or heard a good quote, I would hand
write the information on a 3/5 file card and file it away.
Then when photocopiers were invented, I would photocopy material
and paste it on those 3/5 cards.
As I got older, I got smarter, and so I would then give the
information-often on a page in a book- to a secretary who would then copy the
material I had noted, and paste the information on file cards and file the
information for me.
Today I am very grateful for that old wooden file cabinet that
contains all of that information I have stored away.
I try to read every day, so now when I find a valuable story or
article that I want to save, I put it in a file folder that goes into one of my
many steel file cabinets.
Filing is a wonderful way of retaining good ideas and information.
It has been an invaluable resource for me throughout my ministry, and I can
tell you how much time it has saved me in developing messages and writing
sermons.
John Maxwell has said, “Good material is like golden nuggets…The
most precious commodity is not money; it is ideas,” and I think he is right.
There is hardly a day that goes by that I don’t read and file. It
is a habit that has been of immense value to me.
But you say, “Tom, I am not a speaker, so I don’t need to file
away information.”
I would say to you, “You need to do it.” For some day someone
might be helped by something that you have learned and filed away, and you now
possess the resources and the wisdom to address that need.
If you want to keep growing, start filing. Develop your own system
that fits your personal needs, and you will always have ‘water in your well.’
The number one-time waster in life is looking for things you have
lost, and the reason you have probably lost them is because you haven’t filed
them, so start filing today. Tomorrow you will be glad you did.
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
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