Don't Cram

Dad
May 23, 2003

DO 18594/10/82

1. I'M GIVING YOU A TIP ON HOW TO ORGANISE YOUR WORK NOW—YOU CAN'T DO ANY MORE THAN YOU CAN DO! Just go along & do what you can every day, that's all, & do the most important things first. If the little things never get done, well, tough! You can't help it. Just do what has to be done, the urgent things, the things people are waiting for, the stuff that has to be done today! Just do what has to be done today & put all the rest of the stuff off until tomorrow—or next week or next month or next year! That's what I do, so if none of the little things get done I figure, well, I guess God didn't intend for them to get done.

2. WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS "STOP CRAMMING! Take it easy!" Just do a little bit every day & don't do any more than you have to.

3. GOD DOESN'T EXPECT YOU TO DO MORE THAN YOU CAN DO. He said of one woman, "She hath done what she could," (Mark 14:8) that's all she could do. But for God's sake do what you can.—And that is do a little every day & do what is most important that you have to do first. The most important thing is for you to keep other people busy, to keep them on their job & doing what they're supposed to be doing. Somebody's got to be the boss & keep them busy.

4. NOBODY IS SUPPOSED TO BE OVERWORKED, OVERLOADED OR OVERBURDENED OR FEEL THE YOKE IS TOO HARD, THE BURDEN TOO HEAVY. Just do what you can do‚ but for God's sake, do it every day! Don't blame it on God if you loafed around & goofed off for a week & then try to do a week's work on the last day of the week. That's not God's fault, that's your own fault, & I've always said that. If you're overburdened & the yoke is too hard, it's your own fault or somebody else's fault, not God's fault!

5. THE TROUBLE WITH MOST OF YOU GUYS IS, YOU HAVE NO REGULARITY, NO SCHEDULE, NO SCIENTIFIC ORGANISATION, you don't just keep plugging along! You know, the reason the farmers get to be such plodders is they know they've got to do the same thing every day & they do it every day. If they get one day behind, they never catch up. They can't take a day off. When we were out on the Ranch we could never leave that Ranch alone one day. Somebody always had to be there to collect the eggs‚ to milk the cows every day!

6. I WANT TO SEE YOUR SCHEDULE! I WANT TO SEE YOUR WORK CHARTS! I'm not so much interested in what you did, I know you did something! I want to see what you've got planned‚ what you're going to do! I'm more interested in what you're going to do. I can't even worry about what I've already done, it's done! I'm concerned to see that you've got your schedule & your work planned so that you know what you're supposed to do every day, not just get up in the morning to see what's going to happen next!

7. WHY CAN'T YOU KEEP RECORDS? WHY CAN'T YOU KEEP CHARTS & BOOKS LIKE I DO? As I've told you before, I spend at least an hour or more every day just keeping records. But at least I know where I'm at, & I'm not in the middle of the muddle somewhere not knowing which end is up or where anything is or what's going on or in total chaos & disorganised & in a mess!

8. IT'S A JOB, IT'S HARD WORK PLODDING EVERY DAY, keeping a log of all my work & of our publications & every Letter & every piece of art & everything‚ but at least when I want to know something‚ I know, because I can just flip my Diary open & see what happened to it.

9. YOU NEED TO GET YOURSELF ORGANISED SO YOU'LL KNOW WHERE YOU'RE AT, to be able to look at your books or your charts or your records at any moment, any day of the week to find out where it's at. It's extra work, but let me tell ya, it saves a lot of work in the long run!

10. THESE PEOPLE THAT SAY, "OH, I DON'T HAVE TIME TO ORGANISE A WORK SCHEDULE, I don't have time to work out a progress chart, I don't have time to keep books"—what if we said that about our finances?—Where would we be? We wouldn't know what was going on, nothing! God keeps books! He keeps records! Is it a waste of time when He's got so much else to do? It's about time people woke up to the value of records!

11. IF YOU'LL TAKE THIS STITCH OF TIME NOW YOU'LL SAVE NINE IN THE FUTURE! By getting yourselves organised & charted & planned with regularity you're going to find out it's going to make your burden easier & lighter. At first some are going to gripe & complain about it.

12. I'LL NEVER FORGET THE HOWLS I GOT OUT OF JETHRO WHEN I FIRST STARTED ASKING HIM & THE REST OF THE PEOPLE AT TSC FOR STATS! But where would we be now for any kind of record of our past if I hadn't insisted on stats?—And books?—And reports? Why, we wouldn't know where we were or whether we were ahead or behind or somewhere back in the past, last year!

13. YOU'RE GOING TO BE SO HAPPY WHEN YOU SEE THE STATS & HOW MUCH WE'RE ACCOMPLISHING, YOU'RE GOING TO BE THANKFUL THAT I INSISTED ON STATS! When Jethro came around with his tail between his legs about a month or two later he said, "Dad, you were right, it sure is marvellous! I never dreamed we were entertaining so many visitors! I never dreamed we were winning so many souls! I never dreamed we were distributing so much literature! It's amazing what we're accomplishing!" But we wouldn't have known if we hadn't kept records.

14. YOU NEED TO PLAN & SCHEDULE FOR NEXT WEEK & THE FUTURE & BUDGET YOUR TIME & YOUR WORK, BECAUSE THAT WAY YOU CAN FIND WHERE THE PROBLEMS ARE AT. Every industry has what they call "Efficiency Experts" & "Time Study Men" who hang over the shoulders of the workers to figure out what they're doing & how they could do it easier & cheaper & faster, & what they're doing that they don't need to do!

15. I'M JUST TRYING TO TELL YOU HOW TO DO YOUR JOB & HOW TO MAKE IT EASIER & ACTUALLY GET IT DONE FASTER, & know what you've accomplished & know where you're at & where you're going by getting organised & scheduled & charted & plotted & planned. If you can keep records then you'll know exactly where you're at & what you're doing & what the problems are.

16. ANYHOW, PRAISE GOD, THAT'S MY IDEA ON HOW TO GET REORGANISED & STOP ALL THIS LAST-MINUTE CRAMMING!—Have everything plotted & planned & worked out & scheduled & charted‚ then you'll know where you're at & what you're doing & what you're supposed to be doing & how to do it, when to do it & when it's due. I would much rather see it done on a nice easy leisurely‚ take-your-time daily basis rather than a last-minute cramming rush at the end of the week or month.

17. AND YOU'RE GOING TO FIND OUT IT'S EASIER TO DO THAT WAY! It must be the easiest way to do it because that's the way I do it & I'm always trying to find the easiest way. I don't like to work too hard, I refuse to work too hard.

18. LORD BLESS & HELP THEM IN JESUS' NAME TO GET IT DONE BY DOING IT DAILY instead of waiting until the last day or last week of the month.—To do no more than they can, Lord, but to do what they can. "She hath done what she could", Lord‚ & that's all we can do. Your yoke is easy & Your burden is light & we believe it'll be light if we'll do what we're supposed to do every day & all we can every day, in Jesus' name, amen. That's it! GBY!