1. Testing yourself repeatedly before an exam teaches the brain to retrieve and apply knowledge from memory. The method is more effective than re-reading a textbook.

2. Review the toughest material right before going to bed the night before the test. That approach makes it easier to recall the material later.

3. Don’t wake up earlier than usual to study; this could interfere with the rapid-eye-movement sleep that aids memory. (All-nighters impair memory and reasoning for up to 4 days).

4. Eat breakfast the day of a big test. High-carb, high-fiber, slow-digesting foods like oatmeal are best.

5. What you eat a week in advance matters, too. Students who ate a regular balanced diet that included fruit and veg did better than those who ate a high-fat, low-carb diet that was heavy on meat, eggs, cheese, and cream. The brain requires a constant supply of energy and “has only a limited backup battery.”

6. While many teens insist they study better while listening to music or texting their friends, research shows the opposite: Information reviewed amid distractions is less likely to be recalled later.

7. Reducing “novelty and stress on the day of the exam” can prevent choking under pressure. If you are taking the exam in an unfamiliar place, visit the room in advance.

8. If you’re still feeling anxious about an exam, set aside 10 minutes beforehand to write down your worries. Expressing one’s worries in writing, unburdens the brain.

Here’s 9 & 10 from me.

9. Short and frequent is better than long and rare. It is better to study your four or five subjects every day for shorter times than to study one subject each day for the full day. By the time you go back to what you studied four or five days previously, most of what you learned will have gone.

10. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I know it’s really boring but it’s also really effective. When I ask struggling Hebrew students about their study habits, they will usually say, “Well, I study 2-3 hours every day. The first thing I tell them to do is to shorten their study time. Once they’ve started breathing again, I explain the strategy using the following diagram:

(I can’t remember where I picked this up, but it works for all subjects, and especially for language study).

8am: Study the subject first thing in the morning for 45-60 minutes maximum. As soon as you end that period, your mind immediately starts losing data at a frighteningly rapid rate. Imagine where this graph ends up by the end of the day (feel familiar?)

11am: Re-study the same material again, although this time it should only take you 20-30 minutes. Notice that the knowledge level is higher than the the first period (and reached faster), and that the data loss rate has a shallower gradient (it takes longer to forget what you’ve learned).

4pm: Re-study same material again, this time for 10-15 minutes. Knowledge peak is even higher and gradient of loss even shallower. (In between these study times, you can be studying other subjects using the same method.)

9pm: Just before bed, review the material one more time for about 5-10 mins. Note peak and gradient (appealing, isn’t it!).  Compare where you are now with where you would be if you only studied the subject for one long period. Where would that red line be? Preachers, imagine what this could do for your eye-contact!

And if you want to seal it for good, do a quick 5-minute review first thing the next morning before studying new material. That will really set the mental concrete.

He had a threefold strategy:

1. Watch lectures at 1.5x speed
2. Work early. finish early (6am to 7pm, including a 25min midday nap!)
3. Relate everything to the subject

And his big three tactics were:

1. Deliberate practice
2. The 5-year-old method
3. Visceralization

The last one sounds a bit scary, but you can read his explanation here. The one that resonated most with me was “the 5-year-old method.”

This is something I often do in sermon preparation.

His three takeaways from this experiment were:

1. Have a clear strategy
2. Never memorize what needs to be understood
3. Clearly separate work from time off

I’m not suggesting Scott’s method as the best long-term educational approach; there’s a significant difference between passing an exam and learning. However, he’s pushing the boundaries of intellectual possibility and providing us with valuable and challenging lessons in the process.

Biographies

The Diary and Letters of Andrew Bonar: First book I started reading on my first day in my first congregation. Powerfully influenced my view of pastoral ministry.

The Life and Diary of David Brainerd and The Life and Labors of Asahel Nettleton. When I was a student I tried to set aside one day every month to read one book through and pray over it. These were two of the first books I read in this way and both made a profound impact on me, especially in the motives and methods of evangelism.

Martyn Lloyd Jones Vol. 1 (Vol. 2): My wife and I read both books together during our courtship. Great preparation for life of ministry together. Also helpful warnings about certain popular trends.

Autobiography of Charles Spurgeon Vol. 1 (Vol. 2): Again, another great help in training for the ministry. I have pages and pages of quotables from these pages. Also introduced me to the inevitable suffering of a faithful pastor.

Old Testament

I’d never grasped the point of the Old Testament until I read Christ of the Covenants by O P Robertson. When I read this, the lights went on, or should I say, the shadows went on. Calvin’s Institutes (especially Book 2 chapters 9-11) advanced the revolution in my understanding of the relation between the Testaments. Then came Jonathan Edwards’ History of the Work of Redemption to show me how to put all this together and preach Christ from the Old Testament.

Two other impactful books in this area were Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament by Christopher Wright, and Preaching Christ from the Old Testament by Sidney Greidanus.

Staying with the Old Testament, Richard Pratt’s He Gave us Stories helped me to see the vital importance of the original message for the original audience.

Christology

The Glory of Christ by John Owen and The Fountain of Life by John Flavel soar above all other Puritan works I’ve read. Owen’s book is certainly more demanding, but both are richly rewarding studies in the person and work of Christ.

Then there’s Christ’s Doctrine of the Atonement and The Apostle’s Doctrine of the Atonement by George Smeaton. Smeaton is perhaps the greatest New Testament exegete I’ve come across. These books will give you rare insight into the length, depth, breadth and height of our suffering Savior’s life and death. You cannot but preach Christ crucified after reading them. 

Redemption Accomplished & Applied by John Murray isn’t as textual as Smeaton’s work, but rarely has so much systematic theology been packed into so few words. This book made my Calvinism much more Christ-centered.

Theology

While on the subject of systematics, I have to admit that I’ve never got beyond Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology. It does weaken towards the end. However, for brevity and clarity, I regularly find myself picking it up over other options, and almost always getting an answer.

The Sovereignty of God by A W Pink. I love short books. None shorter nor better than this. And none that exalted God higher in my heart.

The Pleasures of God by John Piper revolutionized my view of God, or rather my understanding of God’s view of His people. A long period of church controversy had worn me down and infected me with a strain of negativity that was also influencing my preaching. This book brought me back to the glorious Gospel of the ever-happy God and His delight in Himself, His Gospel, His people, and His salvation. The Pleasures of God restored my pleasure in God, and in people, and in preaching.

Eschatology

The Bible and the Future by Anthony Hoekema and Promise of the Future by Cornelius Venema. Both books brought me out of an eschatological fog and into the clear light of optimistic amillennialism (that should get the comments going).

Preaching

Truth Applied by Jay Adams made me preach much more personally, and twenty years later continues to challenge me to apply God’s truth in every sermon.

The Imperative of Preaching by John Carrick is a fantastic little book on how to keep the balance between the indicative and the imperative.

Counseling

I’m not supposed to feel like this by Chris Williams, etc. and Overcoming Spiritual Depression by Arie Elshout gave me quantum leap insight into depression at a very critical time in my family’s life. Broken Minds by Steve and Robyn Bloem broke my heart and gave me much-needed compassion for people suffering with depression.

Apologetics/Cultural

I know I’m over the twenty book mark now, but I can’t close without saying how helpful I found Does God believe in Atheists? by John Blanchard. I’ve used so much of this book in preaching and evangelistic situations.(UPDATE: Evangelical Press tell me that a fully revised and updated – God delusion, etc., – paperback edition is presently en route to the US and will cost $16.99 for 720 pages).

Lastly, God in the Wasteland by David Wells gave me huge insight not just into worrying trends in the church and society, but the theological roots behind them. It continues to call me to impress the “weightiness of God” upon myself and others.

So, there you go. Maybe some predictable books, and maybe some surprises, but all highly influential in my own life. I’m thankful to God for all the writers and their publishers.

I have never been diagnosed with any kind of mental illness. However, like most people, and especially like most pastors, I have had low points in my life, times of mild to moderate depression and anxiety. Sometimes this was brought on by bodily pain and illness, sometimes by my thinking processes going wrong, and sometimes by unbelief. If I had known then what I know now about mental health, I would have maybe avoided these seasons, or at least emerged from them sooner.

As I look around me, and especially as I look around the Church, I can see many people who have not been diagnosed with depression, and who are not disabled with it, but who are experiencing long-term, low-level depression/anxiety, which is also having its own knock-on effect on their bodily health and their spiritual lives. And again, so many of them lack basic knowledge about how to maintain and recover mental health.

In Maintain Your Mental Well-being, Dr David Rock, Executive Director of The Neuroleadership Institute also complains about how “we are short on simple, clear information about good mental habits.” He goes on:

But instead of just complaining about this widespread ignorance, Rock and his colleague Dr. Daniel J. Siegel have created the Healthy Mind Platter, a kind of Food Pyramid for the mind.

• Focus Time. When we closely focus on tasks in a goal-oriented way, taking on challenges that make deep connections in the brain.
• Play Time. When we allow ourselves to be spontaneous or creative, playfully enjoying novel experiences, which helps make new connections in the brain.
• Connecting Time. When we connect with other people, ideally in person, richly activating the brain’s social circuitry.
• Physical Time. When we move our bodies, aerobically if possible, which strengthens the brain in many ways.
• Time In. When we quietly reflect internally, focusing on sensations, images, feelings and thoughts, helping to better integrate the brain.
• Down Time. When we are non-focused, without any specific goal, and let our mind wander or simply relax, which helps our brain recharge.
• Sleep Time. When we give the brain the rest it needs to consolidate learning and recover from the experiences of the day.

The only one that puzzles me is “Time in.” It looks like a substitute for communion with God. So maybe rename that “God Time” and push it to number one spot.

Read the rest of Dr Rock’s article here.

We live in a world in which we’re forever juggling demands, but rarely focusing on any one thing for long.

Absorbed attention — the capacity to delay other gratifications to focus on one thing at a time — is the sine qua non of achieving and sustaining excellence at anything.

Unlike machines, however, human beings aren’t meant to operate at the highest intensity for very long. Instead, we’re designed to pulse between spending and renewing energy approximately every 90 minutes.

It’s not the hours you work that determine the value you generate, but rather the energy you bring to whatever hours you work. The more skillfully you renew, the more energy you’ll have.

I wrote The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working in three uninterrupted 90 minute “sprints” every morning — each one followed by a relatively short period of real renewal, ranging from deep breathing, to eating something, to taking a run. It was a time for both restoration and reflection. I finished the book in half the number of hours than I had any previous book, when I worked ten to 12 hour days.

The world’s best performers — musicians, chess players, athletes — typically practice the same way: for no longer than 4 ½ hours a day. They also sleep more than the rest of us, and take more naps.

These great performers figured out that when they push for too long, their attention wanders, their energy flags, and their work suffers. But because they’re so focused when they are working, they get more done, in less time.

Even at the low level I operate at, I’m finding the principles of this increasingly true in my own life and ministry.

Acupuncture eased the immediate pain (I was a skeptic too until one “strategically placed” 6 inch pin transformed my life), and physiotherapy eventually squeezed the discs back into place. But my most valuable long-term discovery was Treat your own back, which taught me how to avoid a recurrence by adopting healthy back and neck posture. I don’t have a stand-up workstation just now, but I usually stand up and walk around my study if I am reading.

Pastors are ripe candidates for back trouble because of the amount of time they spend sitting down: in their studies, in cars, at meetings and on pastoral visitation. That’s why, in our Ministry class at Puritan Seminary, I spent some time showing students YouTube videos on avoiding and curing back pain.

If you still need persuaded to stand up more, then read Your chair is your enemy from the New York Times. It begins:

Your chair is your enemy. It doesn’t matter if you go running every morning, or you’re a regular at the gym. If you spend most of the rest of the day sitting — in your car, your office chair, on your sofa at home — you are putting yourself at increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of cancers and an early death. In other words, irrespective of whether you exercise vigorously, sitting for long periods is bad for you.

Here are a number of lifehacker articles on setting up a standing desk. And if you are really keen, here are some exercises for standing desk users.

This could save you many sleepless nights and unproductive days.

I will never preach a perfect sermon. My content will never be perfect. My manner will never be perfect. In fact, the more I preach, the more I understand why Paul called preaching “foolishness.” Yet, God has chosen “the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). What a relief!

I once heard a well-known preacher advocate spending a minimum of two weeks preparing a sermon. He said that he preaches his sermon to himself thirty times before preaching it in public, and that no sermon prepared the day before it was preached was worthy of the name “sermon.”

I saw many pastors’ heads drop all around me. That kind of “counsel of perfection” may be the norm for an exceptional few. However, the vast majority of “ordinary” pastors are not privileged with that kind of time or schedule.

What will happen if you try to live up to this? Well, I know one pastor who refused to preach a sermon until he had every single word written out, and every comma in the right place. He would spend 20-30 hours perfecting each sermon. This, of course, was unsustainable. Eventually he was off work with stress, and within a few years he had left the ministry – burned out.

Like most “ordinary” pastors, I preached at least three times a week in my congregation (two Sunday services and a midweek meeting). Every Monday morning I had to climb that daunting three-peaked hill in the midst of pastoral visitation, funerals, evangelism, administration, meetings, etc. Sure, I worked as hard as I could to prepare the best sermons I could every week, but there were many times my sermons were definitely “beta versions.” They were far from bug-free. And do you know what I discovered? God blesses “beta” sermons!

I am not advocating laziness or sloppiness in preaching. But I firmly believe that God blesses faithful pastors who preach to the best of their abilities and capacities in the midst of a busy pastoral schedule. Many of my “Saturday” sermons were blessed by God on Sundays.

So, fellow-preacher, don’t be afraid of launching your sermon in beta. Better to spend the last hour of preparation in prayer than on punctuation. And remember, God’s Spirit can turn betas into alphas.

“You can still be called to the ministry and yet, at least sometimes, dread sermon preparation,” was my reply. Right or wrong?

If it was a constant and long-term dread, of course I would be seriously concerned. But I still think that just as the “flesh” makes a builder prefer to relax at home than to pour cement, and just as the “flesh” makes a mother of young children prefer facebooking to home-making, so the “flesh” can make a preacher prefer to read good books than to write a sermon. The curse on the ground affects preachers as well as gardeners.

I’ve often approached my sermon preparation with joy and enthusiasm. But, if I’m honest, I’ve also had times when I’ve dragged myself to the desk and “whipped” myself to do the hard mental, emotional and spiritual work of exegesis. Sometimes it’s a difficult text that’s going to require 10-15 hours of work to make it digestible for my hearers. That’s daunting. More often, I get started with great gusto only to hit a “wall” within a short time, and wish I could find some important blogs to read or papers to file.

I recently read about the four stages of software development, and couldn’t help but notice the parallels with sermon “developers”:

1. Oh Boy! – Excitement about the anticipated benefits of the software (sermon?)
2. Oh No! – Discouragement about the anticipated work required to write the software (sermon?)
3. Oh Well – Resignation that the work just needs to be done.
4. Oh Wow! – Excitement about the realized benefits from the software (sermon?)

I know all the twists and turns of that roller-coaster! So, if at times you dread sermon preparation, or lose heart in the middle of it, don’t despair. It’s still consistent with a call to the ministry and is to be expected as long as we remain fallen creatures in a fallen world.

2008 © Martin Green. Image from BigStockPhoto.com.
Martin Green. Michael Marshall writes on the New Scientist website on the Five Laws of Human Nature. He actually describes more than five, but here are the ones I’ve seen operating in the Church and in my own life – some for good and some for ill!

1. The Peter Principle: In any organization people reach the level of their own incompetence.
2. Parkinson’s Law: Work expands to fill the time available for it’s completion
3. Law of Triviality: The amount of time an organization spends discussing an issue is inversely proportional to its importance (mainly because “nobody dares to expound on important issues in case they are wrong, but everyone is happy to opine at length about the trivial”)
4. Sayre’s Law: In any dispute, the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the stakes at issue.
5. Student Syndrome: If it weren’t for the last minute, I wouldn’t get anything done
6. Pareto Principle: Do the most important 20 per cent of a job in order to get 80 per cent of the reward

2005 © Galina Barskaya. Image from BigStockPhoto.com.
Rumors of Written-Word Death Greatly exaggerated claims Eliot Van Buskirk on the Wired website.

A large-scale study by the University of San Diego and other research universities revealed what some of us have long suspected: We’re reading far more words than we used to as we adopt new technologies.

“Reading, which was in decline due to the growth of television, tripled from 1980 to 2008, because it is the overwhelmingly preferred way to receive words on the Internet,” found a University of San Diego study

Church leaders have rightly complained for years about the detrimental effects of television on the mind and about the decreasing ability of people to read and process verbal and written information. But the internet seems to be changing all that for the better.

Surveys are also showing that people are writing far more than they used to – albeit in short emails, status updates, texts and tweets.

It is indeed a day of great Gospel opportunity. May the Word of the Lord have free course and be glorified (2 Thess. 3:1).