TIP - Focus Find & Follow

John Fidel

Overview and Introduction:

The business I am in requires my company to perform a massive amount of work within a very short time-frame. For CPA’s in the US it is called “tax season”. For our firm to accomplish the tasks at had we have to have systems in place. However, we need to have systems that realize different people in our office work differently. Our minds process information, gather information and retain information differently.

My business associates get the same amount of work done as I do, but their systems do not work for me and visa versa. However each of our systems work within the company’s framework, and allow each of us to do the tasks at hand efficiently.

So why am I talking about business on the Logos Forums? Because I approach Bible Study and the use of Logos Bible Software in much the same way. I tell my associates if you want to be efficient and accurate, spend 30 minutes planning how you will do something and develop a systematic process that allows for you to do three things:

1. Focus
2. Find
3. Follow

(More on each of these below)

By doing this we will save time, avoid errors and stay on task. The services we provide our customers is better and less costly due to our efficiencies.

November is the month we reevaluate our systems and processes at work. It is also the month I do the same with my Bible Study.

I will be presenting a number of “TIPS” explaining how I incorporate Logos guides, tools, features and resources that allow my study of God’s Word to be fruitful. I want my time with Him and His Word to be all He wants it to be. There are books on “How to Study the Bible”, so that is not the focus of these TIPS. The importance of the Holy Spirit in directing and edifying us in our study is also not the focus of these TIPS. Both are important.

Hopefully, these TIPS will provide you ideas that may assist you in developing some “systems” with Logos Bible Software to allow your time with Him to be more fruitful. You can duplicate my layouts, but that may not work for the way you process and retain information. However, maybe one or two ideas can help you improve your use of Logos Bible Software.

Note 1: While I have a general outline as to the direction that these posts will go, I have not written them all in advance. I will gladly try and direct future posts to address any questions or ideas other may have to contribute to this discussion. Oh, and if I don’t finish the series by January 1… well you know what I will be busy doing. I apologize in advance.

Note 2: I have written a rather extensive guide on basic library management and setup that is available here. Much of what I will discuss will assume you have prioritized your library, set up some basic collections and built some custom guides. If you need some suggestions on how to get started, please refer to that guide. 

Focus, Find and Follow:

Focus: Using Logos Bible Software can be like drinking from a fire hose.  It is easy to become overwhelmed with information. So we want to develop layouts and systems that allow us to focus without drowning in too much information. (Many of you have developed layouts and processes, and I hope you take the opportunity to share some of your insights as well.)

Find: While we don’t want to drown, we do want to be able to find information that is meaningful using the many tools and features available.

Follow: I enjoy “targeted” rabbit trails. God is directing your thoughts, so you need to be able to follow that trail. You get to explore and go into new territory… surprised by what God is teaching you. This means you need gateways into the vast information available in your Logos Library. You get to swim in the vast amounts of information in your library without drowning.

Gateways into your library:

In the next several posts, I am actually going to start with some “gateways into your library” and work backwards. Mostly because knowing how to swim in the deep will help you  not drown when you want to stay focused. You can have confidence that you can get into your library without having every imaginable resource open. You can use tools, guides and features to learn to explore without getting lost or overwhelmed. Also, these may be the most useful tips for many readers.

David Taylor, Jr.

John I agree with your preliminary statements and look forward to what you are going to present!

Bruce Dunning

John I like your business application of Focus, Find and Follow to Logos and look forward to seeing how this discussion goes. Thanks for taking the initiative to do this.

Milkman

I don't have an a lot of time myself to be really efficient with Logos, so every bit helps and this looks great.

Thank you.

mm.