The Pakistani Spectator

Would you please tell us something about you and your site?

My name is Paul Gardner and I have a passion for leadership. I and my wife Raewyn are the pastors of a medium sized church in Wellington, New Zealand. I blog here.

My Passion

I love what I do and it’s great that I can see the results of any improvements I make in my leadership, but one thing I’ve learned since becoming a pastor is that leadership of a basically volunteer, non-profit organisation is not for the fainthearted.

One of the hardest things I’ve found in a role like mine is that people expect you to be everything to everybody. The introduction of “Getting Things Done” (GTD) into my life has allowed me to concentrate my limited time on the things that are actually important.

Why Simply Productive?

This site is about helping you become more productive and a better leader.  I always feel it’s such a waste when people with incredible potential get bogged down doing stuff they simply shouldn’t be doing. So my posts on this site are predominantly about exploring ways to avoid this and to help people “lead” to their full potential.  At the same time, I’ll become a better leader as others share their thoughts in the conversations I start.

I’ve always believed that writing is something you have to grow into.  When I started my writing was more formal than it needed to be and in fact than it should be in a blog.  There are always different styles of writing required for dirrering circumstances but successful blogging needs you to write as if you’re actually having a conversation with your reader.

At the same time, I’ve learned to allow more of my own personality into my writing.  This is really important because you’ll never be a successful writer if you’re trying to be someone else.

Definitely the most memorable experiences I’ve had through blogging are the amazing people I’ve been privileged to have contact with.

I run a private blog just for a group of us who have similar blogging interests.  Also, I stay in email communication with some, twitter with many, and Skype with just a few.  I make it a point to comment on other bloggers posts when I believe I can add value to their post/site.  In the near future I’m planning to invite a couple of people to provide

I think Twitter is the most exciting thing that affects politics at the moment.  It’s simple and accessable to the vast majority of people, its immediate and gives people an amazing opportunity to interact with politicians.

Any politician that is savvy about their use of Twitter, along with blogs and marketing campaigns etc, has the ability to reach the people they serve much better.

Absolutely these sites make people (and more importantly, corporations) more responsive.  The companies with the best service records almost invariably allow people to ask questions on Twitter.  In fact, the really best way is to follow their own name, and especially respond to people who have complaints about services or products.  These tweets are normally initially posted as derogatory, but if handled promptly and well, your name and reputation is improved instead of being tarnished.

I think that because I bring a Christian perspective to my subject it makes it a bit more interesting.  It’s also good that people get to see that Christian’s can be pragmatic people who live in the real world, make mistakes (and admit them) and share the answers they find.

Without a doubt I’m a dreamer.  For some reason, if you throw me into a situation, any situation, and I’ll have a vision for where we should go from there.  Even before I was “productive” I was like this, productivity has just allowed me to actually moving things along the track towards that vision.

The happiest moments of my life have been when I was at the birth of my three great children.  Sharing these moments with my wonderful were absolutely amazing.

Three top destinations, well two are easy:

Israel:  I’ve never been there and would love to see where so much history happened.  Events that happened there thousands of years ago have affected world politics since and will probably do so until the end of time.

Just behind the Red Sox dugout, Fenway Park, Boston for game 7 of a World Series Final

Their eyes.  The eyes really are the window to the soul and its very difficult for a person to lie with their eyes.

Yes, in High School my English teacher told me I’d never pass an exam or do anything with the English language.  She suggested I take up a profession in the sciences.

I’m sure some can.  I don’t and don’t really try to.

I like to think my blog is reasonably successful and I certainly don’t have an awful lot of time on my hands.  The trick is simple, you should only write about something you’re passionate about.  Something you, yourself, want to learn more about and get better at.

I’ve found the best bloggers (part-timers who don’t do it full-time for money) are those who are energised by what they’re writing about and this means they can put in extra hours outside of their already busy lives.  It also seems to be a fact that if you want something done, ask a busy person.  I’ve found that writing for blogs is no different.  People who actaully have an awful amount of free time, normally have that because they’re too lazy to do other things.  This doesn’t apply to successful bloggers because you can’t be lazy and have a successful blog.

I think bloggers already show the world that collaboration is the way of the future.  Bloggers are successful when they collaborate with those in the same niche, not when they compete.  There’s something in that for all to learn from.

Michael Hyatt  http://michaelhyatt.com/
John Maxwell  http://johnmaxwellonleadership.com
Becki True  http://blog.beckitrue.com/
Mike Vardy  http://www.effingthedog.com
Eric Mack  http://www.ericmackonline.com/ICA/blogs/emonline.nsf/

In an old blog I once spoke with some passion on the issues surrounding different styles of worship music in church services.  I also had a contention that more people were concerned with style of worship rather than the actual content of the teaching.  I had an amazing reaction, from both sides of the divide!

Pakistan must be a country with an enormously diverse range of people.  My actual knowledge however, is based upon media coverage which unfortunately only presents certain aspects of Pakistani society.  (As they also do with most countries!).  So we have no real understanding of the people and/or issues of Pakistan.

I think this is an area that bloggers have a big part to play in society.  Bloggers don’t need to report only the bad news (media need to because bad news sells) so the internet gives us a great ability to gain a better understanding of ourselves as a global village.

The most striking difference is the attitude of the people.  In developed countries people seem to have developed an attitude that the world owes them a good living and good things.  In developing countries people seem to take delight in being alive and in the simple things of life.

I ask you…  Who is really happy?

The future of blogging is bright.  The only thing we need to be concerned about is the proliferation of people who blog to make money.  I don’t mean that people shouldn’t make money, and even a good living, from blogging.  What I mean is that the primary reason for a person to blog on a particular topic is that they’re passionate about it.

I believe if you simply blog for the money, you’re likely writing dispassionate rubbish…

Because I blog about something I’m passionate about, I believe my professional and personal lives are improved by my blogging.  (But I get a bit less sleep!)

For my blog, just to improve my writing and get better engagement from my readers.

For other areas in my life…  How long have you got?

Don’t do anything unless you’re passionate about it.  Find your dream and live it.  Be amazingly positive about everything.  Love with all your heart.

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