“Martha, Martha, Kanban…”

Growing up, I remember struggling to understand these verses from a well-loved story: “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” 

I mean, why on earth would a guest (the Lord) tell a busy host (Martha) this when she only asked him to tell her “distracted” sister (Mary) to help her? I mean how? It was a no-brainer to me. We’re two sisters who have guests, we must make sure everything is in place for the guests to be well cared for in this very moment, but Mary doesn’t do anything but sit by a guest and listen to Him when there’s work to do! 

I could always bear with Martha’s frustration but found it hard to understand what the Lord meant. So I settled with the explanations I was given and eventually made peace with it. 

Till I recently discovered the joy of actually practising Kanban, one of the agile methods, and now these verses take on a whole new meaning from me especially “it will not be taken away from her” 

Kanban as an agile method not only relies on having our “to-do list” arranged in a certain way on a board we can “always” see, but also relies on us focussing on one thing at a time till it is done before moving on to the next priority, only pulling in another priority task to do when the prioritised task a person is working on is done. It’s interesting to read more about it online, please do!

If Mary used a personal Kanban, she would have been focussing on the task important to her: listening to the Lord, a guest Who wouldn’t always be with her but had so much wisdom He could share with her then. 

Now my humorous self can’t seem to get this image out of my mind 😂😂: The Lord saying ever so serenely to Martha, “Martha, Martha, Kanban…” I’m in tickles already! 

When I began using Kanban, I discovered my priority tasks were no longer being “taken away from” me by distractions, seeming emergencies, less important and less urgent things. I was getting things done and done well because I gave myself the permission and the space to focus in spite of everything. Just like Mary. 

And funny enough, I was getting even more things done in a day when I used my Kanban than if I were to run around and do many things at once, start many things before finishing one to move on to the next.

My personal Kanban allows me to:

1. List everything I need to do including the “many things” that leave me “worried and upset” when they aren’t done
2. Prioritise the “few things” that “are needed”, and 
3. Choose “indeed only one” thing to work on. 

If you’re familiar with this Bible story and experienced in using Kanban you may understand the light bulb moment I just had these few days ago after being retrained by IQ business on Kanban amongst other agile concepts. I’m now an absolute Kanban believer!

If you feel you want to understand my lightbulb moment, I’d encourage you to: 

• Read Luke 10:38-42
• Read more about Kanban
• Create your personal Kanban and follow it, and
• Discover your own joy of being more productive so that what’s important to you is “not taken away”. Just like Mary. 

Feel free to send me a message if you get stuck, and I’d be happy to help. 

Enjoy your day! Kanban, anyone?

8:38am

Mompreneur/Sidepreneur || Friday, 21st October, 2021 || Baby at 10 calendar months, 26 days