During the years I worked as a prison chaplain I was given inmates helpers to run my office. These chaplain’s aides were often men who had little or no experience in an office environment so it was part of my ministry to train them in office procedures.
One day I assigned a young prisoner to write a memo. He came back in a few minutes with a memo full of mistakes including the word “I” written in lower case. I told him that whenever you write “I” it has to be capitalized. A few minutes later he returned with a revised memo. This time every single time the letter “I” was used, such as in “bite” or “hit” the letter was capitalized.
That memo went where most memos should go- in the trash. Studies have found that the great majority of memos are not written for the instruction of the reader, but the protection of the writer. Eliminating this “cover yourself” mentality at work would help everyone redeem the time.
Rick Grubbs is best known as the host of “Redeeming the Time,” a one-minute radio program featured on hundreds of radio outlets around the world. He has spoken thousands of times on Biblical time management in all 50 states and 26 other countries. He is the author of the book “Morning Momentum: God’s plan for launching an unstoppable day”. He and his wife Carrie live in Salisbury NC with several of their 12 children.
