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Author: Mary Wissinger | Living Education

These posts summarize the forums that our Living Education-Charlotte students attend each week.

As the fall semester of Living Education-Charlotte 2026-27 began, the LivingEd students had the opportunity to hear from Mr. Mike DeSimone, manager of broadcast and media, for their first forum. He discussed productivity, addressing two major components that have a much larger impact than we may realize. First, he elaborated on multitasking.

“The Multitasking Myth”

Mr. DeSimone opened by referencing a book entitled The Myth of Multitasking, by Dave Crenshaw. From it, he read a passage in which a man came in to consult the CEO of a company that was having difficulty progressing. The man asked the CEO, Helen, if she could think of a time when she had multitasked. “Sure,” she responded. “I’ll be answering an email, and someone will come in and ask me a quick question.” She continued, “I keep working on the email and tell them to go ahead and ask the question. I’ll respond to the question and then go back to work.” The man, Phil, nodded and replied, “So you didn’t really multitask, did you?” (Crenshaw 18) Instead, she had been switchtasking, flipping back and forth between tasks so fast she didn’t recognize it.

At the end of the day, that is what all of us fall into doing at some point–switchtasking, falsely labeled “multitasking.” Though the initial concept may seem like a great way to accomplish many projects at once, it proves to be far less efficient, and far less effective, than giving time to just one specific thing.

“A Quarter of the Time”

To demonstrate his point, Mr. DeSimone had the students complete the same activity, composed of two smaller tasks, twice. The first time, students switched between tasks; the second time, they finished one task before starting the other.

On average, when students switched tasks, it took them 54 seconds to finish the activity, compared with 24 seconds to complete both tasks separately. Mr. DeSimone pointed out, then, that without switch-tasking, it would take 12 seconds to do just one of those tasks, or essentially a quarter of the time. The same outcomes have been proven to be true with any other project or activity you can think of.

“Organization: The 5 Ss”

The second major component of productivity Mr. DeSimone highlighted was organization. When a system is put in place, he proved, tasks can be completed much more efficiently. He described one system in particular, called “The 5 Ss of Lean”, that is often used in work offices:

Sort – Filter out the junk

Set in Order – Arrange remaining material for ease of use

Shine – Clean up

Standardize – Create methods to maintain the previous 3 Ss

Sustain – Ensure consistent application of the S’s across all spaces

After an activity in which they had to strike out the numbers 1-49 in order from a jumbled mess, students found this system to be twelve times more effective than not using it at all. Even more than speed, though, the 5 Ss have been found to increase accuracy and the ease of finding misplaced/missing documents, files, etc. significantly.

“Systems and Switchtasking”

Indeed, organizational systems are implemented in the workplace for a reason. While some claim they are better off finding what they need among disheveled piles of paper stacked high, it has been proven that even a lean method creates a cleaner, more efficient space. Focusing on one task at a time can nearly double both accuracy and speed.

Let’s consider the two keys Mr. DeSimone gave in his forum and utilize them in our daily activities. If we do that, we can be sure to see an increase in our productivity going forward.

Author: Katelyn Wissinger| Student, Living Education – Charlotte, 2025-26

The Bible relates many character traits of both the Father and Jesus Christ. These traits will become part of our character as we seek to follow Christ’s example and be more like Him. In a recent forum, Mr. Chet Carpenter expounded upon a specific character trait that the Father and the Son share: learning. He coupled this with teaching us the four pillars of becoming lifelong learners.

Mr. Carpenter pointed out that we should be lifelong learners in Christ. He used four pillars for learning: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be. These four points were developed by Dr. Zhou Nanzhao, who had an extensive career in pursuing and administering education. While Mr. Carpenter used these as the basis for his forum, he pointed out that many of the world’s ‘wisest’ people and lifelong learners attain knowledge and education from worldly sources and their own experiences. While they may find kernels of fundamental knowledge and truth, they are not starting with the true source of knowledge and wisdom, God’s word, which is the Bible (2 Corinthians 3:17). 

To be lifelong learners, we need to learn to know. We must have a desire to seek knowledge and continue learning. Ecclesiastes 12:7-14 showed King Solomon’s desire to seek as much knowledge as he could, and he eventually concluded that God’s word is the foundation of knowledge. Our desire to learn applies not just to the physical but to the spiritual. We should seek to grow in understanding of the Truth, allowing us to grow as Christians.

The second pillar Mr. Carpenter mentioned was learning to do. Once we know something, we need to act on it. In God’s future kingdom, we’ll apply everything we’ve learned in our lifetime. Hebrews 5:14 explains how knowledge should be applied. We must do this to see results.

Once we apply our knowledge, the next stage is learning to live together. Meaning, learn to build others up. “Apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,” in the Church are an example of this, according to Ephesians 4:10-12. We can use the Holy Spirit in us to help “iron sharpen iron” (Prov 27:17). 

The final stage is learning to be. We are to be children of God (1 John 3:1), and in God’s future kingdom, we will be the product of what we learned in this life. The Bible shows us that we are to be like Christ, obedient and holy.

Mr. Carpenter provided us with an insightful forum on how we can become lifelong learners and how this is necessary for our physical and, most importantly, our spiritual lives. Christ must be our foundation on which we place these four pillars of learning.

Author: Katelyn Wissinger| Student, Living Education – Charlotte, 2025-26

At a recent forum, Mr. McNair surprised the Living Education students by announcing that they would be viewing a documentary featuring Mark Cavendish. Cavendish holds the record for most stage wins at the Tour de France (35), achieved across 15 Tours and 17 years (2008-2024). The students were able to draw some meaningful lessons and practice their analytical skills as they learned about Mark Cavendish and his career as a cyclist.

The Lessons

Perseverance: Mark Cavendish is described as an outstanding cyclist who won many Tour de France stages. The Tour de France is a grueling cycling race over a long distance broken up into stages, with some steep hills. In the beginning of the film, Cavendish is shown winning many trophies, but as he becomes more famous for his talent the pressure builds on him to keep winning. This pressure eventually got to him and he began to struggle physically and mentally. He was diagnosed with Epstein Barres syndrome, which took a toll on his energy and strength. However, he didn’t give up on pursuing cycling. Instead, he persevered through the dark and hard times he experienced as he struggled to regain his cycling glory.

Devotion with focus: From the time Cavendish started cycling he displayed tremendous focus on his goal of winning the Tour de France overall and winning several other races. He worked extremely hard and pushed himself hard physically to achieve his goals. He was devoted to cycling. Whereas Cavendish was devoted with a focus to pursuing cycling glory and an earthly goal, the LE students and those in the church can show this devotion and focus in seeking “first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).

Final Thoughts

The film Mark Cavendish: Never Enough gave the students who watched it a view into the cycling world that many of them did not know much about. Not only did they learn more about cycling and Cavendish but they also were able to draw valuable lessons and perspectives from it.

Author: Caleb Loy | Living Education 2024-2025

Mr. Rod McNair presented to us with an informative forum on the importance of schedules and goals.  After our first week of classes has come and gone, we were able to take this information in and absorb it more appreciatively thanks to our currently full schedules.  

What are your goals?

To start the discussion, Mr. McNair made it a point to interact with us by asking, and honestly wanting, the feedback we had to offer to questions he posed.  He cultivated a closer connection with us by caring for and feeding the goals that we hold for ourselves to achieve throughout the program.  He shared some of his own goals and reminded us that they should not be the same as the world’s.  A key example of this is being a homemaker.  With the feminist movement in the world today, being a homemaker, rearing children, and caring for the home is frowned upon, yet Scripture encourages the opposite.  (Titus 2:4-5)  “They admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”

Make goals a reality

Everyone has goals, yet what sets the successful apart from those that never achieve their goals is scheduling.  Mr. McNair shared with us a schedule that he planned out for his life when he was a student at Ambassador College.  Seeing this was enlightening for us because we could see the way it worked out after being written in ink.  We are all thankful for the reminder he gave us, “Even if things seem overwhelming, you must make time for God!”  God should be first and foremost in our goals and lives.

Focus on the short-term

While we are excited about what the future can hold for us, Mr. McNair made the point that we must put action into the short-term, day-to-day workings, to achieve our further-off desires.  He provided us with one basic key to staying on track in the short term.  He said that if we only take one thing away from what he shared it was, “Take the time to write out a schedule with goals for the upcoming week.”  It may take a little time to become accustomed to this practice, but having the dedication will result in a more organized and productive week in which we can grow.  

It’s about growth!

Mr. McNair said, “It is not about perfection, it’s about growth!”  He made the point that we can write out our goals and create a schedule to achieve them, yet some situations may arise that affect our outcome. This is okay. To assist in making this point, Mr. McNair finished by playing a video on the Ernest Shackleton expedition from 1914. The goal of this expedition was to be the first to cross the continent of Antarctica, yet due to unforeseen circumstances, they narrowly made it back to civilization after two years of being shipwrecked. He said that looking at this story through the lens of goals, it was a massive failure because they didn’t attain their goal, and nearly died;  However, this is an incredible story of leadership as Shackleton brought all his men back safely. While we work to achieve the end goal, unseen events can drift us off course to a different outcome.  With our working to achieve goals, and God at the helm, nothing can drift us away from God’s plan for us.

We are excited to make our own goals and schedules to share with future generations.  As Mr. McNair said, “It’s not rocket science…”