You're a Task-Crusher

Co-authored by Shelby Shepherd and McCauley Nelson (Task-Crusher)

Task-Crusher, n.

An Image-Bearer who is driven to think practically and accomplish things. She's resourceful, more focused on diligent execution of real tasks than on theory, and gifted at seeing a plan through to its completion.

You were created to leverage your strengths as a Task-Crusher for God's Kingdom🔥

1. God created you to see the opportunities to take action on what matters all around you.
2. God created you to feel inspired to work diligently, regardless of what others are doing. While you're motivated by the value of the work itself, your gritty faithfulness inspires others to follow suit.
3. God created you to be obsessed with the next clear priority.
4. God created your determination to accomplish your work to be a force to be reckoned with.
5. God created you to be the kind of person who gets twenty things done in the same amount of time others might take to deliberate about how they want to get started.
6. God created you to intuitively see the most efficient and effective way forward. (Your natural ability to prioritize is such a gift.)
7. God created you to be a doer who follows through on anything you set your mind to do.
8. God made you genius-level resourceful.
9. God created you to feel deeply compelled to resolve issues as quickly they come so you can keep moving forward in all of the important responsibilities He's called you to steward.
10. When your world swirls with people, pressures, and problems, God created you to see opportunities for making progress.

⚠️ Three Task-Crusher Pitfalls (The Evergreen Planning Method is Designed to Help You Avoid These)

Along with our natural strengths come natural gaps and weaknesses which we need to be aware of if we want to move forward in wisdom.

1. Task-Crushers can act as an island unto themselves, carefully protecting their own energy and time—at the expense of those they're called to see and serve. When building your rhythms, you want to avoid the trap of thinking that your priorities are the "most important" priorities. It takes true charity to appreciate that the comfort and priorities of your loved ones or team members are just as important as your own. They want a relationship with you—not just the results of what you can accomplish. While carving out space to work by implementing boundaries is a healthy practice, God wants you to keep hold of your calling to serve sacrificially and wholeheartedly so that He can work through you to support the goals of others, too.
2. On the flipside, Task-Crushers can be so anxious to cover all the bases that they neglect to faithfully steward their own health. This neglect can be motivated by a fear of failure, and not wanting to "let anyone down." You may be careful to be present in your relationships while tending to your tasklist, but you might fall into a pattern of allowing these standards to which you hold yourself to completely displace whatever parts of your self-care you deem as "not that important." This, of course, can lead to burnout. Therefore, it is critical that you place your worth in the finished work of Christ, and trust Him to provide for whatever your creaturely limitations prevent you from tending to.
3. Task-Crushers can get into a rut of plowing through endless tasks until they totally crowd out the bigger picture. It's easy to fall into this rut, especially if you feel tired or have any amount of brain-fog. When you're not feeling cognitively sharp, you'll feel anxious to "stay productive"—but then it's easy to default to being busy for busy's sake. You'll also be susceptible to jumping up and doing whatever catches your attention. But you're called to stay tethered to your larger purpose, and to leverage your diligent efforts effectively in terms of God's calling on your life.

🗝️ The #1 Key to Focus on When Planning As a Task-Crusher

Your key focus: Remember that taking the time you need to think, learn new things, be introspective, and plan ahead is productive.

With His sanctifying grace, your Task-Crusher ways are an asset to the Kingdom of God. But only insofar as they are in alignment with the plan God is working out. While we cannot know all of the future mysteries of His plan, we can know His revealed will through the Scriptures—and this is what we're responsible to honor.

"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?...And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these... Shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." — Matthew 6:26-34

If you hang your emotions on the laundry list of things you assigned yourself to do—and allow that list to consume you—you'll never find peace. But if you reframe your responsibilities in terms of this passage from Scripture, you'll remember that God is ultimately the One taking care of and sustaining you, your loved ones, and your team.

Your love of diligence is so valid, but you are called to relinquish the obsessive control you feel over checking off your todos. Your worth is not bound up in whether or not you've "accomplished enough."

So when you sit down with your planner, your mind exploding with all of the work you really should be doing instead, you will do well to slow down and remember that you dwell securely in the finished work of Christ. From that place of security in Him, you can rest easy, knowing that you do have the time to slow down and reflect on what truly matters each day.

🫱🏼🫲🏽 Tips On Working with Others

Perhaps others have been intimidated by your natural abilities to be so productive and efficient in the way you manage your tasks. When others are struggling to figure out their own way, don't let go of your inner Task-Crusher.

God will work in their hearts, and in the meantime, you were created to keep making progress on the things God has called you to do. And that faithfulness, in and of itself, is a light in a world full of excuses.

Keep moving forward with humble confidence. Don't let snide remarks or glances slow you down, or cause you to pretend you're on the productivity struggle bus. You know you're not perfect, and there are plenty of ways in your life that you need to grow. But being a natural at this productivity thing is a gift from God that you shouldn't feel ashamed of! He wants you to humbly lean into it, regardless of how others choose to feel about it, so that you can invest your Task-Crushing talents for His Kingdom.

As you apply the Evergreen Planning Method, you may find ways that your tendency to stay busy is a distraction from relationships or deep emotions, but daily micro-journaling will really help you spot this and hold yourself accountable.

The life-giving progress you'll be able to make by fully embracing your powerhouse skills and keeping your hand on the Task-Crusher's plow will be worth all of your diligent efforts in the end.

And when it comes to working with others—just take a page out of the Coactive’s book and really study and appreciate the beautiful productivity personalities God has given others.

🕯️As a Task-Crusher, You Bear God’s Image

As a Task-Crusher, your drive to get things done, your clarity in execution, and your deep satisfaction in checking off the list aren’t just personality quirks—they’re a reflection of the God who brings His purposes to completion with excellence and order.

You bear His image when you bring structure to chaos.

You reflect His faithfulness when you follow through—day in and day out.

You echo His intentionality when you steward each hour with diligence.

While others dream in broad strokes, you bring those dreams to life, step by step. Your joy in finishing what’s been started mirrors the heart of the One who began a good work in you and “will bring it to completion.” The details that others overlook? You tend to them with care, and that faithfulness is deeply Kingdom-oriented.

You don’t just manage tasks—you build, sustain, and strengthen the good work God has set before you. And that reveals His glory in ways that are quiet, steady, and incredibly powerful.

"Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established."

— Proverbs 16:3

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You’re a multifaceted, whole person. The test is just a starting point to help you reflect, but it may not capture every nuance of your personality. You may find you have a combination personality, a strong wing, or even resonate more with another type altogether. It's also good to recognize that all of these traits are healthy reflections of God's Image, and we should seek to grow in well-rounded maturity. You can dive deeper into the other productivity personalities below.

• Visionary - Driven to think about or plan the future with great imagination, intuition, and intelligence. Creative, more focused on the bigger picture than the granular details, and gifted at motivating others to jump in and help bring a vision to life.
• Task-Crusher - Driven to think practically and accomplish things. Resourceful, more focused on diligent execution of real tasks than on theory, and gifted at seeing a plan through to its completion.
• Strategist - Driven to think tactically and design repeatable systems. Prudent, more focused on the sustainability of an enterprise than on new innovations, and is gifted at keeping things organized while mitigating risk.
• Coactive - Driven to embrace a variety of perspectives, skills, and contributions to accomplish important work. A peacemaker and more focused on encouraging and appreciating than on being admired. Gifted at cultivating strong relationships and treasuring the best in others.

You can also go back to the quiz here.

Inspiration for these personality categories came from the work of Les McKeown as detailed in The Synergist, an awesome book on team dynamics.