Personal development: The need to implement what we learn December 24, 2017
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Personal Development Potential.Tags: Arnold Toynbee, books, creativity, inspiration, life, psychology, self-actualization, setting goals, writing
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The eminent historian Arnold Toynbee warns obliquely that, for most of us, it is important to convert the knowledge we are gaining, into action; otherwise we are doomed to be constantly frustrated.
In Toynbee’s case, he found he was becoming frustrated in the world of academia by constantly acquiring more and more knowledge for its own sake. His irritation ended when he realized that by using his knowledge for the writing of history, he could be more creative and productive.
Similarly, in our efforts towards personal growth and self-actualization we tend to acquire a lot of knowledge, theory, and opinions, but if we do not put that knowledge and information into practice, it does us little good.
Toynbee found that when he applied the action of writing to his knowledge of history it enabled him to be more focused and selective about what future knowledge he chose to acquire.
Toynbee wrote, “Instead of going on acquiring knowledge ad infinitum, I had started to do something with the knowledge I already possessed, and this active use of knowledge gave direction, for the future, to my acquisition of knowledge.”(1)
(1) Arnold Toynbee, from his memoir, Experiences. Toynbee is best known for his ten volume work, A Study of History.
— Dennis Mellersh
Personal development: The importance and the limitations of hope December 23, 2017
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development.Tags: achieving goals, Eric Hoffer, Hope, inspiration, personal growth, philosophy, psychology, self-actualization, writing
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Personal development: The importance and the limitations of hope
We are often told of the importance of the concept or quality of hope to the human spirit; but is hope enough to carry us through difficult times, or do we need to cultivate an additional personal characteristic?
The philosopher Eric Hoffer has the following to say about “hope”:
“There is no hope without self-delusion, while courage is sober and sees things as they are. Hope is perishable, while courage is long-lived. It is easy in an outburst of hope to start a difficult undertaking, but it takes courage to bring it to a conclusion.”
For “hope” we could substitute enthusiasm, and for “courage” persistence.
A high state of excitement or enthusiasm can be difficult to sustain over a long period of work.
We might be excited, optimistic and initially highly enthused about learning how to write poetry, to learn a difficult new skill, or to start a challenging self-improvement program, but we will need a drip-drip-drip* approach to get it done, and that requires persistence, or the ability to “stick with it.”
* Drip-drip-drip is Seth Godin’s metaphor for the approach needed to accomplish long-term goals.
— Dennis Mellersh
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