Personal growth paradox: Doing last things first March 20, 2014
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Get Organized, Personal Growth Books.Tags: achieving goals, focussing, getting organized, personal development, personal growth, self-improvement, Stephen Covey, time management
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The more we study personal development and growth, in our efforts to improve ourselves, the more often we will encounter the advice to “put first things first.”
Stephen R. Covey, in fact, as the lead author, wrote a 370-page book on this topic, First Things First*. Co-authors are A. Roger Merrill, and Rebecca R. Merrill.
The implication is that most of us are often tempted to do last things first.
“Last things” being those activities that are not important. In his time management matrix Covey presents a quadrant which is now familiar to many: (1) Important and urgent (crises, pressing problems, deadline-driven projects)
(2) Urgent, but not important (some phone calls, some reports, some meetings)
(3) Important but not urgent (planning, relationship-building, empowerment)
(4) Not important, not urgent ((trivia, busywork ‘escape’ activities, irrelevant mail, excessive TV)
In a chapter entitled, The Urgency Addiction, Covey goes into considerable detail about how to overcome the mistake of attributing the quality of urgency to things that are actually not important; how to distinguish between the demands of the four quadrants; and how to manage our time between the four elements of the quadrant.
The book contains this insight: “Urgency addiction is a self-destructive behaviour that temporarily fills the void of unmet needs. And, instead of meeting these needs, the tools and approaches of time management often feed the addiction. They keep us focused on daily prioritization of the urgent.”
With time pressures being so pronounced for everyone these days, we could all benefit from revisiting the ideas and solutions proposed in this book.
* First Things First, A Fireside Book, published by Simon & Schuster
Why personal development tools are easier (quicker) to design than to use March 17, 2014
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development.Tags: achieving goals, business, culture, personal development, personal development program, personal growth, self-improvement, technology
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If a brilliant and technically savvy 15-year old can design a personal-growth digital app relatively quickly that helps the user overcome procrastination (it’s been done), can the same 15-year old implement his/her own personal development program with equal facility and speed?
Probably not, even though both are change-applications.
Generally speaking, designing a specific and highly targeted app or gadget can be a short process, although granted, acquiring the technical knowledge and ability to do so can take considerable time.
Perceiving the need for a personal growth gadget or app requires excellent social and market recognition skills; implementing your own personal growth paradigms takes wisdom.
And the achievement of wisdom is a difficult and slow process – often life-long.
Within the world of the personal growth and self-improvement business or industry, devices such as templates, plans, and formulas are essentially gadgets or apps. They are tools.
It is likely that with flashes of inspiration a specific tool for carpentry can be designed relatively quickly.
Becoming a master carpenter takes considerably more time.
The same with personal growth.
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