Third Thing: Structured activity drives out unstructured activity.
Someone once suggested that the defining feature of a totalitarian state is that anything that is not required by the state is prohibited by the state. In other words, all activity is structured, and there is no room whatsoever for individual discretion. When you talk to some people about their personal development, you might think that you were talking to citizens of a totalitarian state. “My day is so filled with a constant barrage of activity—much of which is driven by the need to respond to others—that I don’t have the discretionary time to work on my own development.”
The most powerful thing you can do to deal with the demands of an oppressive schedule is to impose a little structure on your development agenda. If you create specific goals with action plans and timelines associated with them that are written down on paper, you will be more likely to make the time to follow through and improve yourself. If you leave your development goals as vague outcomes you would like to achieve when you get the time, you will be much less likely to accomplish them.
Filed under: Creating a high-impact development plan, Self-Development, Uncategorized
