Stephen R. Covey is a champion in the leadership and self-help fields. I’ve been reading non-fiction like fiction doesn’t exist (seriously–I’m in the middle of 12 books, all of them non-fiction). I determined it was time to begin pursuing some of the self-help classics.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is as classic as you can get.
I expected to find the book interesting. I didn’t expect to love it. I did.
I finished it last night. While I was reading, I recommended it to pretty much everybody. Earlier this week I redid the template for my planner pages to incorporate some of what I learned while reading.
Today, as I lay swinging in a hammock, the sun disappearing and reappearing behind a screen of leaves, I realized I have no desire to be pursue effectiveness.
I do not need more schedules, plans, and goals. A weekly personal meeting to align the week’s schedule with my personal mission statement and a daily review sound torturous. It will lead me in the exact wrong direction. Stress, angst, frustration, dissatisfaction. A feeling of being a day late and a dollar short. Always.
I believe in the principles outlined in the book. However, the correct principle applied at the wrong time in the wrong way leads only to confusion and frustration.
I want to be a cenote, deep and clear and still. I want to have a joyful serenity that radiates from my heart into all the parts of my life. I want to be filled with unknown depths of a happy calm, a grateful peace.
Fewer schedules, more daydreams. Fewer goals, more doing what needs to be done when it needs doing. Less stress, more happiness.
Thank you Mr. Covey, for your efforts.
This girl is hopping a different train.