Gilad"s shared items

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Taking productivity to the next level


Magnolia
Originally uploaded by rachelluttrell

"Self development" literature tends to focus on the "self".

How to set goals, manage your time and tasks. Building information management systems, being organized. How to stay in focus and be motivated. Having healthy and intimate relationships.

Self-growth is a hard and never ending mission, which I struggle with every day.

Albert Einstein once said:


"No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it."


The same is true with the problem of personal growth.

In The The 8th Habit, Stephan Covey, talks about taking growth to the next level. How? Find your Voice & Inspire Others to find Theirs. Become a leader.

Leadership by Covey does not depend on your on your formal position, it is an attitude. What ever is your position is in an organization, you can always take the "personal-growth" ideas and implement them on the team/group/community/organization level.

The framework for growth focus on all 4 sides of being human:

  • Body:
    Personal - exercise, be healthy, control your impulses, develop good habits and work to eliminate bad habits.
    Team /Organization - build good routines and information flow systems, keep the organization healthy by making sure it meets the needs for survival (i.e. economic growth, members satisfaction).


  • Mind:
    Personal - Learn all the time, expend your skills and responsibilities. Visualise yourself in a year from now, 3 years, 20 years. Set goals and plan to achieve them.
    Team/Organization - Develop a mission statement, a vision. Plan for the long term goals.


  • Heart:
    Personal - Learn to recognize your emotions and to control them. Develop heart-full relationships in your family, with friends and colleagues.
    Team/Organization - Trust (verb and noun) your team members, be a trustworthy person. Develop relationships inside the group and with other groups. Empower team members by beliveing in them and helping them in a significant way(for them).

  • Spirit:
    Personal - Live by principles and values. Contribute to make the world a better place.
    Team/Organization - Act according to pricipels and values. Meet a genuine need in the world. "Don't be evil".

Questions to ask on a daily basis
(team = team/organization/group)

  • Do I identify with my team values?
  • How are my goals meet the goals of my team?
  • How can my team grow and improve?
  • How can I help my team members?
  • How can I become a leader and a force of growth in my team?

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