VANITY TOYS charm bracelet (detail) © briserisvegliWhy is it so hard to keep a place or a room free of clutter? Why do empty surfaces fill up with clutter, instantly? Why do items start to gather at the very places we've just cleaned a moment ago, as if moved by a ghost's hand?
It's about more than just clearing and cleaning.
When we clean places up, we want to believe we're creating free space. However, we're just creating a vacuum. What's the difference? » Read more
This is the start of a new series: Squares of Quotations. Every posting will focus on the balance between two good things and on their respective exaggerations (see info box below).
Today's topic: Destiny or Self-Determination?
Lots of attitudes we find annoying (in others as well as in ourselves) are maybe just exaggerations of an element of truth. When we give such an attitude a closer look, we feel that there is simply a need for a counterbalancing attitude.
As soon as we feel annoyed by how another person behaves, we might as well look for the element of truth in it and show our appreciation for it. That will make it easier to suggest a counterbalancing behavior, in order to highlight a path of improvement.
Of course one can also exaggerate the counterbalancing element of truth, possibly in an attempt to compensate for what was found to be too extreme, in the first place. Obviously, such an overcompensation isn't helpful either.
Two elements of truth plus their respective exaggerations form a square of values, describing paths of positive development. The concept of a Square of Values was first described by Paul Helwig (unfortunately, link in German only). Later, Friedemann Schulz von Thun extended it to include paths of positive developments, too. Only the form of a Square of Quotations is my own invention.
| «If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.»
Henry Ford |
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«God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.»
Reinhold Niebuhr |
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«What the mind of man can conceive and believe, It can achieve.» Napoleon Hill |
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«Fate rules the affairs of mankind with no recognizable order.» Seneca |
What are your thoughts on this? Please leave a comment!
Stephen Smith (of HD BizBlog 1.2) recently asked his readers for a suggestion: define a weekend project that will reduce the number of items on your @Home list.
As a matter of fact, I don't like this kind of projects, that's why I suggested one, immediately.
You wonder why I don't like this type of projects? Simply because @Home is cluttered by too many items already that are neither single next actions nor project next actions, but habits. I'm quite frank about it: if you put «Take out garbage» on your @Home todo list, there is something wrong. Fundamentally wrong.
Ok, so what's » Read more
About 5 years ago, I became Director IT & Organization at an SME. I had been leading several teams and a whole software development department before, so I thought I was familiar with a staccato of ever-changing tasks. It turned out that I wasn't familiar with the staggering diversity of my tasks. My system of personal organization was faltering, although the level and frequency of my tasks hadn't changed that much.
As a a matter of fact, I didn't really have a «system of personal organization».
Bookshops are favorite places of mine, but at that time, I was carrying that passion to the extreme. There wasn't probably any time / task / priority / self management guide that I didn't hold at least three times in my hands, skimming the pages for any hints. That's when I stumbled upon Getting Things Done (GTD). It wasn't love at » Read more
