| Four Steps |
| 7 minute speech given to Titan Toastmasters on 7 October 2002 for Competant Toastmaster (Speech #8) from Communication and Leadership Manual (Add Impact to Your Speech) |
(During this speech, I used these visual aids.)
Two weeks, lecturing on ethics of purposefulness to philosophy group while in St. Louis. Purposefulness important ethical issue because need to make abstract values and ideals concretely real in the world. Might want to have closer relationship with spouse, knit sweater for a friend, or be promoted at work. To make these "dreams come true" need the virtue of purposefulness, need to get stuff done. In lecture discuss why purposefulness a moral issue, the habits of purposefulness, the ways in which fail to be fully purposeful, and so on.
In preparation, re-reading chapter on living purposefully from Nathaniel Branden's The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem. Struck with insight of his four "core issues" of living purposefully. To be purposeful, we must:
Noticed that really four steps. Fail to be purposeful by stopping after 1 or after 2 or after 3. Need all four. Examine cases where people stop too soon.
The Idle Dreamer: Some stop at first step of formulating goals and purposes. Idle Dreamers because only wishes and desires without plan of action to make real. Remember having mindset when undergraduate pondering graduate school in philosophy. Expected to do great things in philosophy somehow, without much forethought or work. Glad chose to "waste" a few years programming instead. Clash between idle dreams and reality unpleasant.
The Time Waster: A person only completes steps one and two (by formulating goals and identifying required actions) is Time Waster. Day-to-day actions are not aligned with long-term goals. Time will silently slip away, leaving goals unfulfilled. Was Time Waster this summer with garden. Mostly neglected it, occasionally working in fits and starts. Goal of a beautiful and easy garden seemed impossible. After recognizing the problem, worked for a few hours each weekend. Stunned and delighted by progress. Danger here that if such problems of time management go unnoticed and uncorrected, goals fade over time, leaving a person with few meaningful long-term projects to energize and excite.
The Misdirected Actor: Some complete steps one, two, and three (formulate goals, identify actions, and monitor behavior) but fail to do four (attend to the outcomes). Problem that often mistaken as to actions that will accomplish goals. By failing to notice and change what not achieving desired results, may wander off-course. In writing papers get stuck, unable to write. Sometimes lazy work habits to blame, but more often flaw in work that I must find and correct. Become Misdirected Actor if ignore the problem and attempt to force myself to write. Must change strategy, pause to review work, to be purposeful and effective. Fourth step of attending to outcomes most difficult and subtle aspect of purposefulness. Hard to know what going wrong. Sometimes just being lazy. But over time, develop skill of identifying problems.
Suspect that Nathaniel Branden captured most common problems with purposefulness in these four "core issues." Being purposeful requires us to [1, 2, 3, 4]. By consciously doing all of these things in all endeavors, we make a purposeful life a purpose itself. and by doing that, we can live a life that others can only dream of.
Mr Toastmaster.