Chapter 7
Self-ORGANIZATION
Construction Stage 1.4: Obtaining Approvals and Permits
SAL Model Stage 1.2: Self-Organization
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| Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790 |
an hour is earned."
Self-organization is the SAL equivalent of a construction company obtaining approvals and permits in the building process. Without proper municipal and other civic permissions, a skyscraper cannot legally be built.
Disorganized construction companies who fail to get their proverbial "ducks-in-a-row" with regards to these approvals and permits, may incur scheduling delays, lawsuits, tickets, fines, penalties, and other preventable obstacles.
These approvals and permits are obtained from governing bodies, regulatory agencies, zoning boards, and other municipal and civic organizations. In preparation to secure these permits and approvals, information must be gathered about laws, regulations, permitting requirements, points of contact, and deadlines.
Oftentimes, this process can be complicated and time-consuming. Completing it requires a high level of corporate cooperation and individual ORGANIZATION.
Similarly, an important part of building YOUR life as a self-action leader involves organizing your thoughts, speech, actions, personal space, relationships, values, vision, goals, etc. The more organized you are, the more efficient, effective, and focused you will be.
With Benjamin Franklin's above-mentioned quote in mind, and despite any hyperbole involved in a literal interpretation of that quote, Franklin makes the important point that reserving time up-front to get organized can save you time—and by extension, effort, hassles, and headaches—later on.
A key component of self-organization involves striving to develop the habits and patterns of thought, speech, and behavior that will bring about the positive, long-term benefits you are aiming at and striving toward in your life and career.
It's relatively easy to brainstorm what you'd like to accomplish and who you'd like to eventually become. It's NOT so easy to actually realize those visions and goals. In coming chapters, we will provide you with some concrete tools that will assist and empower you in these brainstorming and self-organizing processes.
Organizing through Simplifying
Organizing your life as a self-action leader involves more than ridding your desktop (literal and virtual) and environment of clutter and disorder. It also goes beyond collating files, number- or color-coding records, and aligning other materials. Lastly, it extends past conscientious calendaring, task-list making, and note-taking.
While all of these exercises are beneficial and useful organizing techniques, organization as a self-action leader is a deeper and more holistic exercise that involves simplifying your life and career as a whole.
The purpose of this Life Leadership textbook is not so much to provide you with specific techniques of time management or life organization. Our primary purpose, rather, is to teach sound principles that can serve as guides and touchstones to which you can then add specific organizational tools on your own, based on your unique individual needs.
The idea of simplifying your life may sound simple; and in theory it is. But that does not necessarily make it easy in actual practice. The "Big Rocks" (1) involved in self-organization have little to do with tools and techniques and much more to do with direction, habits, patterns, relationships, standards, vision—and most importantly, True Principles rooted in Universal Laws.
Simplifying all begins with gaining clarity of your long-term direction and pathway in life.
We will provide you with some concrete tools to achieve this clarity and simplification in later chapters that discuss the drawing up of existential blueprints.
The relationship component of the SAL Model was covered in Chapter 5, but it's worth adding here that simplifying your relationships involves knowing when to say "No"—and then doing so with courage and confidence. In more serious or toxic situations, you may need to cut off a relationship entirely and terminate it for good.
Another element of getting personally organized through simplifying involves getting rid of unnecessary material things (aka: stuff). We live in a highly materialistic world where the acquisition of things can easily become a burden and induce preventable stress. Self-action leaders continually look for ways to simplify their lives by unburdening themselves of unnecessary stuff (literal and metaphorical).
Don't get the wrong idea here...
Freedom Focused is not asking you to become an ascetic monk or hermit, move away to the mountains, and live off the land. Quite to the contrary, we encourage all self-action leaders to live in society where they can both benefit from and bless other people through mutual service and sociality.
We simply encourage you seek to simplify your life in practical and reasonable ways by honestly evaluating what you currently have and balancing it with what you genuinely need and/or authentically want. As you do so, you may discover a variety of ways in which you could simplify your life that will actually enrich your life and relationships.
In the midst of this simplification process, you may even discover that less is often more when it comes to material possessions.
There are few better feelings in life or work than the feeling of being ORGANIZED.
Self-action leaders are organized people.
So, start organizing your own relationships, schedule, and life today!
- How organized are you in terms of your life's overall direction and pathway?
- What is something you could do TODAY to be more organized in this area of your life?
- How organized are you in terms of simplifying your schedule and acquisition of material things?
- What is something you could do TODAY to be more organized in this area of your life?
- How organized are you in terms of keeping a tidy and uncluttered work and living space and environment?
- What is something you could do TODAY to be more organized in this area of your life?
—Dr. JJ
Author's Note: This is the 434th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 240th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.
Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 433 FF Blog Articles
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Chapter 7 Notes
1. “Big Rocks” refer to the most important activities or objectives in your life, career, etc. The metaphor comes from a famous FrankinCovey object lesson where one attempts to fit as many rocks, gravel, pebbles, sand, and water into a jar as possible. The way to maximize the total capacity of the jar is to put the big rocks in first, followed by the gravel, pebbles, sand, and water. If you try to accomplish the same objective by reversing or otherwise reordering the steps, you won’t have enough room to fit all of your “Big Rocks” (main priorities).
Covey, S. R., Merrill, A. R., and Merrill, R.R. (1994). First Things First. New York, NY: Fireside. Page 88-90.
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