What Matters Most : The Power Of Living Your Values - Hardcover

Smith, Hyrum W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684872560 ISBN 13: 9780684872568

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2000

Synopsis

"People who are happy recognize their success has come from who they are as much as from what they have accomplished. What Matters Most will give you the courage to be yourself and live a life of integrity."-- John Gray, author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus In an age of unprecedented prosperity and opportunity, there are still many who feel that something is missing in their lives: "I've achieved success and am on the fast track in my career, I'm respected by my peers, I have a great family and all the toys and perks that I could possibly want. Why don't I feel a stronger sense of fulfillment, or any real happiness inside? Why does life feel so empty?" In What Matters Most, bestselling author and speaker Hyrum W. Smith outlines compelling reasons for this dissatisfaction. Much of it comes, he says, because of conflicts between our actions and our deeply held personal values.In the rush and press of life, too many of us have lost touch with what matters most to us -- values like close family relationships, spending time with family and friends, participating in fulfilling work, giving of self in service to others, following our own light, and achieving long-held dreams and creative goals. Through compelling examples from others and drawing from his own extensive experience, Smith outlines a simple but powerful formula to help you identify your own deeply held values -- what matters most in your life -- and live them to the fullest. This strategy consists of three valuable steps: Discover -- First, you must discover what matters most to you. What would you like to have, what would you like to do, who would you like to be? Plan -- Then you must make a plan. By organizing those values and recognizing the order of importance into which they fall, you can begin to reconcile the actions of everyday life with your deeper needs and dreams. Act -- Finally, you must act on that plan, bringing those very principles into your home, your workplace, and the community around you. By incorporating Smith's strategy into your life, you will not only re-embrace your values, you will make them your priority. What Matters Most is an indispensable and timely guide to living a truly fulfilling life and becoming the person

About this title

About the Author

Hyrum W. Smith is the author of the bestselling book The Ten Natural Laws of Time and Life Management, and is a highly sought-after international speaker and the originator of the Franklin Planner. His other books include Where Eagles Rest and The Advanced Day Planner User's Guide. His own priorities include making a difference in people's lives, spending time with his family, and horseback riding. He and his wife, Gail, are the parents of six children and live on a ranch in the high desert of Southern Utah.

Reviews

With advice that's more practical than spiritual, this respectable if unoriginal self-help book encourages readers to find greater meaning in life through determining goals and formulating a mission statement. Smith believes that goal setting has value not only for individuals who have lost their moral compass, but for families, organizations (such as his Franklin Covey Company) and even nations. He supplies exercises for gaining self-understanding, evaluating one's roles, assessing their relative importance and determining what he calls "governing values," along with guidance for achieving long-range goals, pithy mantras ("whip the demons by small victories every day") and familiar talk about fear of failure and fear of change. Smith shares some anecdotes about his own development and the efficacy of his program, including a lengthy tale about lecturing to troubled Utah high school kids, along with reflections on Winston Churchill, Michael Jordan and Mother Teresa. With many accomplishments to his credit as a successful family man, the business executive who created the Franklin Planner daybook, a motivational speaker and the author of the bestseller Ten Natural Laws of Time and Life Management, Smith is well qualified to write this book and will attract many readers with his reputation, but some may be disappointed by his occasionally preachy and self-satisfied tone, and that his familiar message lacks the punch of authors like Stephen Covey and the empathy of such others as Laurie Beth Jones.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Heroes: People Who Know Who They Are

There is no chance, no fate, no destiny that can circumvent, or hinder, or control a firm resolve of a determined soul.
-- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

It has been said that we live in an age when there are no heroes. I strongly disagree. While teaching and speaking with people about how to find and live by their deeply held values, I have heard about many heroes who have been role models and sources of inspiration for people both famous and obscure.

If I were to ask you to make a list of the heroes in your life, you would probably come up with several people you admire who have had an impact on your personal or professional life. There have been many such heroes for me, individuals for whom I have immense love and respect, who have brought out the best in me, and whose lives or characteristics have inspired me to find out who I really am.

Winston Churchill and England's Darkest Hour

Perhaps my reasons for talking about heroes can best be illustrated by referring to one of my own sources of inspiration, Winston Churchill. He has been one of my heroes since high school when another hero, a high school teacher (more about him later), first awakened my interest in history and I became aware of Churchill's vital role in the outcome of World War II. In recent years I have been taken aback to learn that many of those who have grown up since World War II know so little about him. He appears to be just a name if he shows up on their radar scopes at all, whereas I believe Winston Churchill's actions were pivotal in one of the great and most dramatic turning points of civilization.

We must start with the fact that the future did not look at all promising for England's survival in May 1940 when Churchill became its prime minister. A little more than twenty years had passed since Britain and her allies had defeated Germany in what was widely considered "the war to end all wars." But now the reborn military might of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany was overrunning Holland and Belgium and pushing into France in what seemed to be a crushing replay of the opening of the earlier war. This time the German blitzkrieg appeared to be unstoppable.

For most of the previous five years Hitler had thumbed his nose at the world community, rearming his nation and reoccupying former German territory given to France after World War I. He had engineered the German annexation of Austria in a bloodless coup. In the so-called Munich accords in the fall of 1938, Hitler had used deceit to persuade England's Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and France's Premier Edouard Daladier to give in to his demands to occupy and "protect" the German-speaking portions of Czechoslovakia. That done, Hitler promptly gobbled up the rest of the country less than six months later. Only late in this period had the British begun to rearm themselves, and they were seriously outnumbered in terms of men in uniform and modern military equipment. They could only hope that France's strong army would be able to deter further German moves.

In September 1939, Hitler's armies entered Poland, in direct defiance of the promises he had made at Munich. The British and French, having promised to aid Poland if it was attacked, reluctantly declared war on Germany. It was a case of too little, too late because within weeks Hitler subdued and occupied Poland.

In May 1940, after a winter in which the armies of Germany and France faced each other across the fortifications of France's supposedly impregnable Maginot Line, Hitler appeared to be unstoppable again. Wheeling through the Low Countries, the German tanks simply outflanked the French border fortresses, and they appeared capable of quickly reaching Paris.

The proclamation of "peace for our time" with which Chamberlain had originally hailed the Munich agreement with Hitler had turned out to be anything but. On May 9 the now discredited Chamberlain resigned, recommending to King George VI that Winston Churchill be named his successor.

Although Churchill was a member of Chamberlain's Conservative Party, he had been one of the leading critics of Chamberlain and of the party's handling of the entire German situation. Following Munich, Churchill had declared that the prime minister's "peace for our time" was "an unmitigated disaster." A weary Chamberlain was now saying in effect, "I've failed. You see if you can do any better." On May 10, Winston Churchill was summoned to Buckingham Palace. In his words: "Presently a message arrived summoning me to the Palace at six o'clock....I was taken immediately to the King. His Majesty received me most graciously and bade me sit down. He looked at me searchingly and quizzically for some moments, and then said: '...I want to ask you to form a Government.' I said I would certainly do so."

Following his appointment, Churchill met with political and military leaders, advisers, and others, and they put together a coalition government. This was happening while the roar and clash of battle continued on the Continent.

Someone in Winston Churchill's position at that time might have felt some misgivings about the menace his nation faced. He might have felt the oppressive burden of leadership during those perilous times and perhaps some apprehension about his ability to change events. Not so, as revealed in his memoirs:

As I went to bed at about 3 A.M., I was conscious of a profound sense of relief. At last I had the authority to give directions over the whole scene. I felt as if I were walking with Destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial....My warnings over the last six years had been so numerous, so detailed, and were now so terribly vindicated, that no one could gainsay me. I could not be reproached either for making the war or with want of preparation for it. I thought I knew a good deal about it all, and I was sure I should not fail. Therefore, although impatient for the morning, I slept soundly and had no need for cheering dreams. Facts are better than dreams.

Reading these words, I feel a great surge of emotion. Churchill was a man who was in the right place at the right time, and as a result he made a powerful difference for the entire world -- a difference that certainly puts him on anyone's list as one of the most influential persons of the twentieth century.

At 3 o'clock on the morning of May 11, 1940, Winston Churchill clearly seemed to be a man who "had it all together," who knew who he was and what he was capable of doing in the crisis he faced. Let's look at what his words reveal about the man at this critical time.

After being asked by his king to form a new government, he works long into the night to put together a government in the midst of chaos and despair. Finally, as he goes to bed, he is "conscious of a profound sense of relief."

Relief? He was taking over the leadership of an unprepared country that was at war with the greatest military machine that had ever been created up to that point in history. Having just been given the biggest task of his life, he was experiencing "relief." He was having feelings of calmness and serenity. How could he possibly feel that upbeat, given the circumstances?

Churchill provides his own answer to that question: "At last I had the authority to give directions over the whole scene. I felt as if I were walking with Destiny." Have you ever felt that you had authority over the whole scene of your personal life? Have you ever felt that you were walking with destiny in your life? Winston Churchill did, and his words reveal a quiet confidence, a sense of self-worth. He was certain about his ability to lead and to find the answers that would bring his people through the crisis.

You're probably thinking, "That's all f

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0684872560
• ISBN 13: 9780684872568
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248