The Clock & The Compass

The Clock and the Compass (Article from Book 'First Thing First' by Stephen Covey)

Stehen: My daughter Maria, who recently had her third child, was talking with me one evening. She said: "I am so frustrated, Dad! You know how much I love this baby, but she is literally taking all my time. I am just not getting anything else done". As we talked, we came to the realisation that her frustration was essentially a result of her expectations. And for now only one thing was needful - Enjoying that baby.

Finally I said" Don't even keep a schedule, forget your calender. Stop using ur planning tools if they are only inducing guilt.This baby is the first thing in your life right now. Just enjoy the baby and dont worry. "Be Governed by Your Internal Compass, Not By The Clock on The Wall".

The Clock represents our commitments, appointments, schedules, goals, activities-what we do with and how we manage our time.. The Compass represents our vision, values, principles, mission, conscience, direction-what we feel is important and how we lead our lives.

For many of us there is a gap between Compass and The Clock - between what deeply important to us and the way we spend our time. And the gap is not closed by the traditional "Time Management" approach of doing more things faster. In fact many of us find that increasing our speed only makes things worse.

When you are guided by an internal compass or set of principles, you begin to see that the idea that 'I am in control' is an arrogant concept. You have to humbly submit yourself to natural laws that ultimately govern anyway. If you internalize those laws and principles, you create a highly educated conscience. And if you are open to it, you will keep first things first !