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Execute Success: The Evaluation Process

I saw a fleet of fishing boats . . . I flew down almost touching the craft and yelled at them, asking if I was on the right road to Ireland. They just stared. Maybe they didn’t hear me. Maybe I didn’t hear them. Or maybe they thought I was just a crazy fool. An hour later I saw land.
Charles Lindbergh

The steps outlined in these next postings will measure your progress on a daily, weekly and phase-to-phase basis. We have segmented the postings into the following discussions:

I: Daily Task Measurement.
II: Weekly Goal and Benchmark Evaluation
III: Weekly Role Evaluation
IV: Daily Character Attribute Evaluation
V: Weekly Character Attribute Evaluation
VI: Life Phase Evaluation
VII: Starting a New Life Phase
VIII: Objective and Goal Evaluation

V: Weekly Character Attribute Evaluation

You will complete a weekly character evaluation when you plan your goals and benchmarks for the new week. The evaluation measures your development for the week as explained in the attribute chapters. You may also assign new character attribute goals for the week as appropriate. See the illustration below.

Chapters 7-11 outlined the steps that plan and measure your character development. You begin by developing one character attribute at a time (begin with the physical attribute). You will develop and strengthen this attribute for two consecutive weeks (11 or more days) before developing a second character attribute. You will repeat this cycle for all five attributes — developing each respective attribute for two consecutive weeks before taking on a new character attribute. Complete the steps in Chapters 7-11 as instructed. These steps will help you develop each character attribute as intended.

Below is a flow chart that summarizes the steps from Chapters 7-11. You will refer to this chart frequently when planning character development programs for the week.

Note the term, Attribute 1.1. This term refers to one of the five character attributes and its first character change or development. Note the term, Attribute 1.2. This term refers to the same character attribute and its second character change or development. Let’s use two examples to explain these terms.

You decide to develop your physical attribute by jogging 30 minutes each morning. You will then assign the term Attribute 1.1 to represent the physical character attribute(1) and its development goal, jogging(1). After successfully jogging for 10 consecutive weeks, you decide to set a new physical development goal such as eating a low-fat diet. You will then assign the term Attribute 1.2 to represent the physical attribute(1) and its development goal, low -fat diet(2). Attribute 1.1 references the physical development goal, jogging. Attribute 1.2 references the physical development goal, low-fat diet.

Note the term, Attribute 2.1. This term refers to the second of the five character attributes and its first character change or development. Note the term, Attribute 2.2. This term refers to the same character attribute and its second character change or development. For example, you decide to develop your physical temperance attribute by moderating your alcohol consumption to 1 drink per day. You will then assign the term Attribute 2.1 to represent the attribute physical temperance(2) and its development goal, moderation in drinking.

After successfully moderating your drinking habits for ten consecutive weeks, you decide to set a new physical temperance goal, such as limiting television time to 30 minutes each day. You will then assign the term Attribute 2.2 to represent the attribute physical temperance(2) and its development goal, limit television time(2).

Attribute 2.1 references the physical temperance goal, moderation in drinking. Attribute 2.2 references the physical temperance goal, limit television time. The term Attribute 3.1 references the third character attribute and its first character change or development.

I recommend the following assignment of terms:

Attribute 1:n Physical Attribute
Attribute 2:n Physical Temperance Attribute
Attribute 3:n Education Attribute
Attribute 4:n Social Attribute
Attribute 5:n Spiritual Attribute

n: refers to the development goal.

The order in which you shape your character is your decision. Your objective is to round your character and increase discipline. You are changing yourself physically, educationally, socially and spiritually. The length of time to make these changes will differ among people. The flow chart suggests that it takes at least ten consecutive weeks to make a character change. You may need more or less than ten weeks depending on your attribute goal and strength.

Note from the flow chart that you will remove Attribute 1.1 from your attribute development plan after ten consecutive weeks. Attribute 1.1 should become part of your character and will no longer be part of your weekly planning session. You will continue to strengthen Attribute 1.1, but more on a routine basis rather than on a planning basis. You should now plan and develop Attribute 1.2 for two consecutive weeks along with Attributes 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, and 5.1.

After successfully completing Attribute 2.1 for ten consecutive weeks, Attribute 2.1 becomes part of your character and is dropped from the attribute development plan. You should now plan and develop Attribute 2.2 for two consecutive weeks along with Attributes 1.2, 3.1, 4.1, and 5.1. This process repeats itself indefinitely for the rest of your life.

You will notice after several months that your character is becoming more rounded. You will have increased strength and discipline in all five character attributes. Your ability to accomplish feats will become easier. Physical, educational, social and spiritual feats that were impossible a few months ago will become part of your character.

The development pattern that you use to strengthen your character may change over time. You may find yourself doing more sporadic development of your character to keep in-shape. For example, you may develop Attributes 1.5, 3.4, and 5.2 for a stated period. Then after awhile, you may change this pattern and develop Attributes 1.3, 2.2, and 4.5. You may even repeat past character development goals if, for example, you fail to jog each morning as you did in the past.

Changing the pattern and alternating your character development goals is much like working atop a potter’s wheel. The potter shapes and reshapes a bowl to maintains its perfect circumference. If you shape one part of your character more than the other parts, a rounded character can easily become disfigured, much like a bowl that becomes disfigured by the disjointed movement of the potter’s hands.

Character changes are not guaranteed to be permanent. Disruptions or changes in your live can easily revert a strong character back into weak character. Keeping your character in-shape is much like cultivating a garden. You may shape the most beautiful garden over time, but simple neglect can reverse hours of painstaking work. In an unattended garden, weeds return and plague your furrowed rolls of vegetables and flowers.

To return the garden to its pristine beauty, you must go back into the garden and repeat the gardening process of weeding, cultivating, fertilizing, pruning, etc. This same analogy holds true for character development. Simple neglect in your character development can revert you to your weakened position. You must return and redevelop the character attribute that has become weakened. It is a process of shaping and reshaping your character that will last for the rest of your life.

Next week: we move onto VI: Life Phase Evaluation

You can find the day planning systems we are illustrating in this discussion in our FREE appendix file (Appendix as Form-N and Forms O.1-O.7 ).

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Execute Success: The Third Ingredient to Success

Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival. Sir Winston Churchhill

continuation from BLOG posting: benchmark planning

Executing Your Plan

The execution phase brings together the planning and discipline concepts from the last postings and pieces together a strategy for time management and execution of your tasks. Our discussion continues:

Section II: Planning and Recording Daily Activities

For this discussion and illustration of the daily planning process, I will use the day planning system illustrated below. You can find this day planning system in the (Appendix as Form-N and Forms O.1-O.7 ). You are invited to copy these forms if they work for you.

Note: The Appendix also contains a task planning system as Forms P.1-P.7. You can use these forms if you like.

Step 4:
After you complete the scheduling and task assignment for the entire week, review your sheet for accuracy. Make sure you allocated enough time to complete all of the respective tasks. You may note some lapses in your schedule. This is good. You can keep these times open to catch up on tasks uncompleted earlier in the week. We will discuss daily task evaluation in another posting.

You might be more accustomed to day-to-day planning rather than scheduling your entire week. You will note that scheduling the entire week as instructed will help you manage your time more efficiently. You will get a macro view of your week and plan accordingly so that you are in control of your activities instead of the activities controlling you.

You may question whether you can complete the schedule as indicated. Maybe not at first. But don’t become discouraged. It will take several weekly planning sessions before you become efficient. After a few weeks, you will be able to schedule time that fits within your capacity to complete assigned tasks.

Step 5:
Take the Weekly Assignment Sheet and transpose the scheduling and task assignments to your day planner if you haven’t already done so (as diagrammed by the letters in the illustration using Appendix Forms O.1-O.7). The following illustration shows an example for Monday planning.

As I indicated earlier, you may schedule your tasks and appointments directly to your day planner instead of using the Scheduling Worksheet. This will save you from having to transpose the information. I used the Scheduling Worksheet to demonstrate weekly scheduling. I invite you to use the worksheet if you find it helpful.

Step 6:
Your day planner is now your official calendar for the entire week. Everything required for the week has been scheduled and planned. If other events come up, you will simply manage them accordingly by scheduling these events for the next week or juggling your current schedule as appropriate. We will discuss these concepts later.

As you complete each task and appointment, simply check it off on your day planner. Also indicate whether you completed your character development goal for the day.

If you are using a day planning system other than Appendix Forms used in this illustration, you will need a Character Attribute Evaluation Sheet to record your character development progress. You can find this sheet in the appendix-Form Q. You can use the form and assemble it as part of your weekly reference kit described in the next step.

Step 7:
Assemble your weekly planning sheets into a neatly assembled weekly reference kit. You will refer to this kit regularly throughout the week as necessary. You will also use it to schedule tasks for next week.

Next week, we will review goal evaluation.
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Execute Success: The Third Ingredient to Success

Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival. Sir Winston Churchhill

continuation from BLOG posting: benchmark planning

Executing Your Plan

The execution phase brings together the planning and discipline concepts from the last postings and pieces together a strategy for time management and execution of your tasks. Our discussion continues with Section II:

Section II: Planning and Recording Daily Activities

We have reached the point where you can assign the daily tasks, appointments and activities for the upcoming week. This will become your daily “. . . to do” list of tasks and responsibilities. You may need to purchase a day planning system to facilitate this planning process. You can select any day planning system that works for you. A number of them can be purchased at book stores and through time management catalogs. My only recommendation is to select a planning system that has both hourly appointments and a daily task listing.

For my discussion and illustration of the daily planning process, I will use the day planning system illustrated below. You can find this day planning system in the (Appendix as Form-N and Forms O.1-O.7 ). You are invited to copy these forms if they work for you.

Note: The Appendix also contains a task planning system as Forms P.1-P.7. You can use these forms if you like.

Step 1:
begins by reviewing the activities and tasks listed on your Weekly Goal and Role Planning sheets. I recommend that you complete this and the following steps each Sunday during a time when you can devote a full hour. Select a place where you will not be disturbed.

Step 2:
You will schedule and/or assign the goal, role and attribute development tasks for the entire week. I have included in the appendix a Scheduling Worksheet (Appendix Form-N) that can help you in this assignment. I will use this worksheet to demonstrate the day planning system. You are invited to use this sheet since it will give you an overall view of the entire week. If not, feel free to schedule your tasks directly to your day planning system.

Step 3:
The priority of scheduling is as follows:

1st Priority: Note all previously scheduled appointments from a prior week and schedule them on worksheet (diagrammed by the letter in the illustration). These appointments were scheduled prior to this week’s planning session.

2nd Priority: Schedule all related goal tasks assigned in your the Weekly Goal Planning Sheet (as diagrammed by the letter “G” in the illustration). You may schedule these tasks as task assignments and/or appointments. You may want to complete these tasks early in the morning, in the evening, during your breaks or at any time during the day when you can privately work on your goals.

I place goal scheduling high on the priority listing. Even though your job, school, family, etc., may take precedence during some periods of the day, realize that your goals are important. You want to set aside time to work on your goals and then schedule your day around them.

3rd Priority: Review the character development goals assigned in your Weekly Goal Planning Sheet. Schedule the tasks or times to complete your character development goals (as diagrammed by the letter “H” in the illustration).

4th Priority: Take your Weekly Role Planning Sheet. Schedule the tasks and appointments that complete these role assignments for the entire week (as diagrammed by the illustration). You will schedule these assignments around your achievement and character development goals.

Take time this week to assign tasks. Next time, we will continue the discussion on recording your progress.
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Execute Success: The Third Ingredient to Success

Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival. Sir Winston Churchhill

continuation from BLOG posting: spiritual development

Executing Your Plan

This posting places in action the final ingredient of success. The execution phase brings together the planning and discipline concepts from the last postings and pieces together a strategy for time management and execution of your tasks. Our discussion begins with Section I:

Section I: Assembling Your Personal Goal Planning Kit
You will refer to this section each time you begin a new life phase. You may want to review Chapters 3-4 to refresh your memory on the planning concepts. We begin by assigning a life phase to achieve certain goals.

Segmenting and Assigning Life Phases

A life phase is any period of one or more years that includes a time for personal growth and achievement. You will assign certain goals for achievement during this period of time. For example, you may assign 4-5 years as a life phase to achieve your collegiate and graduate degree goals. When this phase ends with your collegiate degree in hand, you will assign a new life phase to achieve your next level of goals.

As a general rule, a life phase covers about 2-5 years, depending on what you want to accomplish. A phase running less that two years may not be long enough to achieve certain goals and benchmarks. Likewise, a phase running more than five years may cause you to lose focus of what you are trying to accomplish.

You begin by going back to your birth date and segmenting your life to the present time. You may want to divide this time into respective phases covering a certain time period as illustrated on the next page as Step-1 (use Appendix Form-G). After you complete this exercise, review your goal plan that you completed back in Chapter 4. Determine what you want to accomplish in the next phase of your life and assign a period of time for the next 2-5 years as diagrammed by Step-3 in the illustration. The number of years assigned depends on what you want to accomplish.

Designing the Objective and Goal Planning Sheet

The planning concepts for designing the Objective and Goal Planning sheet (Appendix Form-G) can be found in Chapters 3-4. These two chapters discuss how to plan and prioritize the goals that will achieve the objective. You were instructed to use the Justwyn Model for Goal Planning (Form-C) to identify and prioritize your goals. Use this planning model to design the Objective and Goal Planning sheet in this section.

The Objective and Goal Planning sheet (Appendix Form-C) and transfer them to the Objective and Goal Planning sheet as illustrated below. List the goals in hierarchical order as explained in the planning chapters. Write the goals in the spaces of the planning pyramid using one or two key words.

The pyramid has a maximum of 14 stones. You may need to combine goals if necessary to fit them into the spaces available. If you have less than 14 goals identified, leave some of the spaces near the top of the pyramid blank. Refer back to Chapters 3-4 if you need to refresh your memory on goal identification and prioritization.

Next week, we will outline your tasks to achieve the goals.

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Discipline to Success: The Spiritual Attribute

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

continuation from BLOG posting: spiritual development

Building Your Spiritual Skills

End of 2-Week Evaluation

The sixth step returns you to this section of our BLOG to evaluate your progress for the last 14 days.

Spiritual development is mostly intangible. The time to notice a spiritual change takes much longer to measure. That is why you should develop the spiritual attribute last.

1) Physical, Physical Temperance, Education and Social Evaluation:

Did you achieve your physical development goal
for the last 11 or more days?

Did you achieve your physical temperance goal
for the last 11 or more days?

Did you achieve your education goal
for the last 11 or more days?

Did you achieve your social development goal
for the last 11 or more days?

Hopefully, you will answer “yes” to all four questions. If not, then you may be reverting back to your old ways. That can happen. Try to pick up where you are weakest and repeat the concepts where appropriate from the last four chapters. Your goal should be to overcome your weaknesses and shape a well-rounded character.

If you answered “yes” to all four questions, continue strengthening these four attribute goals for the next 14 days. You might want to modify these goals to increase strength.

2) Spiritual Development Evaluation:

Did you achieve your spiritual development goal
for the last 11 or more days?

Do you feel you are strengthening your spiritual attribute?

Do you feel confident that you can continue achieving your
spiritual attribute goal for the next fourteen days?

If you answered “no” to any of the three questions above, return to Step (1) in this chapter and complete the steps indicated. The spiritual attribute will be the hardest character attribute to develop. It can take 4-6 weeks before you can honestly answer “yes” to the three questions above.

If you answered “yes” to all three questions, and if you feel comfortable that you are making spiritual progress, congratulate yourself. You are rounding your character and increasing self-discipline. You are now ready to move onward to develop further your character attributes by repeating the character attribute development cycle that will be explained next week.

In the meantime, continue developing your character attributes as explained.
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Discipline to Success: The Spiritual Attribute

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

continuation from BLOG posting: spiritual development

Building Your Spiritual Skills

Maintaining Diligence

Diligence is characterized by a persistent care and application. Sedulous people show perseverance, care, caution and earnest effort to accomplish what is needed. They are attentive to required details.

An example of diligence is the persistent application of the concepts discussed in this BLOG. If you desire to become physically, educationally, socially and spiritually stronger, you will then make a concerted effort to accomplish and achieve the tasks for each development. Diligence means that you do the job right.

Diligence also means quality performance. A job not done well is a job not done. This applies when pursuing your goals and responsibilities. You are wasting your time if you fail to produce quality work.

You can become more diligent by working on the following steps:

• set personal goals and objectives.
• accomplish daily tasks by doing it right.
• perform quality work.
• work and achieve tasks within certain time limits.
• complete tasks and assignments on time.
• sign your name “mentally” to the work performed.

So increase “diligence” by doing your work on time and in quality.

Next week, we will discuss the spiritual trait “moral ethics”.

———-
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Discipline to Success: The Spiritual Attribute

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

continuation from BLOG posting: spiritual development

Building Your Spiritual Skills

How to Build Humility

Balancing between the forces of self-confidence and humility is a lifelong process. Self-confidence is the mental energy to achieve the things you want. Humility is a companion force that keeps you from destroying the successes you have made.

Let’s delve into suggestions on how to build humility:

Charity:
Increase your time to help others. Become more considerate of people regard less of their race, gender, religion and ethic background.

Recognize Others:
Make it a habit to frequently thank your parents, teachers, peers and bosses for the help and contributions they directly or indirectly made in your behalf. Recognize the achievements of others.

Befriend the “Inferior”:
If you feel superior, befriend a person whom you consider as inferior. For example, if you are rich and proud, befriend the poor. If you are strong and physically in-shape, befriend the weak. If you are handsome and good looking, befriend the ugly.

I like the story relayed in the movie, “Ghandi.” During a scene of violence among Hindus and Muslems, Ghandi goes to Calcutta to fast for the healing of the nation. After fasting for many days, a Hindu man approaches Ghandi to confess his sins. He had killed a Muslem family in retaliation for the death of his little boy.

The man believes that his actions will send his condemned soul to hell. Ghandi replies to the man that there is a way out of hell. He instructs him to go into the streets and look for a little boy like his own who has lost his family because of the violence. The Hindu man was to raise the boy as his own. But, the man was to raise the boy as a Muslem.

Note the richness in this story. A humble person befriends all persons no matter what their religion or culture or economic status. You likewise need to befriend others who are not part of your social mainstream.

Become Teachable:
Play the role of a student when around others. Allow other people the opportunity to express their opinions. Let others teach and help you even if you don’t need their help. Take advice from others and help them feel that their suggestions contributed to your success and growth.

Become Ugly:
Boastful people think that they are beautiful. They will spend their time and money to look attractive and prestigious. They will wear fancy clothes and costly jewelry and spend hours in front of the mirror making themselves gorgeous.

Take a day or two each week and become “ugly.” Don’t wear costly apparel or jewelry. Try not to talk about yourself and your accomplishments. Act and appear as though there was nobody to impress.

Many will argue that “humility” is a sign of weakness, especially when you consider the suggestive traits mentioned above. But consider this, is success achieved when one cheats, defames, and personally destroys another person? Or is success achieved when one displines themselves to achieve greatness while helping others?

Next week, we will discuss the spiritual trait “diligence”.

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Discipline to Success: The Spiritual Attribute

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

continuation from BLOG posting: social development

Building Your Spiritual Skills

You must be feeling fantastic by now. You are strengthening four of the five attributes of your character and increasing self-discipline. We now reach the highest level of character well-roundedness. The spiritual attribute completes the circle that will support and accomplish your goals.

What is the spiritual attribute? The best answer to this question comes by reading the four Gospels in the New Testament section of the Holy Bible. It makes no difference whether you believe in the Divinity of Jesus Christ or not. One argument is certain: The man Jesus Christ was a great teacher of moral ethics and spiritual qualities. This viewpoint is held by most Christians, Jews, Moslems, religious zealots and agnostics.

The spiritual attribute seeks a higher plane of human development. You can be an atheist and still possess spiritual qualities that are goodly. A spiritually developed person chooses not worldly appetites, but seeks those qualities that elevate mental well-being.

You can find many theological and philosophical theories on spiritual development. We learn and apply these theories through our religious and philosophical studies. But no matter what your belief or philosophy, you can strengthen your spiritual attribute by developing the following spiritual qualities:

faith virture patience charity humility diligence moral ethics

Next week: we will start our discussion on each of these spiritural attributes.

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Discipline to Success:

The Social Attribute

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt

continuation from BLOG posting: social development

Building Your Social Skills

Testing Your Social Skills Development

For the past two weeks, our readers have implement plans to develop and strengthen their social skills.  So lets measure how we did.  The social attribute is the fourth attribute in the character development hierarchy. The energy required to make a social change is greater than any of the other attributes discussed so far.

A great amount of energy — both internal and external — will be required to make a social change. External energy increases because most social changes include interaction with other people who you do not control.

Social Attribute Evaluation

Let’s continue our step-plan from two weeks ago.

Evaluate your progress in all four character attribute developments.

1) Physical, Temperance and Education Evaluation:

Did you achieve your physical development goal
for the last 11 or more days?

yes or no

Did you achieve your physical temperance goal
for the last 11 or more days?

yes or no

Did you achieve your education goal
for the last 11 or more days?

yes or no

Do you feel confident that you can continue achieving your
physical, physical temperance, and educational goals
for the next fourteen days?

yes or no

If you answer “no” to any of the above questions, you may need to return to the appropriate chapters and develop these attributes before moving forward. You are not building the self-discipline required to achieve your goals and character well-roundedness.

If you answered “yes” to all four questions, continue working on these three attribute goals for another 14 days. You might want to modify the goals to increase strength.

2) Social Development Evaluation:

Did you achieve your social development goal
for 11 or more days?

yes or no

Do you feel you are strengthening your social attribute?

yes or no

Do you feel confident that you can continue achieving your
social attribute goal for the next fourteen days?

yes or no

If you answered “no” to any of the three questions, return to Step (1) in this chapter and complete the steps indicated. There is no need moving forward to the spiritual attribute without first developing your social attribute.

If you answered “yes” to all three questions, and if you feel confident that you are strengthening your social attribute, you are ready to add the last attribute to your character development schedule. The spiritual attribute requires the most total energy to develop. The increased strength, self-confidence and motivation developed so far will help you develop the final attribute that will round your character.

Next week: we will start on discussion on the spiritural attribute

———-
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Discipline to Success:

The Social Attribute

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt

continuation from BLOG posting: social development

Building Your Social Skills

Last week we reviewed the terms “introverts” and “extroverts”.   Introversion characterizes people whose social satisfaction or needs come from within themselves — in other words, from social activities that involve very few people.  Extroversion characterizes people whose social satisfaction or needs come from outside of themselves — or in other words, from social activities that involve many people.

We used an illustration to scale the two -troversions (these measurements are for illustrative purposes only and do not measure any scientific analysis). Introversion can range from the extreme introversion — scale mark “-5” — to minimal introversion — scale mark “0”. Extreme introverts are individuals who prefer not to be around people. They isolate themselves from all social activities.

On the opposite end of the scale, extroversion can range from extreme extroversion — scale mark “+5” — to minimal extroversion — scale mark “0”. Extreme extroverts are individuals who prefer to be around people constantly. They may turn on their television sets just to hear the sounds of people, for example, even though they are not watching any particular program.

You won’t find many people who are extreme introverts or extreme extroverts. Most of us fall somewhere on the scale between -2.5 to 2.5. Introverts who are within this range will enjoy a party or loud activity once in awhile, but generally, they flow to activities that interact with fewer people. Extroverts who are around “+2.5″ on the scale will sometimes enjoy a quiet evening at home with a book or video, but generally, they flow to activities that place them in the company with many people.

Neither tendency on the scale is socially weak or socially strong. We are simply different people finding niches in social activities that make us happy. But a personal goal to strengthen your social attribute may be your maintaining a social balance between introversion and extroversion tendencies. Strengthening your social attribute means shifting your social tendencies closer to the scale mark “0”.

If you are a person whose social tendencies fall within the -3 to -2 range, you might consider social changes that increase your interaction with people. Your social goals may include increased participation with people such as your arranging weekly social outings (dancing, theater, ball game, etc.). You could plan parties or events with a group each month. Your objective is to increase your social interaction with people.

If you are a person whose social tendencies fall within the +2 to +3 range, you might consider social changes that increase your participation in activities that are simple and quiet. Your social goals may include interacting with fewer people, perhaps once each week. Instead of participating in one exhaustive party after another, spend some quiet time with a friend or spouse by going for a walk, listening to a piece of music, or watching a video in your home. Schedule an activity such as cycling each weekend morning where you can be with yourself. Your objective is to increase social activities that are inward.

I am not suggesting that extroverts walk away from outward activities. Nor am I suggesting that introverts cease activities that are inner related. What I am recommending is that you find a balance between introvert and extrovert activities. If you are a person who can’t stay at home and who is constantly running out the door to be with people for example, try to balance your extrovert tendencies with activities that are more inner related. On the other hand, if you are a person who never gets out of the house, try to balance your introvert tendencies with activities that are outward related. Maintaining a balance between the two tendencies will build and strengthen your social attribute.

Next Week: we will put the social attribute to work.
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