Really interesting, guys! I have to say that this aspect of our lives- our goals- I think is very important. Being a self-motivator is so critical to moving forward in where we hope our lives will go. If we don't do this step, we will loose forward momentum, and we'll merely let things move us. Now, this might not be bad, a lot in life comes from just letting things happen, but often we have goals we don't voice in our head, and we don't often think about what it takes to get us there... all the little next-actions that need to go into our bigger goals. ;)

A small warning, Michael: in that first chapter or two, you are going to learn to hate the word "paradigm" :) ha ha ha. :) But, there is a lot of really great stuff in Covey's book. My only real problem with it, is that it's just not really that daily focused... it's much more general. In some ways this is good, and in others, bad. David Allen's book gives me the tools I need to actually get things done, and Covey sort of gave me the tools of how to think about myself and where I am in the world, and where I want to be. These are two vastly different things. Personally, I think Covey's questions are very difficult to answer, and this may be why they're not implemented well. Actually forming a mission statement for yourself and reading it every day etc... that's tough work, I find.

Let us know what you think about it! BTW, you may also want to read Viktor Frankl's Man's Ultimate Search For Meaning (perhaps slightly wrong title)... he was the creator of LogoTherapy. "Meaning Therapy"... his belief is that for people to be cured of their depression/etc., they must find meaning in their lives. As a holocaust survivor, he knows a lot of sadness, and talks about his experiences, and how he was able to turn them into meaning. Awesome book. [BTW, he incidentally also feels that sadness has it's appropriate place... which I also agree with. But, that for us to find purpose in our life, we must have "meaning"... when things seem meaningless we loose hope.]

Cheers, guys!!
-Allen