ProdPod: Episode 44 -- Human Potential Movement's Mark on Your Personal Productivity

Back in the 1960's, there was a movement that developed, founded on the core concept that we could help people become happier, more fulfilled and more creative. It was called the Human Potential Movement. Further, we know so much about personal productivity today because of the Human Potential Movement and yet so few people actually know its history and how you can use this core concept to enhance your productive life. To learn more about its history, visit the Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_potential_movement). But, to unlock HPM's potential though, listen on.

The late Dr. Stephen Covey, of which many of you know I'm an ardent fan of his works, took the humanistic psychology principles of HPM and turned them into a book, The 8th Habit, which was a culminating work from his most well-known book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. You can find several PDF summaries of The 8th Habit via a Google Search. From Aldous Huxley to Anthony Robbins and Abraham Maslow to George Leonard, Dr. Covey wraps the principles of these proponents into a simple and effective action plan based on the premise that your life (and society at large) will get exponentially better when people find their own passion, mission, vision, life purpose, professional goal or what have you (and he calls this "finding your voice"), then help others find their voice. 

This bears repeating: find your voice. Then, help others find theirs. If you want to dive deeper into this concept, review the PDF summaries or buy the book. 

By the way, this is not a supplanting of the seven habits outlined in Covey's acclaimed The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and it is I believe a supplement to productivity systems that promulgate time management (Forrester, Morgenstern and those folks) as well as action management (for those of the Getting Things Done or GTD, methodologies). The Human Potential Movement has come a long way and we have much to thank for it, so don't let it lie their in vain. Head out and find your mission and vision (which you can do by yourself or using a tool like the Mission Statement Builder at franklincovey.com/msb) and make it a productive life!