More personal development

Personal development (which sounds so much better than self-help ;-)) is a book genre I like to dip into occasionally. To be honest, I probably end up applying about 5% of what I read (if that), but I figure every little helps. At the moment I'm sporadically reading the best-seller The 7 rules of highly effective people (books with numbered lists - 10 rules, 5 principles etc, sound so convincing, don't you think?) and actually, so far I quite like it. The intro chapter is a bit preachy, but I like the idea behind it, as it's just 7 principles which you apply to every aspect of your life for all-round increased effectivity. It's all pretty obvious stuff so far (I'm on the first principle, pro-activity) but sometimes I need a little reminder (make that a shove, as I'm about to finish my summer break and am not feeling 100% motivated). I'm about to move onto the second principle - 'start with the end in mind' which is something I'm sometimes guilty of not applying, often ad-libbing my way through projects, which makes for good creativity but some wasted energy along the way as I explore different dead-end options. Perhaps I should have applied that principle when writing this blog entry, and I wouldn't be sat here, wondering how to finish it off without sounding stilted and awkward ;-)