Hyrum Smith, of Franklin Planner fame, makes two dramatic promises in his newest book "What Matters Most: The Power of Living Your Values," and insists that anyone can make them come true.
"If you follow the process that this book outlines, I can promise you two things: First, that you will come to experience the inner peace that comes from living by your own inner compass. Second, you will unleash inner power and potential you may not realize are there to accomplish the things that are most important to you and to the larger communities of which you are a part," Smith wrote.
That's quite a claim.
It certainly is, Smith admitted in a cheery voice during a phone interview from his St. George ranch.
"The whole idea is discovering what matters most to you and doing something about it," Smith said. "The promise I make in the book is that if people want inner peace, bring what they do into line with what they value.
"If I value being physically fit and I weigh 300 pounds, emotionally I'm in pain," he said. Only when a person starts doing the healthy things necessary to fix the problem — relishing the "daily victories" of success — does that individual gain inner peace.
In the book, he urges people to reflect upon the things that really count, which almost always are relationships in a person's life rather than material things. Write down your "governing values," then set written goals and write a mission statement or personal constitution.
Even amid the hustle of everyday life, you then have a blueprint for accomplishing what is most important — and it stems from your mostly cherished values.
People who do this exercise "create a vision for their own lives," Smith insists. "New energy appears. There's power when you see where you're going and how."
There also is a great side benefit: "A wonderful ability to say no" to things that would sidetrack you from what is most important.
"I remember calling some neighbors and one of the kids answered the phone. The kid said, 'We're having dinner, please call back,' " Smith said. "They had decided what mattered most to them was having dinner as a family and they were going to blank the whole world out (during that time)."
Filled with personal anecdotes and down-to-earth recommendations, the 252-page book breaks down the step-by-step process for following Smith's formula.
However, things change in everyone's life, so Smith recommends reviewing and revising the "governing values" description, the written goals and the personal constitution at least once a year.
Smith co-founded Franklin Quest in 1983 and started marketing its famous Franklin Planners in 1984 — with an emphasis on setting priorities before making to-do lists. That philosophy has continued following the 1997 merger with the Covey Leadership Center that created the Franklin Covey Co.
Smith is convinced that people need to stop and thoughtfully reflect upon their lives today more than ever before. "There is a thirst going on in American today about getting back to the basics, what matters to me as a human being. There was a time when a company said, 'Move to New York,' and people just did. Now they're saying, 'I don't want to move to New York,' and they're willing to take a cut in pay to stay here. There's a spiritual connectedness that people want."
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