fragment of the Dale Carnegie's illuminating book: How to win friends and Influence people:
“For years I have kept an engagement book showing
all the appointments I had during the day. My family
never made any plans for me on Saturday night, for the
family knew that I devoted a part of each Saturday evening
to the illuminating process of self-examination and
review and appraisal.
After dinner I went off by myself,
opened my engagement book, and thought over all the
interviews, discussions and meetings that had taken
place during the week. I asked myself:
‘What mistakes did I make that time?’
‘What did I do that was right-and in what way
could I have improved my performance?’
‘What lessons can I learn from that experience?’
“I often found that this weekly review made me very
unhappy. I was frequently astonished at my own blunders.
Of course, as the years passed, these blunders became
less frequent. Sometimes I was inclined to pat
myself on the back a little after one of these sessions.
This system of self-analysis, self-education, continued
year after year, did more for me than any other one thing
I have ever attempted.
“It helped me improve my ability to make decisions
- and it aided me enormously in all my contacts with
people. I cannot recommend it too highly.”
“For years I have kept an engagement book showing all the appointments I had during the day. My family never made any plans for me on Saturday night, for the family knew that I devoted a part of each Saturday evening to the illuminating process of self-examination and review and appraisal.
After dinner I went off by myself, opened my engagement book, and thought over all the interviews, discussions and meetings that had taken place during the week. I asked myself: ‘What mistakes did I make that time?’ ‘What did I do that was right-and in what way could I have improved my performance?’ ‘What lessons can I learn from that experience?’ “I often found that this weekly review made me very unhappy. I was frequently astonished at my own blunders.
Of course, as the years passed, these blunders became less frequent. Sometimes I was inclined to pat myself on the back a little after one of these sessions.
This system of self-analysis, self-education, continued year after year, did more for me than any other one thing I have ever attempted.
“It helped me improve my ability to make decisions - and it aided me enormously in all my contacts with people. I cannot recommend it too highly.”