My influences: Paul J Meyer

In July 2003 I had an acrimonious parting of the ways with my then business partner and decided, once again, to work on my own. However, it wasn't at all clear what I should be doing and I was struggling with this. Fortuitously, in April 2003 I had joined a BNI Chapter near Didcot in Oxfordshire; one of the other members was John Harris, who owned the Success Motivation International (SMI) franchise in the UK. SMI is the vehicle by which the personal development programmes developed by Paul J Meyer were sold and delivered in the field, and John had been trying to persuade me that this was just what I needed.

At the time it appeared to me that this was some kind of flaky American scam, and I was deeply sceptical. However, partly to get John off my back I agreed to go to an event at which some of his existing and previous clients were to talk about the impact SMI had had on their lives. The event was not what I expected. The speakers were solid, feet on the ground business people and, in some cases, had signed up because their careers were at a crossroads. To a man and/or woman, they all explained that they had decided to do a programme to improve their businesses but had experienced major improvements in their personal lives too.

I was persuaded. I signed up for a programme called The Dynamics of Personal Goal Setting (DPGS). I cannot say that I found it easy. Some of the suggested activities seemed trivial (they are not); the printed material is also provided as a recording and I found it very difficult to listen to this as it was read by an actor with a strong American accent. I fought the programme all the way but, having paid a significant sum of money for it, I stuck with it, and did it again. And again. And again.

I still read and listen to it now. More significantly, I still routinely carry out the exercises recommended in the programme, and have raised my goal setting and completion to an art form, at considerable benefit to my lifestyle.

Three years later, I signed up for another programme, The Dynamics of Personal Time Control (DPTC). The way I explain the difference between the two programmes is that DPGS is about effectiveness (doing the right things) and DPTC is about efficiency (doing things right).

I am definitely a product of the product, and am a very different person from the person I was in 2003.

Thank you Paul J Meyer. And thank you John Harris.