First, a short update: I took a two-week blog sabbatical and am ready to craft some awesome posts for the rest of 2008. Second, I'll be finishing my series on Practice Makes Perfect this week and I think it will impact how you think about achieving long-term goals.
St. Patrick: Productivity Mastermind?
March 17 is celebrated by many as St. Patrick's Day, including many secular individuals. However, before enjoying a glass of Guinness this evening, I thought I'd share a few historical notes about this very interesing goal-setter. Although he is considered the patron saint of Irish by most people, the big irony is that Patrick has never been officially canonized as a Saint by Rome. Technically he is NOT a Catholic saint (please, do not tell my grandmother). That irony goes deeper for the Catholic Church as he was the first independent missionary after St. Paul to convert so many people in a short span of time and his program was an impetus for later missionary activities during the next 15 centuries.
Unfortunately, there is a dearth of historical evidence to consider Patrick, mainly two of his letters, the Confessio and the Epistola. The Confessio is autobiographical, so it contains the most insights. As a young man he was enslaved by the Irish, but he escaped back to England, where he then studied Christianity more formally, before returning to convert the pagan people of Ireland.
Why do I call him a productivity mastermind? He had a single big goal and focused his many inner resources to acheive it. Patrick utilized a great mix of time management practices, creativity, and scholarship to transform an entire cultural and socio-economic system! He employ delegation, problem solving, and prioritization of tasks. Of course, Patrick did not convert the entire island of Ireland single-handed. He had assistance from many recent converts. He became a new kind of leader.
Also, interesting enough, there is something called the "two Patrick" theory as a different Bishop, a man named Palladius, that Pope Celestine sent to Ireland seems to have predated Patrick by a few decades. Some historians believe that the individual we know as Patrick might actually be an amalgamation of both individuals.
Nevertheless, the traditional story of St. Patrick is inspiring as it tells about a man that started as the lowest of the low (a slave) and then achieved his ONE life mission by leveraging scholarship, productivity, creativity, and leadership...a pivotal man for both Ireland and the later history of the Catholic Church.
