Interesting articles, but... are they new or helpful?
These articles read like some of the classic works
on time management. Familiar ideas, familiar tone:
keep a time log, read two articles every morning while shaving,
et cetera., the 3% who set goals were worth more after so many years
than the 97% of the class that didn't. The earliest source I know
for a lot of this is
Alan Lakein
How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life
although others may have been earlier with some of it. In particular,
Charles Hobbes, author of "Time Power", had similar material.
Hyrum Smith, the founder of Franklin, now Franklin-Covey, was
an associate of Hobbes. For me, at least, this stuff seems quite derivative.
Read Lakein if you want more along these lines.
This guy offers up as an example of the power of these ideas that he finished college in three semesters. As a professor at a private research-oriented unversity in the midwest who has advised hundreds of students, that doesn't impress me at all. In a technical field, you may be able to get through the material and do very well, especially if you are gifted and have had prior exposure. Is the purpose of college for most people to race through, take the necessary courses, and get out? Clarity of mind and sureness of purpose, which I agree is tremendously important, come slowly to most of us. College is helpful to most in this regard.
I think it is dangerous to attempt to model our behavior on people we perceive as successful and efficient, particulary when they are standing up and saying "Be like me." One of the things I admire about David Allan is that he says "Try this idea. There are lots of ways to implement it. It may work for you."