ST. GEORGE — How best to manage beliefs, time and values was the topic of a keynote address delivered at a symposium Friday evening.
Hyrum Smith, founder of FranklinCovey and Tuacahn Center for the Arts, addressed a crowded auditorium for the Arts Council of Washington County’s “Creative Age Symposium” at the Delores Doré Eccles Fines Arts Center on the campus of Dixie State University in a speech titled “The Three Gaps — Are You Making a Difference?”
The speech was preceded by a welcome dinner and entertainment by the Sing 2 Live Choir under the direction of John Sato.
In his address, Smith notes three common gaps that go unfilled in people’s lives, including the beliefs gap, the time gap and the values gap. He explained if any of these gaps go unfulfilled in one’s life, the result is pain, guilt and misdirection.
In one example, Smith said if someone believes in good health but is a glutton, filling the gap between belief and reality involves setting fitness and dietary goals.
Closing the time gap boils down to minimizing busy work while increasing productivity by planning days accordingly, Smith said.
Filling the values gap involves pondering what beliefs are central to your being and putting those beliefs into practice, he said.
Finally, Smith encouraged guests to write a personal “constitution” outlining their values in order to clarify goals pertaining to the three gaps.
Despite this challenge, Smith said only about 12 percent of people follow through with completing or even starting their constitution, usually blaming a lack of time for their inability to do it.
“When you hear someone say they don’t have time, you have just heard the biggest lie on the planet,” Smith said. “What you’re really saying when you say ‘I don’t have time,’ you’re saying ‘I value something else more.’”
His admonition seemed to connect with audience members.
“I was sitting here looking at these people wondering just how many of them at this stage in your life will go home and really start working on your constitution,” LaRee Jones, an attendee at the symposium, said.
“I bet we’re going to prove to Hyrum that more than 12 percent of this group will go home and do it. Because at this stage of our lives we realize that what he is saying is really important,” she said in reference to the mostly older crowd in attendance.
The symposium continues through Saturday with additional speakers and various workshops relating to creativity and health in older age. According to the event registration site, ticket sales are closed.
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