Greetings, Steve. It's me again, your friendly neighbourhood chess expert.
I would just like to point out that your analogy of personal development / chess is not entirely correct. You had said that:
Quote:
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"Many people try to change their habits by skipping straight to the endgame. They dive in and commit themselves to making the change happen right away. This is what people do when they make a New Year’s Resolution. It hardly ever works."
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However, there are many top chessplayers who are very happy to head quickly into the endgame. Examples of such players include Anatoly Karpov; Ivan Sokolov; and former world champions such as Tigran Petrosian and JR Capablanca.
These are players who are highly skilled in working with small advantages. They may have a tendency / preference to avoid complex, highly tactical, risky middlegames, because these are where they are most likely to commit an error and be caught out, even by a weaker player.
What the endgame specialist would like to do is obtain a small, quiet positional advantage in the opening / middlegame; simplify by exchanging pieces, and reach an endgame where the small quiet positional advantage still persists. The advantage could be as subtle as a slightly better pawn structure; or a bishop vs knight on an open board; or the better control of one open file.
Because of the high quality of their endgame technique, the small positional advantage will be enough for them to win (or that is how their strategy goes anyway).
Opponents of Tigran Petrosian used to lose to him, and then say, "I don't really know why or how I lost." He plays with such subtlety that his opponents aren't even aware of where they really went wrong such that they eventually ended up losing.
Now I will offer you an analogy, based on the endgame specialists, with personal development. You can think of this as a strategy to achieve a personal goal, with minimum fuss; minimum props; mininum distractions; minimum complications; and a heavy emphasis on pure fundamentals.
For example, suppose the personal goal is to lose weight. The analogous endgame specialist will ignore fad diets; newfangled exercise equipment; the latest controversial scientific studies; and complicated weight-loss strategies.
Instead he will opt for something very simple, very straightforward, and he will execute it with great precision and discipline. It may be something as simple as:
(a) run 4 miles four times a week;
(b) avoid all fatty food.
That's it. No matter what, he will just run 4 miles 4 times a week, and avoid all fatty food. It's simple, straightforward and he won't get sidetracked by details, details, details ........ the kind that entrap, engage and ultimately distract more complicated would-be weight-losers who hop from one fad diet to another fad diet, hoping to find the magic one.