Any time is a good time to prod us not only to get back on that saddle and shoot for the supernova, but more importantly to grant a sliver of opportune time for us to resolve to be better family members, friends, colleagues, and more involved individuals in our respective spheres of influence.
Stephen R. Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” provides the following guideposts:
1. Be proactive (Principles of Personal Vision)
- It means more than merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives; that our behaviour is a function of our decisions, not our conditions; that we can subordinate feelings to values; and that we have the initiative and responsibility to make things happen. Highly proactive people do not blame circumstances, conditions or conditioning for their behaviour. Their behaviour is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling.
2. Begin with the end in mind (Principles of Personal Leadership)
- It means to start with a clear understanding of your destination; to know where you’re going to better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.
3. Put first things first (Principles of Personal Management)
- It is the ability to make decisions and choices, to act in accordance with them, and to act rather than to be acted upon. It is usually not the dramatic, the visible the once-in-a-lifetime, up-by-the-bootstraps effort that brings enduring success. Empowerment comes from learning how to use this great endowment in the decisions we make everyday.
4. Think win/win (Principles of Interpersonal Leadership)
- Win/win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. It means that agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial, mutually satisfying; that all parties feel good about the decision and feel committed to the action plan; that it sees life as a cooperative, not a competitive arena; and that it is based on the paradigm that there is plenty for everybody, that one person’s success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others.
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood (Principles of Emphatic Communication)
- Emphatic listening gets inside another person’s frame of reference. You look out through it, you see the world the way they see the world, you understand their paradigm, you understand how they feel.
6. Synergize (Principles of Creative Cooperation)
- It means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Valuing the differences is the essence of synergy – the mental, emotional and psychological differences of people. The key to valuing differences is to realize that all the people see the world not as it is, but as they are.
7. Sharpen the saw (Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal)
- It means exercising all four dimensions, i.e., physical, mental, spiritual, and social/emotional, regularly and consistently in wise and balanced ways.
I first read this book in 1999 as one of the requirements in a course work but have been finding myself flipping through its pages every so often and feeling absurdly eager-beaver a few moments later.
Stephen R. Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” provides the following guideposts:
1. Be proactive (Principles of Personal Vision)
- It means more than merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives; that our behaviour is a function of our decisions, not our conditions; that we can subordinate feelings to values; and that we have the initiative and responsibility to make things happen. Highly proactive people do not blame circumstances, conditions or conditioning for their behaviour. Their behaviour is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling.
2. Begin with the end in mind (Principles of Personal Leadership)
- It means to start with a clear understanding of your destination; to know where you’re going to better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.
3. Put first things first (Principles of Personal Management)
- It is the ability to make decisions and choices, to act in accordance with them, and to act rather than to be acted upon. It is usually not the dramatic, the visible the once-in-a-lifetime, up-by-the-bootstraps effort that brings enduring success. Empowerment comes from learning how to use this great endowment in the decisions we make everyday.
4. Think win/win (Principles of Interpersonal Leadership)
- Win/win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. It means that agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial, mutually satisfying; that all parties feel good about the decision and feel committed to the action plan; that it sees life as a cooperative, not a competitive arena; and that it is based on the paradigm that there is plenty for everybody, that one person’s success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others.
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood (Principles of Emphatic Communication)
- Emphatic listening gets inside another person’s frame of reference. You look out through it, you see the world the way they see the world, you understand their paradigm, you understand how they feel.
6. Synergize (Principles of Creative Cooperation)
- It means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Valuing the differences is the essence of synergy – the mental, emotional and psychological differences of people. The key to valuing differences is to realize that all the people see the world not as it is, but as they are.
7. Sharpen the saw (Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal)
- It means exercising all four dimensions, i.e., physical, mental, spiritual, and social/emotional, regularly and consistently in wise and balanced ways.
I first read this book in 1999 as one of the requirements in a course work but have been finding myself flipping through its pages every so often and feeling absurdly eager-beaver a few moments later.
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