As a reader in many books this
book was inspiring me a lot, that’s why I feel
happy to share with you some
points to be effective as you wish by reading through my blog. You should go through and if
possible practice and you shall see a
lot of changes for short period of time. God Bless
U Always and Forever Welcome to enjoy yourself!!!!!!!
Habit 1 : Be Proactive
Your
life doesn't just "happen." Whether you know it or not, it is
carefully designed by you. The choices, after all, are yours. You choose
happiness. You choose sadness. You choose decisiveness. You choose ambivalence.
You choose success. You choose failure. You choose courage. You choose fear.
Just remember that every moment, every situation, provides a new choice. And in
doing so, it gives you a perfect opportunity to do things differently to
produce more positive results.
Habit 1: Be Proactive is about
taking responsibility for your life. You can't keep blaming everything on your
parents or grandparents. Proactive people recognize that they are
"response-able." They don't blame genetics, circumstances,
conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. They know they choose their
behavior. Reactive people, on the other hand, are often affected by their
physical environment. They find external sources to blame for their behavior.
If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn't, it affects their attitude
and performance, and they blame the weather. All of these external forces act
as stimuli that we respond to. Between the stimulus and the response is your
greatest power--you have the freedom to choose your response. One of the most
important things you choose is what you say. Your language is a good indicator
of how you see yourself. A proactive person uses proactive language--I can, I
will, I prefer, etc. A reactive person uses reactive language--I can't, I have
to, if only. Reactive people believe they are not responsible for what they say
and do--they have no choice.
Instead of reacting to or
worrying about conditions over which they have little or no control, proactive
people focus their time and energy on things they can control. The problems,
challenges, and opportunities we face fall into two areas--Circle of Concern
and Circle of Influence.
Proactive people focus their
efforts on their Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do
something about: health, children, problems at work. Reactive people focus
their efforts in the Circle of Concern--things over which they have little or
no control: the national debt, terrorism, the weather. Gaining an awareness of
the areas in which we expend our energies in is a giant step in becoming
proactive.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
So,
what do you want to be when you grow up? That question may appear a little
trite, but think about it for a moment. Are you--right now--who you want to be,
what you dreamed you'd be, doing what you always wanted to do? Be honest.
Sometimes people find themselves achieving victories that are empty--successes
that have come at the expense of things that were far more valuable to them. If
your ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step you take gets you
to the wrong place faster.
Habit 2 is based on
imagination--the ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present
see with your eyes. It is based on the principle that all things are created
twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation.
The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a
blueprint. If you don't make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and
what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape
you and your life by default. It's about connecting again with your own
uniqueness and then defining the personal, moral, and ethical guidelines within
which you can most happily express and fulfill yourself. Begin with the End in
Mind means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your
desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles
to make things happen.
One of the best ways to
incorporate Habit 2 into your life is to develop a Personal Mission Statement.
It focuses on what you want to be and do. It is your plan for success. It
reaffirms who you are, puts your goals in focus, and moves your ideas into the
real world. Your mission statement makes you the leader of your own life. You
create your own destiny and secure the future you envision.
Habit 3: Put First Things First
To
live a more balanced existence, you have to recognize that not doing everything
that comes along is okay. There's no need to overextend yourself. All it takes
is realizing that it's all right to say no when necessary and then focus on
your highest priorities.
Habit 1 says, "You're in charge. You're the creator." Being proactive
is about choice. Habit 2 is the first, or mental, creation. Beginning with the
End in Mind is about vision. Habit 3 is the second creation, the physical
creation. This habit is where Habits 1 and 2 come together. It happens day in
and day out, moment-by-moment. It deals with many of the questions addressed in
the field of time management. But that's not all it's about. Habit 3 is about
life management as well--your purpose, values, roles, and priorities. What are
"first things?" First things are those things you, personally, find
of most worth. If you put first things first, you are organizing and
managing time and events
according to the personal priorities you established in Habit 2.
Habit
4: Think Win-Win
Think
Win-Win isn't about being nice, nor is it a quick-fix technique. It is a
character-based code for human interaction and collaboration.
Most of us learn to base our self-worth on comparisons and competition. We
think about succeeding in terms of someone else failing--that is, if I win, you
lose; or if you win, I lose. Life becomes a zero-sum game. There is only so
much pie to go around, and if you get a big piece, there is less for me; it's
not fair, and I'm going to make sure you don't get anymore. We all play the
game, but how much fun is it really?
Win-win sees life as a cooperative arena, not a competitive one. Win-win is a
frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human
interactions. Win-win means agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial and
satisfying. We both get to eat the pie, and it tastes pretty darn good!
A person or organization that approaches conflicts with a win-win attitude
possesses three vital character traits:
1.
Integrity: sticking with your true
feelings, values, and commitments
2.
Maturity: expressing your ideas and
feelings with courage and consideration for the ideas and feelings of others
3.
Abundance Mentality: believing there
is plenty for everyone
Many people think in terms of
either/or: either you're nice or you're tough. Win-win requires that you be
both. It is a balancing act between courage and consideration. To go for
win-win, you not only have to be empathic, but you also have to be confident.
You not only have to be considerate and sensitive, you also have to be brave.
To do that--to achieve that balance between courage and consideration--is the
essence of real maturity and is fundamental to win-win.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to
Be Understood
Communication
is the most important skill in life. You spend years learning how to read and
write, and years learning how to speak. But what about listening? What training
have you had that enables you to listen so you really, deeply understand
another human being? Probably none, right?
If you're like most people, you probably seek first to be understood; you want
to get your point across. And in doing so, you may ignore the other person
completely, pretend that you're listening, selectively hear only certain parts
of the conversation or attentively focus on only the words being said, but miss
the meaning entirely. So why does this happen? Because most people listen with
the intent to reply, not to understand. You listen to yourself as you prepare
in your mind what you are going to say, the questions you are going to ask,
etc. You filter everything you hear through your life experiences, your frame
of reference. You check what you hear against your autobiography and see how it
measures up. And consequently, you decide prematurely what the other person
means before he/she finishes communicating. Do any of the following sound
familiar?
"Oh, I know just how you feel. I felt the same way." "I had that
same thing happen to me." "Let me tell you what I did in a similar
situation."
Because you so often listen autobiographically, you tend to respond in one of
four ways:
Evaluating Probing; Advising;
Interpreting
You
judge and then either agree or disagree.
You
ask questions from your own frame of reference.
You
give counsel, advice, and solutions to problems.
You
analyze others' motives and behaviors based on your own experiences.
You
might be saying, "Hey, now wait a minute. I'm just trying to relate to the
person by drawing on my own experiences. Is that so bad?" In some
situations, autobiographical responses may be appropriate, such as when another
person specifically asks for help from your point of view or when there is
already a very high level of trust in the relationship.
Habit 6: Synergize
To
put it simply, synergy means "two heads are better than one."
Synergize is the habit of creative cooperation. It is teamwork,
open-mindedness, and the adventure of finding new solutions to old problems.
But it doesn't just happen on its own. It's a process, and through that
process, people bring all their personal experience and expertise to the table.
Together, they can produce far better results that they could individually.
Synergy lets us discover jointly things we are much less likely to discover by
ourselves. It is the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
One plus one equals three, or six, or sixty--you name it.
When people begin to interact together genuinely, and they're open to each
other's influence, they begin to gain new insight. The capability of inventing
new approaches is increased exponentially because of differences.
Valuing differences is what really drives synergy. Do you truly value the
mental, emotional, and psychological differences among people? Or do you wish
everyone would just agree with you so you could all get along? Many people
mistake uniformity for unity; sameness for oneness. One word--boring!
Differences should be seen as strengths, not weaknesses. They add zest to life.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
Sharpen
the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have--you. It
means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your
life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. Here are some examples
of activities:
Physical:
Beneficial eating, exercising and
resting
Social/Emotional:
Making social and meaningful connections with others
Mental Learning, reading, writing and teaching
Spritual:
Spending time in nature, expanding spiritual self through medication music, art, prayer or
service.
As
you renew yourself in each of the four areas, you create growth and change in
your life. Sharpen the Saw keeps you fresh so you can continue to practice the
other six habits. You increase your capacity to produce and handle the
challenges around you. Without this renewal, the body becomes weak, the mind
mechanical, the emotions raw, the spirit insensitive, and the person selfish.
Not a pretty picture, is it?
Feeling
good doesn't just happen. Living a life in balance means taking the necessary
time to renew yourself. It's all up to you. You can renew yourself through
relaxation. Or you can totally burn yourself out by overdoing everything. You
can pamper yourself mentally and spiritually. Or you can go through life
oblivious to your well-being. You can experience vibrant energy. Or you can
procrastinate and miss out on the benefits of good health and exercise. You can
revitalize yourself and face a new day in peace and harmony. Or you can wake up
in the morning full of apathy because your get-up-and-go has got-up-and-gone.
Just remember that every day provides a new opportunity for renewal--a new opportunity
to recharge yourself instead of hitting the wall. All it takes is the desire,
knowledge, and skill.
From Effectiveness to Greatness
In
today's challenging and complex world, being highly effective is the price of
entry to the playing field. To thrive, innovate, excel, and lead in this new
reality, we must reach beyond effectiveness toward fulfillment, contribution,
and greatness. Research is showing, however, that the majority of people are
not thriving. They are neither fulfilled nor excited. Tapping into the higher
reaches of human motivation requires a new mindset, a new skill-set --a new
habit. Dr. Covey's new book, The 8th Habit®: From Effectiveness to Greatness,
is a roadmap to help you find daily fulfillment and excitement.
