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7 Habits Summary
7 Habits Summary
7 Habits Summary
Be Proactive Begin With The End in Mind Put First Things First Think Win-Win Seek First To Understand
Synergize Sharpen The Saw |
The 8th Habit
t is perhaps a great compliment to Stephen Covey that today, the substance of this first
habit is deeply embedded into the management psyche. We are told, in business, that we
should be proactive; and broadly what is meant by that is to focus our efforts and attention
on the long-term and to think in terms of the long-term consequences of our actions.|
Covey contrasts being proactive or having a proactive mentality with being reactive.
Reactive people, he says, are those who are resigned to the truth that whatever they do in
the present can have no effect on their circumstances. And interestingly, for reactive
people, it really is a truth, for whatever we believe in our heart affects our thoughts, words
and actions. f we really believe that we can do nothing about our unreasonable boss or the
daily events in our lives, then we simply do not make the effort. |
Proactive people, on the other hand, simply will not accept that there is nothing that can be
done about the unreasonable boss or the events of daily life - they will point out that there
are always choices. t is by the decisions we make, our responses to people, events and
circumstances that proactive people can and do affect the future. We may have no control
over what life throws at us but we always have a choice about how we are to respond.|
Now this notion that having a particular attitude of mind (which is really where this habit
begins) can make such a huge and positive difference to almost everything we experience in
life is foreign to those who have already internalised the opposite habit as a part of their
personalities. For some people, the glass is always half-empty and the feeling of melancholy
is a pleasant reminder that something is indeed missing. For such people, this habit
represents a bitter pill to swallow - but, says Covey, it is also completely liberating.|
When we are finally prepared to accept full responsibility for the effects that are manifest in
our lives; when we have the strength of character to admit it when we make mistakes (even
big ones); when we are completely free to exercise the options available to us in every
situation; then it can be said that we have finally internalised this habit. The other six of the
habits|require that we first work on our basic character by| |
and thereby
transforming ourselves into men and women of integrity.|
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Be Proactive Begin With The End in Mind Put First Things First Think Win-Win Seek First To Understand
Synergize Sharpen The Saw |
The 8th Habit
Many people in the west identify with the frustration of success. Being successful at their
chosen career and committed to its progress they come to realise that it does not, in the
final analysis, bring any sense of real satisfaction. The reason for this ultimate
dissatisfaction is that they did not |
||||. For many people, it is not
just that they did not |
||||; it goes a bit deeper - they did not ever
get around to defining|| itself and so they simply could not| |
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. So what does all this mean? The represents the of your life. Until you
can say what that purpose is, with assurance, then you just cannot direct your life in the
manner that would bring you the greatest satisfaction. |
There are no short-cuts here. To engage in this habit, you need to have a dream, define
your own vision and get into the practice of setting goals which will allow you to make
measurable progress toward the dream. f you practice a faith, then you will want to
consider how this affects your purpose in life; if you do not, you will still need to get
involved in deep self-examination to find out exactly what it is that will bring you fulfilment.
To help you with this, you may wish to obtain my E-Book O|| || |
;
available from this site. The book contains some excellent self-reflection exercises you can
use to focus your mind on what is most important to you in life.|
Until you have defined your vision - the big dream to which you will be working - you will be
unable to move on to habit 3 which provides a basic framework for you to re-align your
efforts so that you will ultimately achieve your heart's desire. |
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Be Proactive Begin With The End in Mind Put First Things First Think Win-Win Seek First To Understand
Synergize Sharpen The Saw |
The 8th Habit
Consider the simple 2 x 2 matrix shown below. t plots the concepts of and
against each other; and represents where you are spending your time. To really
understand and apply this habit, you need to have first done habit 2 - that is, you should
already have defined what is important to you. Without first doing this, habit 3 has no
power because you simply cannot separate what is important from what is not important.|
This representation shows four categories of demand which may be made on your time.
Quadrant 1 consists of activities which are both and
- in other words,
things to which you absolutely must attend. Why must you do these things? Because they
are
- meaning that they contribute to your mission; and they are -
meaning that they have some sort of deadline associated with them. |
Choices about where to invest your time really are made in the other categories; and most
people - driven by the concept of urgency - get drawn into Quadrant 3; doing things that
consume their time but do not contribute to their goals. || (yes they all
fit together you see) understand that the high leverage activities are all Quadrant 2 -
but | . Planning, preparation, prevention, relationship-building, reading,
improving your professional knowledge and exercise are all examples of Quadrant 2 activity
- not an exhaustive list, by any means.|
We all intuitively know that Quadrant 2 activities are the key to getting results; but you
need to have internalised the first two habits before you can benefit from the high leverage
this habit brings. n other words, you first need to have developed the strength of character
(proactivity) which allows you to be able to say to demands on your time that fall into
Quadrants 2 and 3; and you also need to have defined what
means for you -
otherwise the Quadrants do not exist.|
Put habits 1,2 and 3 together and you have the ultimate success formula. Stated simply -
get your mind right; define what is important; then organise your life to maximise your
Quadrant 2 efforts. By spending appropriate time on Quadrant 2 activities, you will gain
control over the circumstances of your life; Quadrant 1 will actually get smaller because you
will have anticipated and prepared for much Quadrant 1 activity. Concentrating on Quadrant
2 is absolutely fundamental to achieving success. You might like to take a look at the 4tm
Spreadsheet, available from this site, which can help you to make this key adjustment in
the use of your time.|
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Be Proactive Begin With The End in Mind Put First Things First Think Win-Win Seek First To Understand
Synergize Sharpen The Saw |
The 8th Habit
The more you practice this habit, the more committed you will become as you find solutions
which truly do benefit both parties, where originally it looked as if no such agreement might
be reached. Covey has amended the wording of this habit slightly in recent years to read:
T|| ||
|This attitude works well because it liberates the individuals
concerned from the effort of trying to persuade the opposite party to shift ground or
compromise. The effort is instead spend on trying to understand, which is where habit 5
comes in - you see, they are also sequential.|
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Be Proactive Begin With The End in Mind Put First Things First Think Win-Win Seek First To Understand
Synergize Sharpen The Saw |
The 8th Habit
This habit is not just about letting the other person speak first; it concerns actually making
the effort to understand what is being said. t is about understanding that our natural habit
of mind is to misunderstand. When we are engaged in conversation, error is always present.
NLP tells us that we simply make our own meaning based on our own experiences and
understanding of life; and frequently we make the wrong meaning. You might like to take a
look at the answers given by school-children on history exams which illustrates this principle
- we are no different!|
f however, we are prepared to invest the time and effort to really understand the other
person's position; and to get into the habit of spending the first part of the discussion doing
so; then, when it is felt by the other person that you do indeed understand, the dynamic
changes. People become more open, more teachable, more interested in what you may
have to say and with the mutual understanding that flows from this habit, you are ready to
practice habit 6; which concerns finding creative solutions.|
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Be Proactive Begin With The End in Mind Put First Things First Think Win-Win Seek First To Understand
Synergize Sharpen The Saw |
The 8th Habit
The sixth of the habits is -
". This habit involves you putting your head together
with the other party or parties in order to creatively brainstorm a synergistic solution to a
problem i.e. to find a solution which contains
benefits. t can only be done
successfully if you have first practiced habits 4 and 5. The well-known definition of synergy
is as follows:|
Finding a synergistic solution means finding a solution which is better than either party
might first propose. Such a solution can only be found if both parties truly understand the
other parties position - the fruit of habits 4 and 5. There have been many books written on
successful brainstorming techniques; my own favourite techniques are those proposed by
Edward DeBono - professor of thinking and perhaps most famous fo |#
|O.|
Putting habit 4, 5 and 6 together, you have a perfect model for human interaction. Put
simply: first be mentally committed to the idea that a solution that will benefit all parties
may be constructed; next invest the necessary time and effort to really understand the
other party and do that first; finally creatively brainstorm a synergistic solution - a natural
product of mutual understanding and respect.|
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Be Proactive Begin With The End in Mind Put First Things First Think Win-Win Seek First To Understand
Synergize Sharpen The Saw |
The 8th Habit
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is to regularly
engage in the exercise of the three dimensions which make up the human condition: body,
mind and spirit. Covey also adds a fourth dimension - the inter-personal.|
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Let us begin by considering Spiritual Exercise - this is the area which is perhaps the most
misunderstood. believe that, in the west, we have become spiritually blind. The progress
of our science, education and technology has lead us to construct a view of the world and
the universe that excludes the agency of God. Freud famously said that it was man that
made God 'in the image of his father'. t is, of course, a very clever statement and not one
wish to here challenge - whether this statement or the reverse is true is for you to decide.
However, as the west has, by and large, abandoned faith in the creator God, so it has
simultaneously abandoned the idea that life has any meaning or purpose; and it is
and || that this habit refers to as Spiritual Exercise. Of course, if you are a
religious person, then there will be a tie-up here with your personal faith; however, if you
are not religious, don't also abandon the idea that life holds a special purpose for you.|
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Regular aerobic, physical exercise is essential for health, energy and a feeling of well-being.
Naturally, you should always consult your doctor or physician before you embark upon any
course of physical exercise; and it should be obvious that such professional advice as may
be given, should always be taken into account.|
To practice this part of Habit 7 requires that you commit to at least three sessions of at
least twenty minutes per week. f you are not already engaged in this sort of exercise, you
will find that after a period of about six weeks, you will feel much better, much healthier
and indeed your body will become more efficient at processing oxygen - which is the key to
energy.|
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How you should go about this part of the habit is, of course, for you to decide, but you
should ensure that you are reading regularly. What should you read? Naturally you want to
put in the good stuff - so it's not a case of reading for its own sake; it is reading carefully
selected material which allows you to broaden and deepen your understanding. |
You will naturally be paying particular attention to the important areas you defined in habit
2, but you should also consider reading all the great works of literature and also ancient
wisdom literature which includes books like O|
and ..|
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This part is not really a discipline, as are the other three parts, it is really a commitment;
and for me, make the commitment during the spiritual part of the habit, that is, during a
meditation. t is simply to commit to approaching inter-personal relationships by making
use of habits 4, 5 and 6. |
Even if people approach me making use of language, actions, or behaviour which
personally believe to be inappropriate, my commitment is to not
, but to use my
capacity to engage in the exercise of habits 4, 5 and 6 which believe will lead to
the best possible outcome in such circumstances|