Hi there!
Have you had a chance to read "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", yet?
If you haven't, then there is a post that summarises the key points from the book that I wrote right after reading it.
There is a brief extract:
I am not a heavy book reader (I usually spend my time reading blog posts written by random people instead), but I do read once in a while. It’s very common for me to buy a book spontaneously and then leave it somewhere on my shelf for like half a year before I pick it up again.
I can proudly say, however, that I managed to read a book called ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ by Stephen Covey as I believed that it will teach me something useful (how to be effective and start doing things, for example). And also because I borrowed it so I had to. Anyway, there are 7 things that I learned we should be doing:
Habit no. 1: Be proactive and responsible for your own life
The first part of the book encourages us to be proactive, take initiative and really participate in life. When we are not proactive — we allow others to act upon us, which makes it harder for us to achieve the things that we truly want to achieve in our lives.
Proactive people are great problem solvers and frequently end up being leaders. It happens naturally because they tend to be the first ones to make an action and find a way to solve existing problems.
They don’t waste their time on things that are out of their circle of influence because they know they cannot influence these things anyway. They do, however, make a strong effort to change the things that they can influence and as they do that — their circle of influence starts to grow, which enables them to change even more things.
Proactive people are full of positive energy, motivation and passion. They are always on the lookout for the next big thing to initiate. They don’t moan, complain or wait for others to solve their problems. They see, they evaluate, and they act.
Proactive people understand that they are not perfect. They are always ready to upskill themselves and gain more knowledge if so required. They look at themselves and try to identify how they led themselves to certain situations. Then, they try to change themselves and their behaviours to influence these situations. They know they can be smarter, better, stronger, more skilled and more inspiring.
These people always start by looking at themselves and the situations they find themselves to be in, then they make creative decisions on how they can change themselves in order to influence their environment. They understand that they are not perfect and they are always ready to upskill themselves and gain more knowledge if so required. They know they can be smarter, better, stronger, more skilled and more inspiring — they identify what they need to improve on and act on it. Usually without unnecessary delay.
“I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday’’
Truly proactive people will never blame the environment, circumstances, people or their living conditions — they hold themselves, not others, responsible for everything that happens in their lives. They are not led by excuses and they break the barriers if they need to. They are unstoppable because they truly believe that they hold the power to change the things they don’t like or achieve the success that they want.
“Make small commitments and keep them. Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem’’.
Many of us know these people – we are usually inspired by them! If you want to be more like them, then there is how you can practise being proactive on a daily basis:
Always rely on yourself and trust your ability to achieve results. If there is a problem that affects you personally – find a way to change it. Yes, you can do it. And no, no one else will do it for you. Accept that you are in charge of your own life and success.
Be intelligent and prepared. Analyse your behaviours and the results you are getting. Then, create steps of what and how things need to change in order for your situation to become better.
Learn good time management and planning skills – you will need them when working on achieving your goals. Always know your goals and be proactive in achieving them.
Practice participating and influencing conversations. Don’t just merely agree with everything that is being said – think of what value your opinions and experience can give to the team. Use every opportunity you can to express your opinions.
Habit no. 2: Begin With the End In Mind and be your own Leader
Habit 2 is based on our ability to imagine things that we cannot at present see with our eyes. If we are not making a conscious effort to imagine our perfect future self or the life we would like to be living, then we allow other people and circumstances decide the life that we are going to live and the person that we are going to become (uh!).
This type of visualisation, which is directed towards the end goal, gives us a strategic vision and guidance. It allows us to align our every move, decision or project, that we choose to be involved in, in such a way that would enable us to move straight towards our goal or our perfect self.
In order for it to work, we need to think deeply of what we want to become and what personal, moral, and ethical guidelines we will need to follow in order to be that type of person. This created compass will not only provide the direction, but will also make us question everything we do — are our activities and habits bringing us closer to our ideal self or life that we visualise, or is it taking us farther away from it? Eventually, we will start doing more of the things that do bring us closer, and less of the things that don’t.
Another important thing is to know our stance on various matters and also our values. It’s very likely that our opinions, values and goals contradict our current behaviour and how we approach certain things. But it’s a process. A process of acknowledgement that we need to work with ourselves on a daily basis in order to get where we want to be.
Stephen suggests us to look into four areas of our life in order to understand ourselves better:
Security: our sense of worth, identity, self-esteem, personal strength and emotional anchorage.
Guidance: our source of direction in life, our standards and principles or criteria that we base on our everyday decisions and doings.
Wisdom: our perspective on life, our sense of balance, understanding of how various parts and principles apply to each other. It’s our judgement, discernment, and comprehension.
Power: our capacity to act, our strength and potency to accomplish something, our vital energy to make choices and decisions, and our ability to overcome deeply embedded habits in order to cultivate new, more effective, ones.
We should check the areas where we are lacking and aspire to improve. Once all these interdependent factors are harmonised and enlivened by each other, we create in ourselves a noble and balanced character.
He also recommends writing a personal mission statement. Basically, we should visualise what is it that we want for our future and map out the steps we need to go through in order to get there. It should focus on three main areas:
What we want us to be like (our character),
What we want to be doing or have done in the future (our contributions and achievements) and
What values and principles should lead us throughout our life (values, principles, beliefs)
Our mission statement should always be based on correct principles -
deep and fundamental truths, too. Only these principles can enable us to become proactive individuals and successful in making correct daily decisions. Such mission statement will ensure (if checked on a regular basis and updated as needed) that we will have a direction in life, which will enable us to set correct short- and long-term goals for ourselves and make decisions that align with them.
Another important thing to note is that our personal mission statement should flow from our circle of influence. We should think about the areas of our life that we want to improve and have the power to do so.
With a good mission statement, we will no longer be affected by the environment, our circumstances, or attitudes, behaviours and actions of other people. And the best thing that comes out of it? We will find out what success and happiness mean to us personally. We will no longer need to follow someone else’s designed success formula as we will have our own — which might be very different than we thought before!
Ready to write a mission statement? There are some tips that might help you:
Prepare by analysing where you are now and in what areas you are lacking. Once you know what it is that limits you from living the dream, you will have an easier time visualising what it is that you really want to do and to be like. Take notes for several days before you actually start writing it.
Once you start writing, make sure to include different areas of your life: how you want to be like as a friend/family member/employee/co-worker/boss/leader/etc. as these will usually suggest different characteristics that you find important.
Think whether you need to practise new skills or adopt new habits in order to live your dream life. Thinking about your achievements, goals and contributions will also allow you to think what type of person you should be more like in order to achieve these things.
Your personal statement should be personal, positive, in the present tense, visual and emotional. Make it short and visualise it for a few days before writing it.
Once you write it — look at it regularly. You may need to change it or remind yourself of what it is that you are trying to achieve. Even better, visualise this personal statement frequently, you will remember it better and find it more useful as a result.
You can read a full article here: https://www.linamileskaite.com/7-things-learned-7-habits-highly-effective-people/
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