My friends, last time I shared a Topic on Mediocrity and it was nice to get personal feedbacks from people.
This time I will be sharing the 7 Habits highly effective people have. This is an extract from one of the world’s bestselling book written by Steven Covey. This is a most read for people who aspire to understand and follow the path of effective work-life balance.
The Successful person has the Habit of doing things failure don’t like to do
HABIT 1 – Be Proactive
One of the greatest things you can do for yourself in life is to always take action, Proactivity is taking the initiative by acting rather than reacting to events. A typical example is your objectives in life; you have to pay bills or dues, study, get to work early, send your reports at a particular time.
An effective person, usually do things at the time they are supposed to and save themselves the pressure of not doing them. What happens when Power Authorities come to your house to cut off your light? You find yourself running around leaving important things to attend to issues you should have taken care of. You become reactive to situations around you.
Your boss tells you he needs the report now. You now have to leave another important thing to attend to the urgency of another person.
Effective/Successful seldom fall into these scenarios.
Underlying Principle–Individuals are responsible for their own choices and have the freedom to choose.
HABIT 2 – Begin with the End in Mind
Habit 1 says: You are the Programmer of your Destiny.
Habit 2 says: Write the Program
My friend, you need a powerful document that expresses your personal sense of purpose and meaning in life. It acts as a governing constitution by which you evaluate decisions and choose behaviors.
In ten years a newspaper decides to do a story about YOU! They interview four people about you. These could be friends or family. What would you want them to say about you?
Having to clearly know who you want to become helps govern all the decisions you take in your life. Most people do not really have a clear vision of where they want to be in another 5 or 10 years. The effective guy knows that, and this wakes him up every morning and makes him re-evaluate his current position and what he needs to be doing to draw himself closer to his dream.
HABIT 3 – Put first things first
Habit 1 says: You are the Programmer of your Destiny.
Habit 2 says: Write the Program
Habit 3 says: Run the Program
Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least
Why spend 3 hours of your morning talking and complaining about the things you really do not have control over. There is this saying about working hard on the things you have control over, it increases your chances of success and increases your circle of influence. I beg you my friend, always spend time doing the right and important things in your life.
I know the situation and politics of the country is important, but trust me they are just good enough for information and guide your decisions in business. Focus obsessively on your career and business so as to draw yourself closer to success.
Do you know how much of your creative time you waste chatting, pinging and playing on social media?
That’s why the Banking industry is one of the most successful in Nigeria, they found a way of cutting off distractions in the work place. So if you are not performing, it’s not a matter of you not doing your work well. It’s most likely that you can’t keep up with the pace of the industry.
The key is not to prioritize your schedule but to schedule your priorities.
HABIT 4 – Think Win Win
Seek agreements and relationships that are mutually beneficial. In cases where a “win/win” deal cannot be achieved, accept the fact that agreeing to make “no deal” may be the best alternative.
Win-win is a belief in the third alternative. It’s not your way or my way; it’s a better way.
In everything we do we should always consider the best options, we should never let our ego affect our business, career, relationships and this our great adventure.
HABIT 5 – Seek first to Understand, then be understood
Most times we do not listen with the intent to understand. We listen with the intent to reply
If you’ve read “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie, you will understand that everybody yearns to be heard to be understood. Because we are all wise in our respective ways. I can only totally buy your idea, if I’m sure you genuinely understand mine.
HABIT 6 – Synergy
The essence of synergy is to value differences – to respect them, to build on strengths, to compensate for weaknesses
The Successful person has acknowledged that he needs others to achieve more. So he compensates his weakness and respect them no matter how little the value he gets from them. He has also mastered the art of people management, and has the emotional intelligence to work with others to get result.
Value the differences in others and seek the third alternative. “Working together cooperatively takes time but produces better long-term results.”
HABIT 7 – Sharpen the Saw
If I have six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the axe ~ Abraham Lincoln
Habit 7 is taking time to sharpen the saw (YOU ARE THE SAW). It’s the habit that makes all the others possible.
To sharpen the saw means renewing ourselves, in all four aspects of our natures:
- Physically
- Mentally
- Socially / Emotionally
- Spiritually
We need to always find time to exercise, watch our diet, and learn how to manage stress. YES, Stress is something we battle with in our daily lives.
Spend time to read books, or listen to audios that helps build you mentally, spend time with your family, socialize more, and learn from other cultures.
Draw close to God, listen to motivational speakers that can help you align your purpose to Life.
If you are not healthy and mentally stable, it is almost impossible to sustain any of the later habits.
Thank you for taking time to read.
I struggled with inefficiency every day until I read this book and harnessed its principle. I advise you do the same.
Have a great day!
