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SEVEN BASIC HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE --By Stephen Covey
(The success literature of the last half of the 20th century largely attributed success to personality traits, skills, techniques, maintaining a positive attitude, etc. This philosophy can be referred to as the Personality Ethic.. However, after that period, the literature on success became more character oriented. It emphasized the deeper principles and foundations of success. This philosophy is known as the Character Ethic, under which success is attributed more to underlying characteristics such as integrity, courage, justice, patience, etc.The Character Ethic assumes that there are some absolute principles that exist in all human beings. Some examples of such principles are fairness, honesty, integrity, human dignity, quality, potential, and growth. Principles contrast with practices in that practices are for specific situations whereas principles have universal application. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People presents an "inside-out" approach to effectiveness that is centered on principles and character. Inside-out means that the change starts within oneself. For many people, this approach represents a paradigm shift away from the Personality Ethic and toward the Character Ethic.)
The elements of the Character Ethic are primary traits while those of the Personality Ethic are secondary. While secondary traits may help one to play the game to succeed in some specific circumstances, for long-term success both are necessary. One's character is what is most visible in long-term relationships. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say."
Habit 1: Be Proactive
Change starts from within, and highly effective people make the decision to improve their lives through the things that they can influence rather than by simply reacting to external forces
* You are the programmer, not the program
* You are the product of your choice and your decisions, not your conditions or conditioning
* Acting based on your values rather than re-acting based on emotion or circumstances
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Develop a principle-centered personal mission statement. Extend the mission statement into long-term goals based on personal principles.
* You are the programmer, write the program
* You are the architect of your life, draw up the blue print (your values, mission and goals)
* All things are created twice --- first mentally, then physically
* Avoid costly waste of time and effort on things that are not in harmony with your goals and missions in life
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Spend time doing what fits into your personal mission, observing the proper balance between production and building production capacity. Identify the key roles that you take on in life, and make time for each of them.
* Organize and conduct your life around your mission, values and goals
* Plan your time and energy to accomplish what really matters most to you
* Think through each important role in your life
* Select long-term and weekly goals to achieve success in each role
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. In developing an organizational culture, be sure to reward win/win behavior among employees and avoid inadvertantly rewarding win/lose behavior.
* When your life is centered on your personal mission and anchored to your values, your security will come within
* Win/Win thinking begins with a commitment to explore all options until a mutually satisfactory solution is reached or to make no deal at all
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
First seek to understand the other person, and only then try to be understood. Stephen Covey presents this habit as the most important principle of interpersonal relations. Effective listening is not simply echoing what the other person has said through the lens of one's own experience. Rather, it is putting oneself in the perspective of the other person, listening emphatically for both feeling and meaning.
* The key to effective communication is to seek first to understand the other person --- to step out of your own autobiography and to deeply, authentically understand another person's frame of reference before attempt to share your own
* Diagnose before you prescribe
* Listen to understand rather than to reply
* Find ways, based on the other person's frame of reference, to communicate your own ideas most effectively
Habit 6: Synergize
Through trustful communication, find ways to leverage individual differences to create a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Through mutual trust and understanding, one often can solve conflicts and find a better solution than would have been obtained through either person's own solution.
* Synergy results from valuing differences, from bringing different perspectives together in the spirit of mutual respect
* People then feel free to seek the best possible alternative, often a "third alternative" that is better than either of the original proposals
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
Take time out from production to build production capacity through personal renewal of the physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual dimensions. Maintain a balance among these dimensions.
* Cultivating this habit means having balanced, systematic program for self-renewal in each of the basic human dimensions --- physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional
* We are the instrument of our own performance, and failure to maintain the instrument leads to lessened effectiveness in performance in every other area of life.
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:: Bing Monday, October 28, 2002
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