W4 - Seven Habits

 

Creating good habits will help you accomplish many things in life. The advice of Steven Covey has helped me grow therefore I want to spend a little bit of time reviewing all the habits mentioned in his book. The seven habits of success as taught by Steven Covey is a pathway that will lead us to achieving any endeavor we choose to embark on. Covey’s method focuses on personal growth from a state of being dependent, to independence and finally into interdependence.

Dependence

1.       Be proactive – Recognize you have the ability to choose how you act when any certain happens.

2.       Begin with the end in mind - If you start with the clear destination in mind, steps you take are more likely to get you into the right direction.

3.       Put first things first - This entails having priorities in your life outlined so the actions that you take everyday help you stay focused on what really matters to you.

Independence

4.       Think Win-Win - When interacting with others find a solution to your conflicts that will provide a beneficial outcome to both parties.

5.       Seek first to understand, then be understood - Spend time learning about the other person's viewpoint before you interject your own viewpoint.

6.       Synergize - This concept is the one then I really hadn't discovered before reading 7 Habits but what I've come to understand is that as we strive to come to terms with someone else’s perspective we can grow together and collectively accomplish something greater than we could on our own.

Interdependence

7.       Sharpen the saw - second we cannot just go through the steps once, in step 7 sharpening a saw means to repeat and renew. We can't grow stagnant in our beliefs but must continue to repeat the cycle of the seven habits for every situation that we come up on in order to develop into the best entrepreneur we can be.

The steps between independence and Interdependence are the most meaningful to me. In particular, seek first to understand and then be understood has been the most meaningful in my life. In my youth I saw things my own way and thought I knew better than others. Overtime I've learned that if I put myself in someone else's situation my understanding of them changes.

Seeking to understand first helps me have more empathy the people I come in contact with. For example, I once had a difficult coworker, she was never happy and it seemed like she would go out of her way to be difficult in every situation possible. But then I had the opportunity to travel on a work trip with her and at dinner she started telling me her life story. Understanding where she came from allowed me to approach her differently. Once I understood her my approach to her was softer. For years after that experience, we were able to work together in create great outcomes. If I had not listened to understand her point of view, I don't think it would have been possible to accomplish our company schools together.

My life passion and purpose is filled by first looking to understand others before I'm understood by others. When I take your time to see others as the Savior sees them, not only do I privately feel better about myself but the public victory is the fact that other people see my love for them and for our Savoir. Just as seven habits suggests, I hope to be able to sharpen my saw time and time again to improve my interactions with others and make all my goals achieve a great outcome.