What are the habits of Stephen Covey? Here's the first part
there are literally thousands of success books out there so why should this one be any different
Stephen researched the last 200 years of success literature and found something quite interesting in the last 50 years
most of the books have been focused on the personality ethic like public image, how you dress, how you perform in social interactions
positive mental attitude skills and techniques to get people to behave in certain ways
these books focus on how to appear rather than how to actually be
the seven Habits of Highly Effective focuses on the character ethic rather than the personality ethic
in the words of Stephen Covey almost all the literature in the first 150 years focused on what could be called the character ethic
as the foundation for success…. things like integrity, humility, courage , patience, simplicity, modesty
and the Golden Rule : the character ethic taught that there are basic principles of effective living and that people can only experience true success in enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character
the personality ethic is above the water
the character ethic is below the water
it forms a foundation
it's where the greatest impact over the long term
it's where you saw the seeds of greatness
the problem is that people don't focus on the foundation
they focus on the appearance
they're looking for shortcuts and quick fixes but there are no shortcuts
there is no quick fix program but if you endure and apply the following habits you will absolutely achieve your goals and it will help you develop better relationships
let's jump into the seven Habits
habit one is be proactive
let's look at something called the circle of concern and the circle of influence
the circle of concern consists of all the things that are out of your control like the weather, politics, what people think of you
the economy ,other people's mistakes and other people's opinions
the circle of influence consists of all the things you can control, your attitude, what you read, what skills you learn, your enthusiasm
how you spend your free time and who you spend it with, your habits and hobbies and so on
with that said
there are two ways to live life…….. you can either be reactive or proactive
reactive people complain about the things that are out of their control, their environment and outside forces affect,their performance and their mood
additionally they don't take action or ownership of the things that they can control and then
you have the other type of person they are proactive
this type of person realizes that their decisions determine their life not their conditions
proactive people don't complain about things they can't control additionally they take action to improve the things that they can control
proactive people understand that sometimes we may not have complete control over a certain situation but we can control how we respond to a situation so let's look at an example of how a proactive and a reactive person responds to the same situation
two people take a test and then they both fail
one blames a teacher and gives up
the other takes responsibility and ownership, studies harder and tries to improve themselves
the reactive person complains about how bad the teacher is and the proactive person asks what can I do
they look at themselves first instead of blaming and complaining
don't focus on what you can't control focus on what you can control
take responsibility and keep in mind as you become more proactive within your circle of influence
this habit alone can have a huge impact on your life
in life you either act or you're acted upon