You can never get it all done.
The more you do, the more there is to do.
Time spent doing one thing means time taken away from another.
If everything is important, then nothing is important.
Work expands to fit the time.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Aristotle
“A habit is at the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire.”
Steven Covey
7 habits of highly successful people and their habits for success:
Habit 1 – Be Proactive
Habit 2 – Begin with the End in Mind
Habit 3 – Put First Things First
Habit 4 – Think Win/Win
Habit 5 – Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
Habit 6 – Synergize
Habit 7 – Sharpen the Saw
Habit #1:
More than just taking initiative.
Taking responsibility for our lives and work
Behavior is a function of our decisions not our surroundings.
We are in control not being controlled.
Habit #2:
Everything we do is examined within the context of the whole.
First, we must know our destination.
Second, we must formulate a plan to take us there.
Otherwise, others will tend to shape our agenda.
Plan is in the form of a personal mission statement.
Consider our various roles.
Habit #3:
Developing a priority system – saying yes to something means saying no to something else.
Different from time management.
To-do lists which focus on things and time.
Personal Management
Manage ourselves focusing on relationships and results.
Useful tool is Covey’s Time Management Grid.
TIME MANAGEMENT GRID:
Habit # 4:
Preferable to the alternative where one or more parties lose.
Not readily visible.
Develop a deep understanding of the situation and the individual.
Habit #5:
Listening with the intent to understand.
Practice listening twice as much as speaking.
Habit #6:
Synergy occurs when the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Creative process which unleashes the best in people.
Through our individual paradigms we each see the world differently.
Creates a learning opportunity whereby differences are considered an asset not a liability.
Habit #7:
Preventive maintenance and self-renewal.
Effectiveness lies in the delicate balance between production and production capability.
THE FOUR DIMENSIONS OF RENEWAL:
ACHIEVEMENT OF PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT:
At the heart is the personal mission statement.
What you want to be?
What you want to do?
What you want to have?
Consider roles (student, friend, son/daughter).
Add structure and balance to the “to be,” “to do,” and “to have.”
Consider the interaction.
Review and modify regularly.
DEFINE SUCCESS FOR YOURSELF:
It isn’t always easy to distinguish between the aspects of a job that are truly necessary and those that are not.
Don’t forget our many roles, both personally and professionally, and the importance of making time for each.
DEFINE YOUR GOALS:
Define several key goals associated with each role.
Should be Quadrant II activities.
Should be broken into short term and long term.
Prioritize and allot time for these activities using a weekly planning horizon by considering the roles and importance not just the urgency.
Progress is reviewed daily and adjustments are made.
Performance is measured by effectiveness not efficiency.
Facilitated by the Seven Habits.
CONLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
Put things into perspective – Will it matter in 5 years from now?
Recognize when something is good enough.
Ask for help.
Don’t lose your sense of humor.
The Habits model can lead us to personal management.
The process is a continual journey, not a destination.
Helps to put us in control of our lives by empowering us to schedule our priorities rather than just prioritizing our schedule!
Startup Port LLC or it’s founders, staff do not make any endorsement of this book. Nor does Startup Port LLC receive any revenue from the sales of this book. Our suggestions, recommendations and advice is for educational and self help purposes only. All information released hereby belongs in part to Steven Covey’s book. No commercial intent is made by sharing this information which is also widely available in the internet.