Seven habits

Successful people daily weave habits of effectiveness into their lives. Often, they are internally motivated by a strong sense of mission. By subordinating their dislike for certain tasks, they develop the following seven habits and discipline their lives in accordance with fundamental principles. As illustrated, these habits are interrelated, interdependent, and sequential. The first three are habits of character; they will help you achieve the daily private victory and progress from a state of dependence to independence. The next three are the outward expressions of character and lead to interdependence, mutual benefit, and public victories. The seventh habit renews “the goose” and sustains the growth process. Habit 1: Be Proactive The habit of being proactive, or the habit of personal vision, means taking responsibility for our attitudes and actions. It’s most instructive to break the word “responsibility” Into two parts: response/ability. Proactive people develop the ability to choose their response, making them more a product of their values and decisions than their moods and conditions. The more we exercise our freedom to choose our response/ability, the more proactive we become. The key is to be a light, not a Judge; a model, not a critic; a programmer, not a program; to feed opportunities, starve problems; to keep promises, not make excuses; and to focus upon our immediate circle of influence, not upon the larger circle of concern. Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind This is the habit of personal leadership, meaning to begin each day with a clear understanding of your desired direction and destination. Management is concerned more with efficiency and speed along that course. Effective people realize that things are created mentally before they are created physically. They write a mission or purpose statement and use it as a frame of reference for making future decisions, They clarify values and set priorities before selecting goals and going about the work. Ineffective people allow old habits, other people, and environmental conditions to dictate this first creation. They adopt values and goals from their culture and climb the proverbial ladder of success, only to find, upon reaching the top rung, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall. The second or physical creation follows from the first, just as a building from a blueprint. If the design is good, the construction will go faster and better. Quality, after all, can’t be inspected into a product; it must be designed and built into it from the beginning. Habit 3: Put First Things First This is the habit of personal management, and it involves organizing and managing time and events around the personal priorities identified in Habit Two.

Successful people daily weave habits of effectiveness into their lives. Often, they are internally motivated by a strong sense of mission. By subordinating their dislike for certain tasks, they develop the following seven habits and discipline their lives in accordance with fundamental principles.

As illustrated, these habits are interrelated, interdependent, and sequential. The first three are habits of character; they will help you achieve the daily private victory and progress from a state of dependence to independence. The next three are the outward expressions of character and lead to interdependence, mutual benefit, and public victories. The seventh habit renews “the goose” and sustains the growth process.

The habit of being proactive, or the habit of personal vision, means taking responsibility for our attitudes and actions. It’s most instructive to break the word “responsibility” Into two parts: response/ability. Proactive people develop the ability to choose their response, making them more a product of their values and decisions than their moods and conditions.

The more we exercise our freedom to choose our response/ability, the more proactive we become. The key is to be a light, not a Judge; a model, not a critic; a programmer, not a program; to feed opportunities, starve problems; to keep promises, not make excuses; and to focus upon our immediate circle of influence, not upon the larger circle of concern.

This is the habit of personal leadership, meaning to begin each day with a clear understanding of your desired direction and destination. Management is concerned more with efficiency and speed along that course.

Effective people realize that things are created mentally before they are created physically. They write a mission or purpose statement and use it as a frame of reference for making future decisions, They clarify values and set priorities before selecting goals and going about the work.

Ineffective people allow old habits, other people, and environmental conditions to dictate this first creation. They adopt values and goals from their culture and climb the proverbial ladder of success, only to find, upon reaching the top rung, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.

The second or physical creation follows from the first, just as a building from a blueprint. If the design is good, the construction will go faster and better. Quality, after all, can’t be inspected into a product; it must be designed and built into it from the beginning.

This is the habit of personal management, and it involves organizing and managing time and events around the personal priorities identified in Habit Two.