As a result of I have been driving backwards and forwards from Corvallis to Portland a lot recently to take care of my mom and cousin, I’ve had ample to time to hearken to audiobooks. I discover that I am really grateful for the chance to “learn” on this style. (Like many of us, the previous decade has destroyed my consideration span and talent to learn for lengthy durations.)
I am presently studying Stephen R. Covey’s basic The Seven Habits of Extremely Efficient Individuals. (5 stars on Amazon in 5672 critiques!) I learn the e-book as soon as lengthy, way back — someday through the mid-Nineteen Nineties. I’ve referred to it at times because the years have passed by, however largely I’ve forgotten its classes.
Or so I assumed.
In actuality, it seems that a lot of my private philosophy is just like the precepts Covey covers. It is surprising, in actual fact, simply how a lot of my private and monetary philosophies align with these introduced in Seven Habits. I have never consciously or intentionally emulated his teachings, however I’ve wound up in the identical place nonetheless.
For these unfamiliar, The Seven Habits of Extremely Efficient Individuals are as follows:
- Be proactive. Take accountability on your personal life. Take the initiative and do not merely settle for what you are given. (Listed here are my ideas on changing into proactive.)
- Start with the top in thoughts. Have a plan on your life. Know the place you wish to go — and why. Like me, Covey is a proponent of writing a private mission assertion.
- Put first issues first. Type out your priorities (which is way simpler to do when you may have an finish in thoughts). Focus your consideration on the issues which are pressing and vital. Covey’s “massive rocks” metaphor comes from this part.
- Assume win-win. When attainable, search mutually helpful options to issues. Do not be adversarial. Assist others obtain their goals as you obtain yours.
- Search first to undertand, then to be understood. Do not be in a rush to be proper. Hearken to what others are saying. (Really pay attention.) Apply empathy. I really feel like this can be a seldom-practiced ability in trendy society, which is why I urge folks to apply monetary empathy.
- Synergize. Discover methods to work with others so as to obtain mutual goals and achieve issues that you just could not do alone.
- Sharpen the noticed. Find time for private renewal. Preserve your way of life balanced. Pursue self-improvement.
It is also value noting that apparently Covey is answerable for coining the phrases “abundance mindset” and “shortage mindset”. (That is what Wikipedia says, anyhow. I might must do additional analysis earlier than I really accepted this as a reality.) I too consider strongly that every of us ought to foster an abundance mindset, when attainable.
Whereas there’s a lot that is the identical between my philosophy and Covey’s, issues aren’t utterly equivalent.
Covey talks about dependence and independence, as I do, however he takes issues to a different stage by discussing interdependence. I like this. Independence, Covey says, is superior to dependence. It is higher to be self-reliant than to rely on others to meet your wants. However, he says, it is even higher to work collectively to realize frequent goals. The entire is bigger than the sum of its elements.
I agree with him, however I have never (but) integrated this perception as a part of my life philosophy. Maybe I’ll within the close to future.
Covey goes down some rabbit holes that I do not discover significantly vital. (I simply listened to a half-hour phase on the values that make up our private “facilities”. Meh.) Plus, he frequently praises human beings as completely different in “variety” from different animals versus completely different “in diploma”. I disagree with him 100%. (I consider that people are simply one other animal, and there is nothing significantly exceptional about us aside from we’re presently the dominant species on the planet.)
Small quibbles apart, I am discovering The Seven Habits of Extremely Efficient Individuals to be a exceptional e-book exactly as a result of its philosophy is so aligned with my very own. After I learn it at age 25, I dismissed it as self-help pap. I used to be improper. Or, extra exactly, I wasn’t able to understand its knowledge.
I am undecided how my philosophy ended up so carefully aligned with Covey’s. It is very attainable that studying this e-book 25+ years in the past planted seeds in my unconscious which have grown through the years and now have produced fruit that resemble his. However it’s additionally attainable that my beliefs are merely a by-produce of age and expertise, that many individuals attain these similar conclusions in time.
Anyhow, I am keen to complete my work as we speak on the household field manufacturing unit. As soon as I run payroll and meet with our accountant, I am going to drive again to Corvallis. And once I do, I am going to pay attention to a different 90 minutes of Seven Habits. I can not wait!