The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People: Exploring Leadership And Responsibility

Habit 1: Nature of a person

Explain about Leadership and Responsibility.
 

I have seen that various people have various habits and some of them are unique to them. Habits of people are influenced by various factors. These factors range from social, cultural, legislative, environmental, business and others (Besieux et al. 2015). It is seen that habits are the behaviours that occur subconsciously in people and this is a routine behaviour for them, which occurs repeatedly (Walker 2014). Habits are developed by people based on the imagination, environmental factors, their character traits, communication, synergize and utilising the greatest assets one posses (Nowell et al. 2016).

The book, “Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” gives me an idea about all these factors that influence the habit of the people. There seven habits are given in this textbook and I will explore these factors in context of my experience and interest. In this assignment, I will give my views of agreement and disagreement and the values of the habits in personal and professional life.  

Habit 1:

This habit indicates the nature of a person. According to the book, I have seen it states life of a person is designed by him and his choices. Everything in life cannot “just happen” (Kalshoven et al. 2013). The happiness, decisiveness, ambivalence, success that happens in our life are all by our choices. However, I disagree in this context. This is because; we do not choose success, happiness, decisiveness, or ambivalence. Situation leads to this type of choices. We experience different types of incidents throughout our life (Sugrue 2015). These incidents lead to choice of the decision and it becomes a habit of the peoples to have a similar choice under the same situation in the near future. There are two kinds of people, proactive and reactive. I agree to this fact as I have seen in my personal life and professional life that some people reject easy tasks stating that “I can't, I have to, if only and other negative views” (Nemerowicz and Rossi 2014). They are the reactive people who choose the option to be reactive.  Some people like to take up challenges and they prefer the language of “I can, I have, I will and so on” (Kalshoven et al. 2013). They focus on their given job and utilize their time to have a productive output from the job. In my workplace and personal, I have found both the proactive and reactive people. The former one was found to focus on the issues they can mend and put on their effort on their “circle of influence”, while the later one focuses mainly on the problems that cannot be mended, as they have no control over them (Chenoweth and Theokas 2013).

Habit 2:

The author had mentioned about the habit of imagination in the second habit that leads to effectiveness of the people. He had said that everything is created twice, first is the mental creation and the second is the physical creation. The power of imagination leads to the success of physical creation (Besieux et al. 2015). I completely agree to this fact as anything, which is well imagined and planned, is already half done. Imagining and planning a situation gives us an idea about the path of success of the work. Following this path would show us the light of success and it would be highly effective to perform the task. I have seen that highly effective people first frame put their plans and based on this imagination, they proceed to reach to their success (Kalshoven et al. 2013). This also helps us to focus on our goals and give a reality to our ideas that we think of. I have seen that in my professional life, the things, which I had planned and imagined first after getting the assignment, had worked out well than the unplanned ones. Thus, having a blue print of the work we will perform will always give us better guidelines to perform our work and succeed in it. The people, who have this habit of imagination, succeed more than the people who lack this habit.

Habit 2: The power of imagination

Habit 3:

This habit is defined as the physical creation that comes after the nature of a person and the imaginations and plans about the works to be done. We come across various types of works, which are equally important at a point of time. However, we need to prioritize the importance and proceed with the tasks accordingly (Nowell et al. 2016). Giving proper priority to the proper works is a healthy habit for any person to be highly effective. It is important for us to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle. This essential will be provoked by the adapting to the habit of recognising the right task at right time and not by overextending ourselves (Eden 2013). This also promotes time management and organising the work as per our personal priorities that we have imagined and planed according to our habits (Nemerowicz and Rossi 2014). I have seen at my workplace and in personal life that people who can prioritise their work and give priority to the things that they find is worthy, comes out to be highly effective people (Besieux et al. 2015). They succeed in their life and hardly face any hindrance to complete their work within the allocated time. Thus, the habit of putting the first thing at first place is an effective habit, which would help us to reach our goals within the given time with ease and minimal effort. 

Habit 4:

This habit of effective people shows the positive attitude of the person towards success. In this habit it is seen that the person thinks about the mutual benefit of all those who are involved in the project. He does not think of getting the lion’s share of the profit for himself or prays for the loss of his competitor (Besieux et al. 2015). I have seen that the people with these types of habits are matured, have abundance mentality and they stick to their true feelings. I agree to this fact about the people having the habit of “think win-win” (Horton 2013). They think about the well being and profit of all the people surrounding them and do not have the mentality of failing someone in order to gain success. I have found these people are broad minded and they have the feelings of courage and consideration for others. They help others to reach their goals and encourage them to succeed (Kalshoven et al. 2013). This in turn turns beneficial for them as they gain support and trust of other people, who also helps him to climb the ladder of success and be effective (Dubrin 2015). Thus, this habit is an important habit for any person to be successful and they have the essence of maturity by providing a balance between courage and consideration.

Habit 5:

This habit is an important habit for a person to be highly effective person. The habit of listening to other people and understanding them is an important habit of a person that helps him to bond with other persons. We live in a world where rat race has become an important criterion for survival (Du et al. 2015). We have minimal time for others and we remain busy to utilise the available time to improve ourselves. However, this leads us to lose the trust and concern of many people as we do not listen to them and we could not interpret their problems correctly to help them out. Thus, the habit of understanding people first and then demand others to understand ourselves is an important habit in order to gain success in life. We sometimes, though listen to others, but interpret them in our own perspective (Nowell et al. 2016). We tend to listen autobiographically and respond to them either evaluating or probing or advising or interpreting. This habits leads to misinterpretation of the problems and the solution comes out to be a different one (Chenoweth and Theokas 2013). Thus, the habit of listening to others minutely and carefully is important in order to gain the trust of others and get their help when needed. I agree that the habit of skilled communication is very important to achieve the title of highly effective people (Nowell et al. 2016). The habit of proper communication leads to judging the person correctly, interrogate them in their frame of reference, give them advice and solution according to their problems and motivate them as they need. This habit of skilful communication is important to build a high level of trust in our relationship and not to have a autobiographic respond for any problems (Ciulla 2014). Thus, communication is an important habit that enhances the effectiveness of any person in both personal and professional front (Kalshoven et al. 2013). 

Habit 3: Prioritization of work

Habit 6:

The habit of synergy is another important habit for a person to be highly effective in life. This habit aims to the concept of teamwork where the more the number of heads for a work, the better would be the work. Performing any teamwork adds zest to life and it helps to solve the problems easily. The habit of performing teamwork for any project helps to give better ideas to the problem (Besieux et al. 2015). This leads to better solution of the problem and it helps in time management. However, the habit of synergy does not happen on its own. This habit develops in people if they are broad minded and they value the mental, emotional and psychological differences of their team members. This difference of the characteristics of the team members must be seen as the strength of the team and not its weakness (Kalshoven et al. 2013). I have come across various situations in both personal and professional front where teamwork proved to be an effective solution to the problems. I came across various problems in life where there were cost constraints and time constraints. These constraints had made the job further difficult. Teamwork came to the rescue of this problem (Nowell et al. 2016). I gained new experiences and they gained new insight. Teamwork lead to increase in new approaches and this eventually solved our problems with ease. Thus, the habit of synergize is an important part of highly effective people and this helps to explore new ideas and experience new methods of problem solving.

Habit 7:

The habit of “sharpen the saw” is an important habit in order to be successful in life. This habit aims to renew oneself and have a balanced programme in life in context of physical, social, mental and spiritual aspect. Relaxation and self-renewal is needed in order to regain the energy to perform well. This habit helps to take up challenges and increase the capacity to produce and handle these challenges (Barna 2013). I agree with this habit of “sharpen the saw” as feeling good is an important aspect to perform well in both the personal and professional front. Pampering oneself mentally and physically is important for relaxation (Chenoweth and Theokas 2013). We need to revitalize ourselves in order to perform better in our work and avail the new opportunities that we get every day. 

Conclusion

It is seen that there are various habits that are performed by different people under various situations. These habits develops which a person faces similar situation under same circumstances and it leads to the solution of the problem. Habits are performed unintentionally. The book reveals about seven different habits of people and these habits are found to be true in my real life. These habits are highly effective for a person to be successful in his life. The habit of good communication, performing teamwork, being a proactive person in life, framing a plan to perform the work and work according to the plan are important criteria for a person to succeed in life. The habit of positive thinking and the habit of having a balance in life are also important for a effective and successful life. 

Reference

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