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The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Sometime ago I read a book by Dr. Stephen Covey called, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," and it is worth mentioning and summarizing the points outlined. 

Dr. Covey has compiled some great principles in this book which anyone can put to use and become more successful in all areas of life. For those of you not familiar with these concepts here they are:

Habit 1.  Be Proactive.  This first habit is very key because it call for you to take action or take initiative with any and all situations.  In a nutshell it calls for you to take responsibility for your success.  Dr. Covey breaks this word into two parts:  response/ability.  We have to develop the ability to chose our responses, and making sure those are the right responses.

 

Habit 2.   Begin with the End in Mind. One needs to understand where they are going or what direction they are headed before a plan of action can be put into place.  Dr. Covey says effective people write a mission statement and utilize is as a reference for future decisions.

Habit 3.   Put First Things First.  The most successful people are those that utilize their time correctly by setting priorities.  Focus in on those critical few activities (20%) that lead to the majority of the things we accomplish.  Take your focus off the urgent unimportant activities and direct your attention to the important but urgent activities.  It is so easy to let the day get devoured by all those things that don’t put us on the path to success or don’t help us achieve our goals.  You’ve probably done it yourself with those little time wasters.

Habit 4.  Think Win/Win.  Whenever there is a task or duty to be fulfilled explore all possibilities until a mutually satisfactory arrangement is made that will benefit all.  So many times competition comes into play and this outcome or result is I win you lose or vice versa.

 

Habit 5.  Seek First To Understand, Then to be Understood.  Have you ever found yourself thinking about your own response to someone before they have had time to complete their thought?    If so then there is no way you could possibly understand where they were coming from.   To put this habit into play one has to be a good listener because it’s only after you listen to the other person’s point of view that you can truly understand it.  Listening is a lost art form. So many never listen to what others have said.  You must get a clear understanding of what someone else is saying and then seek to be understood.

 

Habit 6.  Synergize.  The whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts.  1 +1 = 3.  When people synergize there is a coming together , an agreement or exchange of energy, ideas time and ability and the outcome is more or greater than what one person could have accomplished alone.

 

Habit 7.  Sharpen the saw.  Renew ourselves daily in all areas of life.  Make a list of the goals you want to accomplish in all areas of life and work on them daily.  Your success is dependent upon your ability to do so.

To Your Great Success

Mel Richardson

Raising The Minimum Wage

 

Just when you think all is lost, as far as the economy is concerned, they step in and turn it all around.  How did they do it?  Well first let me point out what’s wrong with the economy.  (as if you didn’t know).  Stop me if you’ve heard any of this stuff before.

The price of homes continue to decline: the price of oil is still out of sight, even with the recent decline; inflation is at an all time high; unemployment is at record levels; foreclosures are higher than they have ever been; Chrysler, Ford and General Motors are all on the brink of bankruptcy; food prices are in the stratosphere;  the dollar is sinking faster than a bowling ball in the lake of your choice;  Ditto for the Dow Jones ;  of course I could go on and on about this stuff but I know you have heard it all and you get the point.

So what got turned around?  Our problems are solved.  They increased minimum wage from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour.  How’s that for stimulating the economy?  With all that extra income people will now be more enticed to spend.  There will be an abundance of discretionary income which leads to more shopping and spending and boosting the economy; this should serve to ease the recession woes.

By now you have probably detected a bit of sarcasm in my tone.  Approximately 2 million Americans, according to the USA Today will get a 70 cent raise, which will get gobbled up before they see it just by gas and food prices alone.  Some small businesses will pass the cost on to consumers in the form of higher prices.  Agricultural workers will receive higher wages leading to an increase in food prices. All in all there should not be a major change in the economy because of the recent increases in productivity allowing companies to produce more with the workers they have, helping to keep labor costs in check.   Hey, almost sounds like it doing more harm than good.  Oh, well it’s a nice gesture anyway.

 

To Your informed Success

 

Mel Richardson