Follow-up posts should be a minimum of 100 words and supported with outside sources where appropriate. Posts like “I agree” or “great post” will not receive credit. Follow-up posts should be designed to continue the conversation BY ADDING A THOUGHT FROM THE TEXTBOOK. A great way to do that is by asking questions for clarification or sharing an example.

WednesdayJul 8 at 10:37am

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is an extremely well known, and popular book by Stephen Covey. Before we get into the habits, we must first define what it means to be effective. Effectiveness is “doing the right things, or doing those work activities that will result in achieving goals (Robbins et al. 2018). FightMediocrity (2015) starts out the video by describing two different types of people: reactive and proactive. Reactive people are those who have their eyes fixated on the things they cannot control (FightMediocrity, 2015). Proactive people focus on the things they can control and then seek out ways to try and improve the things that are out of their control (FightMediocrity, 2015).. Which leads to the first habit of highly effective people, be proactive. Rather than taking the road that requires less effort and more complaining, they encourage us to take the road less traveled and see the good. The second habit of highly effective people is to begin with the end in mind ((FightMediocrity, 2015). They asked a wonderful thought-provoking question of when you reach the end of your life, will you have done the things you wanted to do? What are you doing with your today, and is this in alignment for what you want in your life? The third habit of highly effective people is to put first things first (FightMediocrity, 2015). Many of us are guilty of naming the most important things in our life and then not putting in any time or effort into said things. For example, many people say that family is the most important thing in their life, yet they do not foster the relationships with those they love. The next habit, the fourth habit of highly effective people is to think win-win (FightMediocrity, 2015). Most of us are competitive in nature, with this we have it engrained in us that for us to win someone else must lose. Covey argues against this and believes that for you to win another person does not have to lose. I believe this is a very much gray area as not every person will win, nor should every person win, but I agree that we don’t have to degrade another to give ourselves a boost. The fifth habit of highly effective people is to seek first to understand, then to be understood (FightMediocrity, 2015). In doing this, both parties will benefit. We must be quick to hear and slow to speak and truly listen and be intentional with those around us. Habit six of highly effective people is synergize (FightMediocrity, 2015). FightMediocrity (2015) describes synergy as “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” The last habit of highly effective people is to sharpen the saw (FightMediocrity, 2015). This last habit seems so “well, of course” and simple, yet too often we are sawing at a tree with a dull saw. We end up spending more time sawing away to get nowhere when we could sharpen the saw and be done more quickly. I once was graciously reminded that a sharp saw cuts down more trees than a dull saw, make sure your saw (you) stay sharp.

References

Robbins, S. P., Coulter, M., Martoccio, J. J., & Long, L. K. (2018). Management. New York, NY: Pearson.

FightMediocrity. (2015, March 28). THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE BY STEPHEN COVEY – ANIMATED BOOK SUMMARY. Retrieved July 08, 2020, from

2 student

The video is called Seven Habits of a Highly Effective Person (Covey, 2015). I think that I can focus on growing all seven of the habits named, but most specifically I need to become more proactive. Just two weeks ago, I worked at an online version of a leadership camp I went to in high school. One of the points made at the camp was to always be proactive. People need to see what they can do, not look at what others are failing to do. That correlates with Stephen Covey’s step in his video (Covey, 2015). By being proactive, one is focusing on what can personally be done to do better, not what others are doing wrong. Everyone has something to complain about because no one is flawless, so being reactive is a habit that needs to be broken. Resilience is the ability for an individual to overcome obstacles and turn them into opportunities (Robbins, 2018). Being a resilient and proactive leader go hand in hand. A manager or leader cannot complain about every little thing and still make the most out of every challenge that comes that way.

Covey, S. (2015, march 28). The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Robbins, S. P. (2018). Additional Personal Insights. In M. C. Stephen P. Robbins, Management 14th Edition (pp. 495-496). New York: Pearson.