Final 3 Habits Of Highly Effective People

The first 4 habits from Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People are related to “doing”. They stress the importance of taking intentional action, envisioning results, setting priorities and creating a context of cooperation.

The 5th habit - Seek First To Understand – Then To Be Understood invites us to hone our listening skills. When we focus on being interesting instead of being interested we run the risk of missing so much.  In an effort to get our point across, we sometimes only pretend to listen. We may hear the other person but because we have more attention on what we want to say next, than on what they are saying now, we don’t “get” them.

The next time you are in conversation with someone notice if you can tell the difference between when they are listening and when they are merely hearing you speak.  When we are fully engaged with what someone is saying we listen with awareness. That awareness then triggers the questions we ask. The conversation becomes like a dance between partners. When we have our attention on what we want to say next there is a disconnect.

When the signal is lost communication ceases.  When we listen autobiographically we evaluate, probe, advise  and interpret. This is listening with the intent to reply, rather than understand. To cultivate trust in any relationship delete the need to filter everything you hear through your frame of reference.

The 6th habit – Synergy speaks  to developing the skillset necessary for creative cooperation. “Synergy allows us to discover jointly things we are much less likely to discover by ourselves“ When we interact with genuine interest and are open to what others have to offer everyone wins. The new insights we gain increase exponentially because of the differences in the way we each approach the same situation.  The power of synergy in any form, from philosophical think tanks to community quilting circles is an important component in raising the energy of collective consciousness.

The 7th habit - Sharpen The Saw “Preserve and enhance your greatest asset YOU”! Devise a plan for the major areas of your life and watch how fast your success level rises. Often we believe that in order to have more we must do more. Nothing could be further from the truth.  To have more BE more and do less. Relax, regroup, reflect before taking action. Taking good care of you on the physical, social/emotional, mental and spiritual levels increses your ability to handle change effectively.

Without a regular dip into the waters of renewal we become dull.  The body weakens, the mental powers become route, we feel raw emotionally and our spirit is uninspired and insensitive. The days of pushing ourselves over the top in the hopes of “producing results” are over. Even if you are working a traditional 9 – 5 find a way to take a breather every 45 to 50 minutes.  Literally take at least 2 minutes to breathe deep, focus and center yourself .  Taking regular  well-being breaks keeps  us balanced and when we are balanced we do better work and are more effective.

Conscious Food For Thought: As I exercise the muscle of awareness my ability to listen expands. The more I fine tune my listening skills the more I value synergy. I recognize myself as an integral part of the whole whose well-being is important.

Wishing you a life by design,

Alison

Alison