Week 07 - The 7 Habits

Response To This Weeks Reading

THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE might be my most favorite reading from this course so far. It came in a time of my life when I needed it most, and when it was the most applicable.

The 7 habits are described so perfectly in the text, I don’t think my summary would do it justice.

The 7 Habits provide an incremental, sequential, integrated approach to the development of personal effectiveness moving us progressively from dependence (on others) to independence (taking care of ourselves) to interdependence (looking after others and combining strengths to multiply our individual effectiveness)

The following are the two habits I found most useful in my life, either in a professional setting or otherwise. While all of these are great told for everyone, there are a few habits that I haven’t quite mastered.

Habit 4 – Think Win/Win

The text explains that there are 6 different paradigms of human interaction. All of the others are based on the rule of thought that only one person can win the game. Someone has to lose. This is not the case, however. My success should never be exclusionary to anyone else’s. There is great value in lifting those around you to achieve success together.  

This mentality is something I struggle deeply with. I am a very passionate and competitive person. I am not very proud to say it, but there have been times when I thought the only way I could win was to tear another person down, to ruin their chances via sabotage or whatnot. Instead, I should focus on allowing and promoting others’ success while fighting for my own.

In my research I found the following quote that sums up the mentality I wish to achieve,

“People helped me in a moment where I needed the help; and they elevated me. In that moment of being elevated it cemented the fact that when I have an opportunity to do the same for others, I absolutely will never second guess it.”
– Rachel Oliver

Habit 5 - Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

I truly believe every single individual on this planet, all of God’s good creatures need to work on obtaining this habit. I believe the bases of most arguments are misunderstanding, the manifestation of two parties inability to listen.

I find that this habit is especially applicable in the current political climate. There is a great deal of hostility between political parties, to an extent I have not witnessed during my lifetime.

I am politically interested, but don’t often voice my opinions. Something I have found very useful in growing my understanding and gaining compassion for people with other belief systems is to watch political commentary videos by people of different political beliefs. What this has offered me is an opportunity to listen to another person speak through their argument fully. I don’t have an opportunity to rebut anything because it’s a screen.  By better educating myself on the thoughts of others I A. have a new opinion on the topic. Or B. I’m better able to state my opinions.

I supremely enjoyed this reading! While this class is based on business topics, a great deal of the curriculum is about managing inter-personal connections, which occurs everywhere!