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Eight Habits of Highly Effective People
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Do you want to have a fulfilling life?
"The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", by Stephen Covey, may have embedded the keys to a fulfilling life, which made it one of the bestsellers after being published in 1989. As a sequel, he published "The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness" in 2004. The habits that Covey introduced are believed to be important building blocks for a fulfilling life, which also echoed what Aristotle mentioned before: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit".
Covey believe that every person has his own paradigm, which is our own map of how we perceive the world and how we think the world should be in our ideal view. Being able to examine our paradigm is the founding principle of a fulfilling life. He writes in his book the seven habits: 1. Be Proactive, 2. Begin with the End in Mind, 3. Put First Things First, 4. Think Win/Win, 5. Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood, 6. Synergise, and 7. Sharpen the Saw. He termed the 8th habit as "Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs".
Starting from this issues, the Psychological Services Group introduces Covey's eight Habits with the hope Force members can be inspired to adopt a more flexible way of thinking and to strive for a more fulfilling life.
Habit 1: Be Proactive
It is rather common for people to complain about the environment or other people, yet they seldom examine the reasons behind their complaints. The first habit, "Be Proactive", does not simply mean taking initiatives, but we as human beings have the initiative and ability to make choices based on our principles and values, and we are responsible for our own choices in life. We can subordinate feelings to values and choose an appropriate positive response to our circumstances.
Be proactive on things that we can influence. Each person has some things that they are concerned about such as career, family, health or financial situation. All these can be included in the "Circle of Concern". Amongst all, there are things that we can do something about but not the rest, which make up our "Circle of Influence". Proactive people focus time and energy on their "Circle of Influence" in order to be effective but not all things lie in the "Circle of Concern". Being proactive and working on the things you can do also increase your "Circle of Influence".
Let's make a commitment to drop our negative mindset and remain proactive to make changes in our lives!