2. Being effective is learning to do 'that which produces the desired
result'. If you want to be extremely successful in business or very happy
in life or achieve some large goal, then being effective is consistently
doing the things that will bring about the results you are after.
Perhaps the best overall prescription for becoming effective is
contained within Stephen Covey's best-selling book The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective People. Published by Simon & Schuster, this book
provides a useful, sequential framework for understanding much about
the process of Personal Development. Covey does not claim to have
invented the 7 habits, but rather to have discovered them and to have
found a simple language for articulating them. In fact, he says that these
basic principles of effectiveness may be found in all world religions; and
it can be noted that many highly successful people seem to have naturally
developed them.

4. It is perhaps a great compliment to Stephen Covey that today, the
substance of this first habit is deeply embedded into the management
psyche. We are told, in business, that we should be proactive; and broadly
what is meant by that is to focus our efforts and attention on the long-
term and to think in terms of the long-term consequences of our actions.
Covey contrasts being proactive or having a proactive mentality with
being reactive. Reactive people, he says, are those who are resigned to the
truth that whatever they do in the present can have no effect on their
circumstances. And interestingly, for reactive people, it really is a truth, for
whatever we believe in our heart affects our thoughts, words and actions.
If we really believe that we can do nothing about our unreasonable boss or
the daily events in our lives, then we simply do not make the effort.
Proactive people, on the other hand, simply will not accept that there is
nothing that can be done about the unreasonable boss or the events of
daily life - they will point out that there are always choices. It is by the
decisions we make, our responses to people, events and circumstances that
proactive people can and do affect the future. We may have no control over
what life throws at us but we always have a choice about how we are to
respond.
Habit 1 - Be Proactive

5. Now this notion that having a particular attitude of mind (which is
really where this habit begins) can make such a huge and positive
difference to almost everything we experience in life is foreign to those who
have already internalized the opposite habit as a part of their
personalities. For some people, the glass is always half-empty and the
feeling of melancholy is a pleasant reminder that something is indeed
missing. For such people, this habit represents a bitter pill to swallow -
but, says Covey, it is also completely liberating.
When we are finally prepared to accept full responsibility for the effects
that are manifest in our lives; when we have the strength of character to
admit it when we make mistakes (even big ones); when we are completely
free to exercise the options available to us in every situation; then it can be
said that we have finally internalized this habit. The other six of the habits
require that we first work on our basic character by becoming proactive
and thereby transforming ourselves into men and women of integrity.
Habit 1 - Be Proactive

6. Many people in the west identify with the frustration of success. Being successful
at their chosen career and committed to its progress they come to realize that it does
not, in the final analysis, bring any sense of real satisfaction. The reason for this
ultimate dissatisfaction is that they did not begin with the end in mind. For many
people, it is not just that they did not begin with the end in mind; it goes a bit deeper
- they did not ever get around to defining the end itself and so they simply could not
begin with the end in mind. So what does all this mean? The end represents the
purpose of your life.
There are no short-cuts here. To engage in this habit, you need to have a dream,
define your own vision and get into the practice of setting goals which will allow you
to make measurable progress toward the dream. If you practice a faith, then you will
want to consider how this affects your purpose in life; if you do not, you will still
need to get involved in deep self-examination to find out exactly what it is that will
bring you fulfillment. To help you with this, you may wish to obtain my EBook The
Deepest Desire of Your Heart; available from this site. The book contains some
excellent self-reflection exercises you can use to focus your mind on what is most
important to you in life. Until you have defined your vision - the big dream to which
you will be working - you will be unable to move on to habit 3 which provides a basic
framework for you to re-align your efforts so that you will ultimately achieve your
heart's desire.
Habit 2 - Begin with the End in Mind

7. Following the amazing popularity of his work on The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People, Stephen Covey published a second book that deals with the 7
Habits; and the title of that book is also First Things First. Both the book and this
habit deal with subject of managing your time effectively.
Consider the simple 2 x 2 matrix shown below. It plots the concepts of urgency
and importance against each other; and represents where you are spending your
time. To really understand and apply this habit, you need to have first done habit
2 – that is, you should already have defined what is important to you. Without
first doing this, habit 3 has no power because you simply cannot separate what is
important from what is not important. This representation shows four categories
of demand which may be made on your time. Quadrant 1 consists of activities
which are both urgent and important – in other words, things to which you
absolutely must attend. Why must you do these things? Because they are
important - meaning that they contribute to your mission; and they are urgent -
meaning that they have some sort of deadline associated with them.
Habit 3 - First Things First

8. Put habits 1,2 and 3 together and
you have the ultimate success formula.
Stated simply - get your mind right;
define what is important; then organize
your life to maximize your Quadrant 2
efforts. By spending appropriate time
on Quadrant 2 activities, you will gain
control over the circumstances of your
life; Quadrant 1 will actually get
smaller because you will have
anticipated and prepared for much
Quadrant 1 activity.
Concentrating on Quadrant 2 is
absolutely fundamental to achieving
success. You might like to take a look at
the 4tm Spreadsheet, available from
this site, which can help you to make
this key adjustment in the use of your
time.
Habit 3 - First Things First

9. Choices about where to invest your time really are made in the other
categories; and most people - driven by the concept of urgency - get drawn into
Quadrant 3; doing things that consume their time but do not contribute to their
goals. Highly Effective People (yes they all fit together you see) understand that
the high leverage activities are all Quadrant 2 - important but not urgent.
Planning, preparation, prevention, relationship-building, reading, improving
your professional knowledge and exercise are all examples of Quadrant 2 activity
– not an exhaustive list, by any means.
We all intuitively know that Quadrant 2 activities are the key to getting
results; but you need to have internalized the first two habits before you can
benefit from the high leverage this habit brings. In other words, you first need to
have developed the strength of character (proactivity) which allows you to be able
to say no to demands on your time that fall into Quadrants 2 and 3; and you also
need to have defined what importance means for you - otherwise the Quadrants
do not exist
Habit 3 - First Things First

10. The next of the 7 Habits is - Think Win-Win. This habit is again an attitude of
mind. It concerns fostering an attitude that is committed to always finding
solutions that will truly benefit both sides of a dispute. Solutions do not, of
course, exist in themselves; they must be created. And, even if we cannot see the
solution to a particular problem, it does not mean that no such solution exists.
The win-win idea is not based upon compromise - that is where most disputes
naturally end. But compromise is the result of not properly perceiving the possible
synergy of the situation.
The more you practice this habit, the more committed you will become as you
find solutions which truly do benefit both parties, where originally it looked as if
no such agreement might be reached. Covey has amended the wording of this habit
slightly in recent years to read: Think Win-Win or No Deal. This attitude works
well because it liberates the individuals concerned from the effort of trying to
persuade the opposite party to shift ground or compromise. The effort is instead
spend on trying to understand, which is where habit 5 comes in - you see, they are
also sequential.
Habit 4 - Think Win Win

11. The fifth habit is - Seek First to Understand. What most people do, naturally,
when involved in some type of discussion, meeting or dialogue is exactly the reverse
-they seek first to be understood. And, as Stephen Covey says, when both parties are
trying to be understood, neither party is really listening; he calls such an
interaction, 'the dialogue of the deaf'.
This habit is an important key to inter-personal relationships and it seems to be
almost magical in its ability to transform the course of discussions. Why? Because
by making the investment of time and effort required to understand the other party,
the dynamics of the interchange are subtly affected.
This habit is not just about letting the other person speak first; it concerns
actually making the effort to understand what is being said. It is about
understanding that our natural habit of mind is to misunderstand. When we are
engaged in conversation, error is always present.
Habit 5 - Seek First to Understand then be Understood

12. NLP tells us that we simply make our own meaning based on our own
experiences and understanding of life; and frequently we make the wrong
meaning. You might like to take a look at the answers given by school-children
on history exams which illustrates this principle - we are no different!
If however, we are prepared to invest the time and effort to really understand
the other person's position; and to get into the habit of spending the first part of
the discussion doing so; then, when it is felt by the other person that you do
indeed understand, the dynamic changes. People become more open, more
teachable, more interested in what you may have to say and with the mutual
understanding that flows from this habit, you are ready to practice habit 6;
which concerns finding creative solutions.
Habit 5 - Seek First to Understand then be Understood

13. The sixth of the habits is - Synergize. This habit involves you putting your head
together with the other party or parties in order to creatively brainstorm a
synergistic solution to a problem i.e. to find a solution which contains win-win
benefits. It can only be done successfully if you have first practiced habits 4 and 5.
The well-known definition of synergy is as follows:
Synergy - When the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Finding a synergistic solution means finding a solution which is better than either
party might first propose. Such a solution can only be found if both parties truly
understand the other parties position - the fruit of habits 4 and 5. There have been
many books written on successful brainstorming techniques; my own favourite
techniques are those proposed by Edward DeBono - professor of thinking and
perhaps most famous for Lateral Thinking.
Putting habit 4, 5 and 6 together, you have a perfect model for human
interaction. Put simply: first be mentally committed to the idea that a solution that
will benefit all parties may be constructed; next invest the necessary time and effort
to really understand the other party and do that first; finally creatively brainstorm
a synergistic solution - a natural product of mutual understanding and respect
Habit 6 - Synergize

14. The last habit of the 7 Habits is - Sharpen the Saw. In this habit, you are the
saw; and to Sharpen the Saw is to become better, keener and more effective. Highly
Effective People always take time to Sharpen the Saw. What is meant by
Sharpening the Saw is to regularly engage in the exercise of the three dimensions
which make up the human condition: body, mind and spirit. Covey also adds a
fourth dimension - the inter-personal.
Spiritual Exercise
Let us begin by considering Spiritual Exercise - this is the area which is perhaps
the most misunderstood. I believe that, in the west, we have become spiritually
blind. The progress of our science, education and technology has lead us to
construct a view of the world and the universe that excludes the agency of God.
Freud famously said that it was man that made God 'in the image of his father'. It
is, of course, a very clever statement and not one I wish to here challenge -
whether this statement or the reverse is true is for you to decide.
Habit 7 - Sharpen the Saw

15. However, as the west has, by and large, abandoned faith in the creator God, so it
has simultaneously abandoned the idea that life has any meaning or purpose; and it
is purpose and direction in life that this habit refers to as Spiritual Exercise. Of
course, if you are a religious person, then there will be a tie-up here with your
personal faith; however, if you are not religious, don't also abandon the idea that
life holds a special purpose for you.
To exercise spiritually, I recommend that you consider engaging in some form of
meditation. Meditation involves regularly sitting in a relaxed position and
thinking about nothing for a period of about 10 or 15 minutes. Why this practice
should bring about any material benefits is an interesting question. You might
consider that you relax your mind quite enough when you sleep, but it turns out
that we don't really relax our minds when we sleep.
The brain is active during sleep - during REM sleep, the brain appears to be
processing information. Though it is not yet known exactly what it is doing, the
brain is certainly not passive and so the mind is not relaxed during sleep.
Habit 7 - Sharpen the Saw

16. Meditation is the practice of disciplining the mind, It is difficult to do at first,
but if you stick with it, positive health benefits will follow. Making use of Jack
Black's House on the Right Bank is an excellent tool for combining what is really
guided meditation with the practice of regularly reviewing your mission, your roles
and your goals; and that is what Stephen Covey means when he talks about
spiritual exercise - the regular, review and preview of the things that are most
important to you in life. These are the first things that you must define in habit 2 -
Begin with the End in Mind.
Physical Exercise
Regular aerobic, physical exercise is essential for health, energy and a feeling of
well-being. Naturally, you should always consult your doctor or physician before
you embark upon any course of physical exercise; and it should be obvious that such
professional advice as may be given, should always be taken into account. To
practice this part of Habit 7 requires that you commit to at least three sessions of at
least twenty minutes per week..
Habit 7 - Sharpen the Saw

17. If you are not already engaged in this sort of exercise, you will find that after a
period of about six weeks, you will feel much better, much healthier and indeed
your body will become more efficient at processing oxygen - which is the key to
energy
Mental Exercise
Ask yourself these questions. What am I doing to sharpen my mind? Am I
engaged in a programme of education or learning of some kind? What am I doing
to improve my professional knowledge?
How you should go about this part of the habit is, of course, for you to decide,
but you should ensure that you are reading regularly. What should you read?
Naturally you want to put in the good stuff - so it's not a case of reading for its
own sake; it is reading carefully selected material which allows you to broaden and
deepen your understanding.
You will naturally be paying particular attention to the important areas you
defined in habit 2, but you should also consider reading all the great works of
literature and also ancient wisdom literature which includes books like The Psalms
and Proverbs.
Habit 7 - Sharpen the Saw

18. Prepared By
Dhanapal Sudhakar