Are You Busy Or Effective?
I recently finished reading a book called The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People written by a guy called Steven Covey. Personally I got a huge amount out of it so I thought I’d share with you what I learnt :)
You see most of us are pretty busy being busy but one thing I learnt a little while ago now is that simply being busy doesn’t necessarily mean we are being effective. In fact normally it’s quite the opposite!
Being effective is the goal and these habits will have you well on your way. As you are reading through think about all the things you can do in each area to improve, in fact – write them down!
- Be Proactive
Realize that your decisions are key to determining the quality of your life! Take initiative and be responsible for the results you produce.
2. Begin With The End In Mind
Be clear on what it is that you value most highly and what you want to achieve – from here you can make sure everything you do lines up with what’s most important to you!
3. Put First Things First
Execute your tasks in accordance to importance, not urgency. Avoid getting stuck reacting to emails, phone calls etc… this is being busy – not necessarily being productive.
4. Think Win – Win
Genuinely seek mutually beneficial situations and deals. Ultimately this will be much better for everyone long term than if only one party gets his/ her way.
5. Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Listen intently with the purpose of understanding – most people listen with the intent of responding and are therefore thinking about what they’re going to say as opposed to what is being said to them.
6. Synergize
The team is infinitely more powerful than the sum of it’s parts. Involve other people and promote team work to achieve tasks and goals.
7. Sharpen The Saw
All of these things are great but if you run out of steam it’s pretty well impossible to keep it up. Sharpening the saw is all about renewal. You can imagine trying to cut down a huge oak tree – if you didn’t stop every now and again to sharpen the saw you would never reach your end goal of cutting the tree down. Exercise to maintain health, read to sharpen your mind and perform some kind of community service to rejuvenate your spirit J
If that made a lot of sense to you I would highly recommend grabbing the book and giving it a read. If it didn’t make sense….. you need to read it even more!!!
If you don’t like reading (like me) get an App call “Audible” and download the audio version.
Dedicated to your fitness success,
Jake
