The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People #3 Put First Things First

This is a chapter-by-chapter summary of a book by late Stephen R. Covey, writer of the most-effective personal development book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (first published 1989). One chapter, one article. Read this summary, buy the book. Grow!

“To live a more balanced existence, you have to recognize that not doing everything that comes along is okay. There's no need to overextend yourself. All it takes is realizing that it's all right to say no when necessary and then focus on your highest priorities.”

(Stephen R. Covey)

“Habit 3 is the personal fruit, the practical fulfillment of Habits 1 and 2.” What we’ve gained from Habits 1 (Be Proactive) and 2 (Begin With End in Mind) was how to react to our problems, fully understand ourselves and the goal we have in our life. Habit 3 is about learning to manage ourselves effectively by putting first things first in order to achieve that goal. This is what will give birth to a strong ‘Yes’ inside you that will give you the courage to say ‘No’ to other things.

First of all, we should categorize our activities and focus on specific ones. Covey uses Dwight Eisenhower’s tool for that:

Quadrant 1: Important and Urgent (Manage)
such as pressing matters, deadline-driven missions, crises, etc.

Quadrant 2: Important not Urgent (Focus)
like building relationships, planning, recognizing new opportunities, etc.

Quadrant 3: Urgent not Important (Avoid)
such as events that interrupt other events, meetings, etc.

Quadrant 4: Not Important or Urgent (Limit)
like addicted to social media, excessive entertainments, etc.

An effective and proactive person would prioritize dealing with not urgent but at the same time important activities. As a matter of fact, Quadrant 2 has many advantages when it is arranged properly. As long as you effectively keep dealing with it, Quadrant 1 will shrink, making your everyday life easier and less pressured. Quadrant 3, while it’s urgent, it’s not important which means that it’s not a big deal to neglect it. Quadrant 4 is usually for irresponsible individuals to prioritize.

Put First Things First is Very Important – What’s Your Priority?
So important that Covey wrote another book entitled First Things First

Change Your Life: Life is Short... Move On

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow,

It only saps today of its joy” (Leo Buscaglia)

Worry can serve an important purpose: If we worry about something today, we can take action to avert trouble in the future. Most of the time, however, we worry about what is beyond our control, or about things that are trivial and unimportant. Whenever I worry, I remind myself to step back and ask myself whether my worry serves a purpose. If it does, then I should take action! If, however, it does not, then I need to label my preoccupation as unnecessary worry, and move on to other more useful pursuits.

Although it may be difficult initially to shift my focus away from worry, I know that over time I will gain better control over what preoccupies me and learn to move on when I engage in futile concern. Life is short. The question for all of us, young and old, is how long it is going to take us to realize this. Whether we like it or not, the clock is ticking and our time here on earth is limited. Much in the world is worth doing and worth contemplating; it would be such a shame to waste time and effort on futile concerns. Make the most of the time you have!

Don’t worry,

Life is short… Move on.

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)

 References:

1. Choose the Life You Want: 101 Ways to Create You Own Road to Happiness by Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD (New York: The Experiment, 2012) Buy this book!

2. Existantial Physhotherapy by I.D. Yalom (New York: Basic Books, 1980) P.s.: I don’t agreed in existentialist thinking.

Improving the Quality of Your Creativity

“Creativity is originality plus usefulness” (Russell Eisenman)

If we wish to improve the quality of our creativity (whatever our preferred creativity may be), subjecting it to evaluation by experts and by ourselves is a powerful way to improving it. Below are some ways to improving the quality of our ideas. Try them out on your ideas. They will provide useful prompts both to increasing their originality, usefulness and also their appropriateness. Here are some suggestions:

§  Get feedback on your idea from some non-experts too (beside from the experts). The non-expert can often see problems that experts may not, and ask questions that can make you review some aspect of your idea, and make suggestions that can improve it. Get feedback from both.

§  Take some time off from your idea. Idea is “exhilarating but it is also fatiguing”. You will come back to your idea refreshed and very likely spot flaws or improvements that you overlooked earlier.

§  Try many small improvements to your idea. Each improvement makes and may provoke many small changes and adjustments. The more of these improvements and adjustments are made, the more distinctive and effective your idea may become.

§  Think of the “customers” or beneficiaries of your idea. What would they find interesting and useful about your idea and what would they consider objectionable? By taking the perspective of your idea’s “customers,” you may be able to think of ways to increasing the impact of your idea.

§  Think of effective ways of making others aware of your idea. It would be a shame of you have an idea and nobody becomes aware of it. Appropriate publicity may earn you the additional bonus of attracting to you others working on similar matters, and interacting with them may stimulate you into further idea.

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)

How to Maximizing a New Idea

Danny Cox write in his book Seize the Day, “Even as new ideas are being developed, their horizons should be stretched. The world is full of useful products that resulted from attempts to solve problems that had nothing to do with the idea’s ultimate application. Part of remaining open to new ideas is to remain open to new applications. In finding broader or different applications for new ideas, you can also recruit support from other sectors that wouldn’t have had any previous reason to be involved.” Then he outlines few questions that we should ask ourselves about the new idea:

Can the idea be put to uses other than the use it was originally designed for?

Can the idea be modified in any way?

Can the idea be reduced in scale or expanded?

Can the idea be upgraded?

Can the idea be substituted?

Can the idea be rearranged?

Can the idea be reversed?

Can the idea be combined with another idea?

Then before you launched your new idea, ask also the following questions.  These questions are helpful guide to making a go or not go decision on a new idea:

Does the new idea make better use of most peoples’ time, talent and energy?

Does the idea improve operations or product quality?

Does the new idea cut waste or unnecessary work?

Does the new idea improve working conditions and customer service?

A new idea doesn’t have to solve the problems of the world to be worth the shot. As long as a creative new concept meets the criteria set forth, it’s a valuable addition to your life. You will always have to use your best judgment and exercise discrimination. That’s simply part of being a responsible person. I know you can do it!

Maximize your idea.

“The answer is out there,” Thomas Edison said, “Find it!”

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)