The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People ( 02 )

Este post limita-se a transcrever passagens do livro e frases chaves para ir recordando.


we will define a habit as the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire.
Knowledge is the theoretical paradigm, the what to do and the why. Skill is the how to do. And
desire is the motivation, the want to do. In order to make something a habit in our lives, we have to
have all three.
Habit 1: Be Proactive -- Principles of Personal Visio

Even the most intelligent animals have none of these endowments. To use a computer metaphor,
they are programmed by instinct and/or training. They can be trained to be responsible, but they can't
take responsibility for that training; in other words, they can't direct it. They can't change the
programming. They're not even aware of it.

"Proactivity" Defined

It means more than merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings,
we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.
We can subordinate feelings to values. We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things
happen.

Reactive people are often affected by their physical
environment. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn't, it affects their attitude and their
performance. Proactive people can carry their own weather with them. Whether it rains or shines
makes no difference to them. They are value driven; and if their value is to produce good quality
work, it isn't a function of whether the weather is conducive to it or not.


"I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,



The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person. Reactive
people are driven by feelings, by circumstances, by conditions, by their environment. Proactive people
are driven by values -- carefully thought about, selected and internalized values.


Taking the Initiative
Our basic nature is to act, and not be acted upon.
It does mean recognizing
our responsibility to make things happen.


Over the years, I have frequently counseled people who wanted better jobs to show more initiative --
to take interest and aptitude tests, to study the industry, even the specific problems the organizations
they are interested in are facing, and then to develop an effective presentation showing how their
abilities can help solve the organization's problem. It's called "solution selling," and is a key paradigm
in business success.


Many people wait for something to happen or someone to take care of them. But people who end
up with the good jobs are the proactive ones who are solutions to problems, not problems themselves,
who seize the initiative to do whatever is necessary, consistent with correct principles, to get the job
done.

Act or be Acted Upon
The difference between people who exercise initiative and those who don't is literally the difference
between night and day.


But that's the difference between positive thinking and proactivity. We did face reality. We faced
the reality of the current circumstance and of future projections. But we also faced the reality that we
had the power to choose a positive response to those circumstances and projections. Not facing reality
would have been to accept the idea that what's happening in our environment had to determine us.

Reactive Language: There's nothing I can do. That's just the way I am. He makes me so mad.
They won't allow that. I have to do that. I can't. I must. If only.
Proactive Language: Let's look at our alternatives. I can choose a different approach. I control
my own feelings. I can create an effective presentation. I will choose an appropriate response. I
choose. I prefer. I will.


reactive language is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy
They feel increasingly victimized and out of control, not in charge of their life or their destiny.
They blame outside forces -- other people, circumstances, even the stars -- for their own situation.


Circle of Concern. Circle of Influence.

regarding our own degree of proactivity is to look
at where we focus our time and energy.


We each have a wide range of concerns -- our health, our
children, problems at work, the national debt, nuclear war. We could separate those from things in
which we have no particular mental or emotional involvement by creating a "Circle of Concern.


Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do
something about.


Reactive people, on the other hand, focus their efforts in the Circle of Concern.

Direct, Indirect, and No Control
The problems we face fall in one of three areas: direct control (problems involving our own
behavior); indirect control (problems involving other people's behavior); or no control (problems we can
do nothing about, such as our past or situational realities). The proactive approach puts the first step
in the solution of all three kinds of problems within our present Circle of Influence.
Direct control problems are solved by working on our habits. They are obviously within our Circle
of Influence. These are the "Private Victories" of Habits 1, 2, and 3.

Indirect control problems are solved by changing our methods of influence. These are the "Public
Victories" of Habits 4, 5, and 6.


How liberating it is to accept the idea
that I can learn new methods of human influence instead of constantly trying to use old ineffective
methods to "shape up" someone else!



"Lord, give me the courage to change the things
which can and ought to be changed, the serenity to accept the things which cannot be changed, and the
wisdom to know the difference."

He tended to treat people like "gofers," as if they didn't
have any judgment. His manner of speaking to those who worked in the organization was, "Go for
this; go for that; now do this; now do that -- I'll make the decisions.


As I sat one day with the president in an advisory capacity, he said, "Stephen, I just can't believe
what this man has done. He's not only given me the information I requested, but he's provided


additional information that's exactly what we needed. He even gave me his analysis of it in terms of
my deepest concerns, and a list of his recommendations.
"The recommendations are consistent with the analysis, and the analysis is consistent with the data.
He's remarkable! What a relief not to have to worry about this part of the business."
At the next meeting, it was "go for this" and "go for that" to all the executives but one. To this man,
it was "What's your opinion?" His Circle of Influence had grown


The Circle of Concern is filled with the have's

The Circle of Influence is filled with the be's -- I can be more patient, be wise, be loving.

The change paradigm is "outside-in" -- what's out there has to change before we can change.
The proactive approach is to change from the Inside-Out: to be different, and by being different, to
effect positive change in what's out there -- I can be more resourceful, I can be more diligent, I can be
more creative, I can be more cooperative.


It is so much easier to blame other
people, conditioning, or conditions for our own stagnant situation. But we are responsible --
"response-able" -- to control our lives and to powerfully influence our circumstances by working on be,
on what we are.

We
can be happy and accept those things that at present we can't control, while we focus our efforts on the
things that we can.


While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of those actions.


"Success," said IBM founder T. J. Watson, "is on the far
side of failure."

We don't have to go through the death camp experience of Frankl to recognize and develop our own
proactivity. It is in the ordinary events of every day that we develop the proactive capacity to handle
the extraordinary pressures of life. It's how we make and keep commitments, how we handle a traffic
jam, how we respond to an irate customer or a disobedient child. It's how we view our problems and
where we focus our energies. It's the language we use.

Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic. Be part of the solution, not part of the
problem.


Application Suggestions
1. For a full day, listen to your language and to the language of the people around you. How
often do you use and hear reactive phrases such as "If only," "I can't," or "I have to"
2. Identify an experience you might encounter in the near future where, based on past experience,
you would probably behave reactively. Review the situation in the context of your Circle of Influence.
How could you respond proactively? Take several moments and create the experience vividly in your
mind, picturing yourself responding in a proactive manner. Remind yourself of the gap between
stimulus and response. Make a commitment to yourself to exercise your freedom to choose.
3. Select a problem from your work or personal life that is frustrating to you. Determine whether
it is a direct, indirect, or no control problem. Identify the first step you can take in your Circle of
Influence to solve it and then take that step.
4. Try the 30-day test of proactivity. Be aware of the change in your Circle of Influence.


Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind TM

to begin today with the image, picture, or paradigm of
the end of your life as your frame of reference or the criterion by which everything else is examined.

To Begin with the End in Mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination.

How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and, keeping that
picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most. If the ladder
is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster. We may
be very busy, we may be very efficient, but we will also be truly effective only when we Begin with the
End in Mind.

One man asked another
on the death of a mutual friend, "How much did he leave?" His friend responded, "He left it all."

All Things Are Created Twice

There's a
mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things

Take the construction of a home, for example. You work with ideas. You work with
your mind until you get a clear image of what you want to build.

All of this is done before the earth
is touched. If not, then in the second creation, the physical creation, you will have to make expensive
changes that may double the cost of your home.

For another example, look at a business. If you want to have a successful enterprise, you clearly
define what you're trying to accomplish. You carefully think through the product or service you want
to provide in terms of your market target, then you organize all the elements -- financial, research and
development, operations, marketing, personnel, physical facilities, and so on -- to meet that objective.
The extent to which you Begin with the End in Mind often determines whether or not you are able to
create a successful enterprise. Most business failures begin in the first creation, with problems such as
undercapitalization, misunderstanding of the market, or lack of a business plan.

We are either the second creation of our own proactive design, or we are the
second creation of other people's agendas, of circumstances, or of past habits

The unique human capacities of self-awareness, imagination, and conscience enable us to examine
first creations and make it possible for us to take charge of our own first creation, to write our own
script.

Leadership and Management -- The Two Creations


leadership is the first
creation. Management is the second creation,

Peter Drucker and
Warren Bennis, "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." Management
is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning
against the right wall.

In business, the market is changing so rapidly that many products and services that successfully met
consumer tastes and needs a few years ago are obsolete today. Proactive powerful leadership must
constantly monitor environmental change, particularly customer buying habits and motives, and
provide the force necessary to organize resources in the right direction.