7 Habits of Highly Effective People

I have loved reading through the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The goal expressed by the book is to become Interdependent and to change the way you approach life to get the most out of it. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. You will likely get different things out of it than I did, and I will get more out of it when I read it again. This post is not a summary, just a few notes and reflections I decided to keep. If you don't have time to read the book or are looking for a summary of the book, check out this blog post on HubSpot.

The Seven Habits are:

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. Synergize

7. Sharpen the Saw

The Seven Habits form a pathway to advance from dependance to interdependance.

I love the idea of progressing from Dependance (needing others to get what you want) to Independance (relying on yourself to get what you need and want) to Interdependance (relying upon cooperation with others to get what you want). This seems especially important with a relationship like marriage. I want an interdependent marriage, where we love and help each other, but aren't defined by how the other treats us.

Put First Things First

Another thing I love from this book is the idea of the time quadrants. Everything you spend your time on can be categorized into one of four quadrants, as follows:

	Urgent	Not Urgent
Important	Quadrant I	Quadrant II
Unimportant	Quadrant III	Quadrant IV

The goal is to prioritize the important but not urgent things, such as developing relationships, exercising, and more. If you are doing it right, then your time will not be evenly split among quadrants, and will look more like this:

	Urgent	Not Urgent
Important	I	II
Unimportant	III	IV

Sharpen the Saw

The following are areas in which the books asked me to reflect and write down some things, so the following notes are about me, but I needed somewhere to put them and we're all on this journey together. And if I care about something, it ends up on this website/blog.

Security - I am secure about the way I live my live and about the things I find important. I don't have all the answers (I'm always ready to listen to advice and counsel), but I trust myself to say and do the right thing, and to make right the things that have gone awry. I am not shaken up by the things that happen. I take them in stride without frustration and continue to do and to be my best. I know things will work out for the best, as I've witnessed it time and time again.

Guidance - I have strong inner direction. I am not dependent on others to guide my path. I trust myself to do the right thing. I have a certain level of ability that I trust. In the moment, I can be an agent (acting and not being acted upon) in the circumstances within which I find myself. I rely on my values, my understanding, and my experience to guide my choices, and those provide a firm foundation.

Wisdom - Wisdom is where I begin to see that my center is imperfect. My inner map that I use to guide myself is imperfect. It is blurred. Thus I know the general right way, based on my general values and experience, and a rough understanding of how my actions and words might influence the world and those around me. However, I can be thoughtless. I sometimes speak before I think, or act without planning. I sometimes fail to be proactive. Wisdom could use some work. With a better understanding of my mental and social terrain, I could improve.

Power - I think I have medium proactivity. I can work when I decide a task is worth my time, but I also find myself pulled by the things I want to do and distracted by things that I have allowed to become habits. I'll call these things distracting habits instead of bad habits. I think my proactivity issues come down to a "good, better, best" issue. I do good and better things because its easier than doing what is best, saying that once I've finished all the good and better things, I will have time for the best thing. Of course, this never happens.

My Center - Because of what I wrote above and comparing myself to some different "Center" templates, I think I am a combination of Pleasure Centered, Self-Centered, and Principle Centered (the goal). I have small hints of other centers, but those are the primary ones.

My Personal Mission Statement

I will live worthy of the Spirit of the Lord. I will treat others how I would like to be treated. I will always treat my wife with respect and with an attitude of service. I will think before I speak or even make a sound. I will be proactive with my time. I will always be positive in a way that lifts others up. I will make others feel good about their ideas and accomplishments. I will speak to those around me and listen. I will be honest in all my dealings and give my full attention and diligence to whatever and with whomever I am spending my time on.

- Ryan Johnson