The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

I have heard about the book by Stephen R. Covey “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” pretty much my whole life but I have never read it. For class this week, I read a summary of it highlighting the 7 habits. The habits are  

1. Be Proactive – self starter

2. Begin with the end in mind – goals

3. First things first – stepping stones

4. Think Win/Win – everyone benefits

5. Seek to understand, then to be understood (what is winning to them)

6. Synergy – teamwork

7. Sharpen the saw – regroup

All these things equal trust. Trust in yourself and in others. As I was reading this, I realized that I was agreeing with all these points and realized that I have tried to implement all these habits in my life already. I have always tried to think win/win. I hate the feeling of doing something that makes someone else feel bad or that their ideas weren’t valued. I love the sense of teamwork and collaborating all our ideas to come up with something that everyone is happy with. On my mission I tried to always understand people, because once I understood them, I could better teach to their needs.

Something that I noticed while I was reading this was the quote “Reactive people are swept away by the heat of the moment. Proactive people are driven by values that are both well thought out and internalized.” I see a lot of reactive people on social media getting carried away in the heat of the moment. Everyone tends to be a wordsmith to defend themselves, but I rarely see anyone apologizing or being genuinely interested in what others have to say even if they don’t agree. I rarely engage in social media banter because it usually winds up being supercharged with reactive comments. I like the quote from the book, “It is not what happens that is important. It is our responses to whatever happens that makes all the difference.” In the Book of Mormon, when Christ comes to visit, His message is basically “Whatever you do, don’t fight or argue. If someone offends you, just smile and nod. And if they keep doing it, just keep smiling and nodding. Just. Don’t. Fight.” The message from the Apostles and Prophet is basically the same, root out contention and don’t engage in harmful conversations on social media.

So I appreciate reading this summary of the book because it helped pinpoint what I have been feeling and doing pretty much my whole life, and I know now that I am on the right path.

Always Put The Lord First

 Lately, I have been feeling a bit stretched with everything going on. Since Christmas is on Sunday this year, I couldn’t not do something for church. So, I decided to spearhead a Christmas Sunday Musical Program. After I started putting it together, I was wondering why I even started it. It was very time consuming, and I had to talk to a lot of people to see if they’d like to participate. Of course, there were people who said no, or dropped out, which meant I had to rearrange things and ask more people. And I have school on top of all of everything! Right now, it has slowed down a bit because everything seems to be in place.

I was reading in my class today, and a man by the name of Jan Newman gave a speech and he said that in life, you have to crunch things, your job, your family, your calling. Some things get more attention than others. But, he said, “Don’t ever be too busy to take a calling in the church. If you ever tell your Bishop “Hey I’ve got this new company and it’s a lot of work and I don’t think I can be the Scoutmaster….biggest mistake you’ll ever make. Because when you need the Lord’s help, he’ll know where you heart is and it won’t be on his side.”

As I was reading this, I was thinking about my crazy idea to start a choir and put together an hour-long program for church. By myself. I know being the choir pianist or music chairperson isn’t my calling, but it is my calling in life to share my musical talent. And no one else was willing to put this together. I feel like this is my way of showing my love for Jesus Christ, to sing praises to Him for Christmas. I hope that this Christmas program can bring the spirit to everyone who attends church on Christmas Sunday.

Here's the thing too, even though I have so much going on with school and the Christmas program (and I’m even starting to write a children’s book!), and my family, I feel like I have had enough time to do everything. Nothing has been neglected in my life. I feel like Heavenly Father is sustaining me with everything because of my righteous desires.

Perseverance: entrepreneurial success isn't about money; it's about freedom

I started reading the book “Mastery” by George Leonard, and in the first part of the book he talks about how we are all born geniuses, which means we can do things that computers can’t. Then he goes on to talk about how the caveman idea downplays humans. He says, “We are capable of creating complex, well knit social groupings, a challenge which, more than tool making, accounts for the development of the large brain.” (pg 13) It also downplays the human body. If we were to compete athletically against animals, humans would have the overall score. I found this so fascinating because the world tries to tell you that we are animals, but this proves that we are so much more. Humans were designed to think and reason and develop. I have never believed in the caveman theory because I have always believed humans to be intelligent. And this book just proved what I have been thinking all along.

We have also been learning about mastery and perseverance. I read that it takes you 10,000 times to master something. That would be like playing a piano piece 10,000 times before it was mastered. I have been playing piano for 27 years and I doubt I have played anything 10,000 times. But the more you do it, the closer you get to those 10,000 times, and I am still young yet. This is what perseverance is, doing it again and again. The Secret is to stay the course, day after day, year after year. Here is a quote that I like from one of the articles I read in class this week:

“Entrepreneurs become successful, one small investment at a time, in a never-ending process. Because entrepreneurial success isn’t a destination, it’s a journey. A journey taken one determined step at a time, in a way that builds lifelong treasures.”

Another quote I like is:

“Entrepreneurial success isn’t about money; it’s about freedom. The goal isn’t to make more money than you need, it’s to spend less that you make. Because that way your free time belongs to you.”

These are great reminders for me that great success is a lifelong journey…and to keep my focus on people instead of material things. Money comes and goes, but your relationship with people lasts forever.

Core Values

I finished the book Launching Leaders this week and had to write a book report on it. The book was very inspirational and informational. I would recommend it too just about anyone. I was thinking this book would have been very beneficial for me as a young adult. I really had no direction or confidence in myself. This book is like one long pep talk!

The book also talked about how to set up your bank account with one checking account and 3 savings accounts. One of those savings accounts should be for investing. John is so smart; he has already implemented these principles for our bank account. I don’t know if we are ahead of the game, but at least we have something started.

We also talked about core values for our life. All throughout the book Launching Leaders, it talks about aligning ourselves with God’s will. I feel this very close to my heart. I have always tried to do His will and to follow the prompting I get. We watched General Conference this week as well, and I was thinking about how all the Apostles and Prophets were very successful in their careers. I heard them talk and testify of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and I was thinking, every day of their career they put God first. I have met lots of people of prominence and most of them have made me feel inferior and like they were the best. But the Apostles and Prophets must have been more service oriented than a salesman or an academic genius. They probably talked about the Book of Mormon with a lot of their colleagues and maybe even their clients. They most likely did not separate God from their workplace. I was thinking about my future career and if I was going to be like these rich, powerful men who doesn’t care about anyone, or will I try to be like the Apostles and Prophets and be humble and service minded. I want it to be the latter, and that is why my first core value is to put God first. Everything else will follow.

Giving Back

I was reading in the book Launching Leaders this week and read about the formula for a successful business.

 

The Formula is:

 

1. Get Up Early

 

2. Work Hard

 

3. Get an Education

 

4. Find Your Oil

 

5. Make Your Mark

 

6. Prepare to Serve/Give Back

 

I was really impressed by this because I have been thinking about number 6 for a few years now. We have always been the recipient at Christmastime because we don’t make a lot of money and we have a lot of kids. I remember the first Christmas with having a baby and our ward gave us diapers and some money. This has been happened every year for 8 years. The last two Christmases, I have been feeling a bit angry at myself that I am not the one giving. While I appreciate the help, I wish I could do the same for someone else. I have discovered that Christmas is better when I can give back. I started school again so that I can give back. So, when I saw this Formula, I knew I was in the right place.

We also learned about a lady named Magdalena Yesil who came from Turkey and pursued her dreams. She was foremost an early-stage analyst but was offered a job as a financier. She struggled to know what she wanted to do, and it was up to us to give our opinion on what she should do. Based off of the case study that we read, she loved being an entrepreneur because of the excitement of something challenging and difficult. I read some of my classmate’s viewpoints for the case study and it seemed like everyone got something different out of it depending on their own life experiences. For me, I could relate to her excitement for something new and challenging. She KNEW she was successful and could do it. She didn’t like being stuck in a cubicle by herself. And boy does that sound like me. I hate being cooped up without much interaction.

Everything about business is what I have been looking for. Numbers, math, dreams, excitement, and giving back. I am excited to keep learning and gaining more information and eventually be like Magdalena Yesil and become a successful entrepreneur.

Chasing Dreams

                    This week I learned about Randy Pausch. He had terminal pancreatic cancer and was given only a few months to live. He gave a lecture called “The Last Lecture” about achieving your childhood dreams. In his somewhat short lifetime, he was able to achieve his childhood dreams because he did not let brick walls stop him. He had big dreams with NASA and Disney as an Imagineer but was rejected. Did that stop him? No! He saw the challenge not as the end of the line, but the beginning for those who fought with everything they had to make their dreams a reality. He fought to make his dreams a reality!

 

                     When I was younger, my only dream was to have kids. I didn’t think about much else to be honest. My mom, grandma, sister, aunts were all homemakers. They had babies for 20 years and stayed home to raise them. I didn’t know anything else. My parents never really encouraged me to think of anything else. I married a man who gave me just that. I made my dream come true and had as many babies as I possibly could as fast as I could. John is a dreamer though and would talk to me about his plans for our future. I was happy for him to have these dreams, but I didn’t really invest much thinking into it because I was elbow deep in diapers. When my last baby turned 18 months, I started feeling sad because I didn’t think I had much of a purpose anymore. Being pregnant and having newborns was my purpose and without it I was feeling lost. I realized that I had accomplished all my dreams. I had didn’t realize that I needed dreams after getting all my babies earthside. So, I was left to wonder what to do with my life. I was only 33 years old and knew I had at least 33 more years to find something to look forward to instead of death. I wish someone had sat me down and told me that there is life after babies, and I need to figure out what I wanted out of that life. Now, I’ve made my husband’s dreams my dreams. I want to be with him for the rest of my life, and what better way to do that then to have the same dream and tailor it to fit us? I have learned that having dreams is crucial to your mental health, and I am going to encourage my kids to think of their dreams for the WHOLE life and then go for it!

 

                        Something that I learned in class this week that I have never done before is make a bucket list. As I watched the clip from the Bucket List, I got emotional because I want to make sure that I live a rich life full of experiences before I die. It was something I needed because like I said before, I hadn’t really thought of my life after babies. I am looking forward to learning more about how to find my dreams.

Week 1: Reflection

Hi there, my name is Leda and I am starting my journey to owning my own business. My husband is a pest control rodent specialist and one day hopes to be his own boss. In reality I will be his boss! I have always wanted to finish my degree and this is a good path for me. We want to be a team and build our life together to be better. We just can't do it without each other! 

John has been working for pest control companies for a few years now. When he was with a national company he would come home and complain almost daily about how dishonest the sales people are. They would exaggerate what they found and would sell services that didn't need to be done. John felt bad whenever he went to their houses to do the service only to find that they didn't need it. 

In class this week we talked about when we get to the end of our lives, what was the most important thing in our lives? 

We were asked to think about 3 questions: 

Did I accomplish something meaningful? 

Was I a good person? 

Who did I love and who loved me?

These questions made me think of John and the kinds of things he ran into in his career. It made me grateful that John has been such a good example to me of integrity and honesty. When I read these questions and started thinking about the ethics that go into selling a product, I had to ask myself would I be 100% honest when hard situations arise? Or would I be like those sales people and exaggerate an issue just to make money? 

These are good questions to live by as someone who owns their own business. Life is too short sell myself short. I want to create meaningful relationships full of honesty and integrity, and John will be a great partner not only as a husband but as a business partner.