Journey to Effectiveness

(Not my image)      As I end this blog with a final post I want to reflect back on the last section of Habit 7 as well as reflecting on my journey to effectiveness. The last portion of Habit 7 covers control, balance, and the upward spiral. Covey talks about how we often try to control the lives of other people through "scripting". He warns us about this because of the negative effects it can cause on others through interference. Like the last blog post, Covey reflects back to balance once last time to the overall renewal balance. He emphasizes the role balance has on effectiveness. With a healthy body, mind, and spirit an individual can reach their maximum capabilities of being an effective person. Lastly, Covey introduces the Upward Spiral. The occurrence is watering yourself, like a plant. The better you are at watering the more you grow. In this case, watering refers to positive doings.     As I reflect back on my journey to effectiveness, I can't ...

     Habit 7 is all about renewal. Covey goes over the 4 dimension of renewal, physical, spiritual, mental, and social/emotional dimension. The physical dimensions is about taking take of our bodies through eating healthy, resting, and regularly exercising. The Spiritual dimension reflects back to your core, your center, like habit 2. The area in your life you feel makes you who you are. Whatever it is, focus on it and engage. The Mental dimension focuses on continued growth of our minds. Covey shares that this can be through education in school, books, media, and even television. However, he clarifies that an effective learner getting information from the media must be able to discriminate the different information circling the media. Lastly, the Social/Emotional dimension is about relationships and practicing empathy.      Reading this book has made me realize how important it is to pay attention to ourselves, our choices, and how we perform the...

     The second portion of Habit 6 prioritizes the practice of Synergy. The first area Covey covers is "Valuing The Differences". The "Differences" refers to the different beliefs, viewpoints, and mentality that people have. Covey claims, "And the key to valuing those differences is to realize that all people see the world, not as it is, but as they are," (p.464) further highlighting the different perspectives we have. To accomplish Synergy a person must develop an open mind, accepting that their way may not be the way of other people. Covey says this is a trait of an effective person, that there are no perceptual limitations.  (Not my image)     For this blog, I tried the "Synergy Celebration" activity.  A Synergy Celebration refers to the celebration of collaborative work. A few days ago, it was my nephew's birthday. Most of the family worked and those who were available helped with the cooking. Myself and a few of the younger kids were as...

  (Not my image)       Synergy refers to the cooperation of two sides and creation of something greater than what they could accomplish alone. In the first section of Habit 6, Covey analyzes the term Synergy and areas to find it. Covey says, "Synergy is everywhere in nature," (p. 440). Synergy does not only apply to humans but to everything else. Covey uses the example of nature to convey the depths of Synergy, when two seeds are planted near one another, they can combine and create a bigger plant. In a team setting, Synergy prioritizes the enhancement of everyone's abilities. Instead of taking apart each individual and creating conflict, it works on using everyone's best trait to produce the best outcome possible.      Synergy is a level of communication, the top level to be exact, Win/Win from Habit 4. It is the level of communication where all sides are benefiting. It requires heavy amounts of cooperation and trust in one another. Synergy is al...