Effective Habits

We all have read Steven Covey's books and articles. There are many other books by eminent authors such as Dale Carnegie. I have read few of them and then after few months ... forget about it.  Recently I came across this video. It talks about the 7 effective habits in an animated way. I picked 4 habits that I think I want to focus on and start paying attention. I decided to put this in the blog so that I can go back and read it again when I need it. Easy to find (no excuse now!). 

Habit #1 tells us to focus on what you can control - be proactive to the situation. We can curse the government, talk about the good old days .. but those does not change the current reality.  Be proactive to the current situation and adapt to it. There are lots of issues in the world, hunger, environment, and many painful like Syrian crisis,  sexual assault in college .... what one should do? You have no control to any of these. Some of the issues are horrific and if you think too much, you can get depressed. So, think, what can I do? Pick one or two issues and start doing something (it may be a small drop in ocean but a drop none the less). For example, help/donate money to homeless, reduce carbon footprint, talk to your kids, spread the word ...

Habit #2 says that "begin with end in mind". Thinking about the end allows us to find out what is important in life and then focus on that. Don't focus on the legacy and "Who will remember me". Let me be blunt, no one will remember me after 50 years of my end. You have to like Mahatma Gandhi or MLK or Lincoln. As Amador Prado said, "We will never know when the the ribbon of mortality starts to tighten".  So, what does thinking of "end" teaches us, two things; focus on what is important at the end. If it is family, make sure you spend time with family / friends, (not facebbok and WhatsApp). Give a call - talk, meet for a coffee, go for a walk.  Being a data  person, I started looking at my FB and LinkedIn data and did some analysis .. and try to value all my "social" connection. How deep is my connections? I will post the analysis in another blog sometime later.

Habit #3 says that make sure focus on whatever is important.  I really had a good lesson here ..  (personal guilt). Many times I get irritated when things are not cleaned up in kitchen  and when I discuss with my wife she says it's not important right now, I need to relax reading a book or watching some TV. Slowly I am getting it :-) Relaxing is important .. do that instead of getting stressed making your house spot clean. I know few people who go nuts in cleaning and get stressed. For me, I need really use this to "calm" myself and focus on what is important.

Habit #7 says "sharpen the saw" which means it takes time and effort to get what is important to do.  Exercising few times a week, reading daily takes time ... but those are important tools for better health and stimulating the brain. It takes time and effort do anything.   Volunteering in a non-profit organization takes time. Don't join if you can not give time. I have recently started saying "no" to anything where I can not spend time. Either I give a donation and forget about it or make sure I have time before I sign up.

Nothing new here. We all are aware of it and also doing it. But  sometimes, we all need reminders "whenever the present gets heavy or unclear".  I have a long way to go but instead focusing on too many things, I want to focus on 4 things; focus on present, focus on family and friends,  help improve the world (environment, volunteer) and finally exercise and read. To this end, I have made some goals to keep improving it.

Finally,  I do not have any expertise to tell anyone.  Writing the blog is helping me think through it and in the process helps me in the right direction (hopefully!). I am a discovering and learning and hopefully improve "myself" in the process. I hope the blog helps you in some way - stimulates a bit. As Yoda said, "May the  force be with you!".