Habituated!!!

PS1: On the guest post front one more person has given a positive reply. I am keeping my fingers crossed!!!

PS2: There is an important pS at the end of the post!!!

We are what we repeatedly do
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Aristotle

I just finished reading the book "7 habits of highly effective people" by Stephen Covey. Nah....I have not become any more effective than I was!!! But then I really feel that everyone should read the book. I had recommended the book just to one person till date and that person looked at the book and said "Hmm....looks interesting. But I dont think I will implement any of these things in my life!!!" This was exactly my thought too when I began reading the book. But as I read it I found that there are a lot of things that we need to understand about ourselves to be effective.

The author says that a man goes through three phases in life. He is born a Dependent, then moves on to become independent and then realises that Interdependence is the really necessary for being effective. As he goes through each of these stages there are some basic habits that he needs to cultivate to be successful. Let me just list them :

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. Synergise
7. Sharpen the saw

Yeah I know they are vague....they are things we all know....but can we make them habits?
He also gives a very good funda on response and stimulus. He says that

"Between a response and stimulus - man has the freedom to choose."

So we have the gift of self-awareness, we have imagination, we have a conscience - a deep inner awareness of right and wrong, of the principles that govern our behavior, and a sense of the degree to which our thoughts and actions are in harmony with them. And we have independent will -- the ability to act based on our self-awareness, free of all other influences.

When I look at things this way I realise that once we recieve a stimulus we can actually choose what the response can be. Thus we can control our actions, thoughts, emotions. I know this sounds dumb and everyone will say ... who doesnt know this. But the realisation is important so that we dont get influenced by external factors.

Once we achieve this amount of self awareness and control I am sure cultivating habits is not a big deal.

The book also gives pretty good perspectives on human relationships, love, management, leadership, the importance of listening with nice examples. The author talks of small practical things that can be implemented in life to make yourself more productive and effective.

As Aristotle has said and I have quoted in the beginning, Our habits define what we are. So why not try cultivating the right ones!!!

pS (read post - Script) : I would recommend that you people give this book a try. It gives you a whole new perspective of life. Please drop in a comment or send me an email at srinikeths@yahoo.co.in and I will send you the soft copy of the book immediately. I could have send it anyways to all of you but that would mean that I am forcing it on you and you might not even open it!!! But if you ask for it at least I can be assured that you will open it!!!