7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Habit 1: Be Productive

“Habit one is the key to unlocking all the other habits and that’s why it comes first. It says. “I am the captain of my life. I can choose my attitude. I’m responsible for my own happiness or unhappiness. I am in the driver’s seat of my destiny, not just a passenger.”

I think that being productive really does help you become successful because if you’re lazy and you never do anything then you’re not going to go very far in life. When you’re productive you can make a difference and actually do things that will benefit you and help you reach your goals in life. Productiveness will give you success people are going to look at you and they will admire you for the things that you have accomplished and the things you are willing to accomplish. Being productive means that you are willing to think differently make decisions different from others and not being afraid to do them. You will find better choices and you will go against the current but that won’t stop you because you have to be willing to do what others don’t do.

Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind

“Control your own destiny or someone else will.” (Jack Welch)

It helps to start with the end in mind. When you start a new objective in life it’s good to start with how much you are going to gain and accomplish from all of this. That motivates you to keep going even if you feel like you can’t do it you have to think about the good that will be in the end and hoe happy you’ll feel when you finish. I always like to think about my reward at the end of the road when a start anything new, it keeps me motivated and help me finish to the end. When we just start something without thinking about the end in mind, it is most likely that you will give up. You will give up because you don’t thinking of what’s waiting for you at the end of the road and you don’t have anything to motivate. I really like this quote by Jack Welch because it speaks the truth; if we don’t make our own choices and follow our goals and dreams we aren’t going to go anywhere. When we don’t make our own paths someone else will make them for us and it’s probably going to be a path that we aren’t happy with, but that is what we get for not making any decisions of our own and choosing to go down our own paths and make our destiny what we want. I wouldn’t want anyone but me to make my destiny because only I know what I want to accomplish and what my goals in life are.

Habit 3: Put First Things First

“Organize and execute around priorities.”

You always have to put the most important things in your life first. When you don’t you get distracted with other thing that just waste your time and drive you away from your goals. For examples our homework, as soon as we get home we should start on it right away because if not we get distracted doing other thing and then we’re never going to get it done. I do this a lot and it is something that I am working on improving in my life because I know the consequences that come out of not prioritizing yourself. When you put of doing what needs to get done you fall behind and the next thing you know there is no way that you can catch up. Trust me it is better to put of watching TV or just being on your phone when it comes to doing what needs to get done. When you prioritize yourself and do what need to be done first you get to go it at the pace that you want and you don’t have to worry about getting everything done last minute.

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

“Think win-win or no deal.”

You always need to think positively and with a good attitude because we don’t know what the outcome of something will be. You’re not always going to win and you have to be happy for those who did because just as you worked hard they also worked hard as well. Also even if you didn’t win you can always try again and know you have the experience and know what to work on so that you can improve. When we are selfish and only care about wining people around you will not like you because you have a selfish attitude and you can’t even congratulate someone for their hard work. Having a positive attitude helps because when you only think about wining and don’t see that there could be the possible outcome of you losing, you’re setting yourself up for a huge disappointment in the future. It is always great to think that you can win but you also have to think about other probabilities and possible outcomes. 

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand then to be Understood

“Diagnose before you prescribe.”

Sometimes you don’t know what someone is going through and they might not want to talk about it, you should always be considerate and try to understand what that person is going through. For some people it’s harder than other for them to express themselves and you have to give them time and let them explain themselves. We need to pay more attention to what others feel and listen to what they are going through. This will help us as people because we all need to learn how to listen to others. People aren’t going to want to be around you if all you are interested in is yourself. You can more friends listening then talking. 

Habit 6: Synergize

The whole is greater than the sum of its part (1+1=3)

Some of you may ask what is synergize? Synergize is when you are able to cooperate, to be able to work in a team, to have open mindedness, and the adventure of finding new solutions to old problems. It’s very important for everyone to have these qualities in them because they make you a great person. When you are bale to h work with people with no trouble the work gets done fast and easy. Unlike when you are being stubborn and you aren’t willing to listen to others opinions and ideas. The work will not get finish on time and you are giving everyone around a hard time when you can simply cooperate with them. 

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Four Dimensions of Self-Renewal: Physical, Mental, Spiritual, and Social/Emotional

I think that renewing yourself is definitely something that we should all do because if not then we’re overwhelmed and we can’t do things right. Renewing ourselves helps us work better and it’s something that our body needs. Sometimes we are really stressed out because of school or work and our body can’t handle all of that pressure that it’s carrying. There are some ways that we could help our body relieve some of that pressure. For example we can make sure that we get the right amount of sleep, make sure that we eat healthy foods, exercise and take some time off every once in a while. We are only human after all our body can’t handle everything and it shouldn’t have to.

Reflection:
All of the seven habits are important to follow is you wan to become someone successful in life. I honestly think that these habits can help you become a better person and help you with your life. I'm going to apply these seven habits into my life and see for myself just how effective these habits can be. I think that the most effective one will be, well all of them because you can't do one with out doing the other. One of the habits that I really like is habit seven, Sharpen the Saw, because I think this is something us as human forget to do a lot, we forget to give ourselves some time and relax and take care of our bodies. Another habit that I really like is habit five, Seek First to Understand Than to be Understood, I like this habit because as humans sometimes we don't take the time to understand the people around us and listen to what they're going through because we are trying to get through our own things. But i think that we should listen more and try to understand people before making any assumptions about them because what ever it is that they are going through, we might also be going through the same thing or might have already gone through what they're going through and we can help them. Those are my favorite habits I'm sure that everyone has their own and as long as you follow these habits it's fine with me.   

Three Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

Dale Carnegie

Technique 1: Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.

“If you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive.”

It’s not nice having someone criticizing everything that you do, who like’s that, no body. Complaining doesn’t help either. You never know how much someone has worked for something even if it’s something small, and when we criticize or complain about it all we do is hurt those people’s feelings. Condemning people for the things they have worked for is not good you hurt those people’s feeling and you’re not helping yourself either. Who is going to want to be friends with someone who is always condemning, complaining and criticizing them and others? Well no one, apart from being disliked no will ever want to help you if you ever need it because all they are going to think about is your bad attitude and nobody is going to want to be around that. This is why it’s better to tell people that they did a great job and that their hard work paid off. You will make that person feel good about them and people are going to like you because you’re not someone who is condemning them all the time. Only we know how hard we worked for something and to have someone give bad criticism and condemn us about our work without them knowing how hard we worked for it, does not feel good.

Technique 2: Give honest and sincere appreciation.

“The big secret in dealing with people”

I think that it is always better be strait up when you don’t like someone because having to pretend that you like the person and faking being a good friend will always end up badly. Also it’s very likely that you will make the person feel bad knowing that you were just pretending to be their friend. It never feels good when someone we think we can call a friend turns out to just be pretending to be your friend. A person feels good about themselves when someone truly cares and appreciates them. Just think that you found out that someone you thought was your friend turned out to not like you and they didn’t even want to be your friend. We all have people who appreciate us and we will always have people who don’t but I think that those people who don’t are not important. More than anything I feel bad for those people because maybe they’re just jealous that you have people in your life who truly appreciate you and care for you. I feel bad for these people because they’re probably surrounded by fallacious people and they are jealous when they see honest appreciation being shown to someone. I always show someone my true appreciation; I show them that I honestly care for them. If I ever run across someone that I don’t like I just stay away from them because I don’t want to have to act like I like them and then go and say that I don’t. 

Technique 3: Arouse in the other person an eager want.

“”He who can do this has the whole world with him. He, who cannot, walks a lonely way.”

I think that this quote when applied to life can indeed help you go very far because when you make other people eager about wanted to do something with their lives the appreciation that that person will have to you is the best reward. When we motivate people we help them see the great things that they can achieve in their lives as well as how good of a person they can be. Many people just need some encouragement to get themselves going because sometimes they don’t think that they can do something but as soon as someone gets them excited and motivated there is nothing that can stop them. It’s good to help people out when they need a little push in life because you never know when you’re going to need a push yourself. I like motivating people because I like to see that energy they get and that determination in their eye. There are people who only like to drag people down but these people aren’t going to get anywhere doing things like that.

Happy New Year’s!

During this Christmas vacation I didn’t really do anything interesting. My days mainly consisted of me sleeping in and watching TV.  I used this vacation to rest and get my things organized, during the day I would read, watch TV, or work on homework. On Christmas I spent the day with my family, and then we had diner together. It was really nice to see my cousins again I hadn’t seen them in a while so it was a very nice Christmas. This year I didn’t really get presents, but I didn’t mind because I got $500 instead that I spent on things I wanted, if you ask me that was better. When the New Year’s rolled around I was really excited. I couldn’t wait to do the countdown and yell happy New Year’s. Everyone hugging each other and fireworks going off, I love that so much. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do any of that because it seems that I’m getting older than I thought. This year I couldn’t stay awake until midnight to do the New Year’s countdown I couldn’t understand why that was but I was very disappointed. What made matters worse was that I woke up at 12:07 due to all the New Year’s celebrating! Actually there is something worse, after being woken up I couldn’t go back to sleep but everyone else in my house was also asleep! I had to hear everyone celebrating the New Year’s while I was stuck trying to go back to sleep which seemed impossible. In the end I didn’t go back to sleep until three in the morning, it was a very disappointing New Year’s but at least it’s one that I won’t forget anytime soon.

Six Ways to Make People Like You.  If you want people to like you…….

Rule 1: Become genuinely interested in people.

“Do this and you will be welcomed anywhere.”

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

“Ask questions to other people, questions that they would enjoy answering.”

When you show interest in others people will feel more comfortable talking to you but when you just show interest in yourself, people won’t want to talk to you for a long time. No one wants be just here someone talk about themselves, you have to show interest in there other person you’re having the conversation with. When your self-centered people won’t find any interest in you, a conversation is a two way thing you talk but you also have to listen to what others say. People like when you show an interest in them, it makes them feel more comfortable and want to open up to you more. Today with so much social media website people are preventing us from talking to someone face to face and we are so use to not talking to anyone face to face that we don’t know what to do when they are right in front of us. When we are in front of people having a conversation we need to show real interest.

Rule 2: Smile

“Actions speak louder than words, and a smile says, “I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you.”

“You don’t feel like smiling? Then force yourself to smile.”

“It creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in business, and is the countersign (witness or indication) of friends.”

 A smile is the best feature that a person has, in my opinion. When you smile you make people feel warm and welcomed, they want to be around you. Whenever I meet someone new I always smile at them and they always smile back, it the first thing that someone notices about you. When you don’t smile people might not be sure if they want to talk to you, I get if you’re a shy person but you should still always show off your smile and make people feel welcomed. I always look at people and if they’re not smiling I always wonder how they look like smiling. If they happen to catch me looking at them I just smile at them and they smile back, and when I see them smiling I get happy because they look so friendly.  Your smile is such a beautiful thing it would be greedy to keep it to yourself.

Rule 3: Remember Names

“A man’s name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”

“If you don’t remember names, you are headed for trouble.”

Remembering names is very important especially as an adult. When you go to an interview it is important that you remember the name of the person who is interviewing you. Also it is going to look bad if you have a job and you don’t even know the name of your boss or coworkers. When you don’t remember names it makes people think that you have no interest with them and that talks bad about you. You can remember names by connecting it to something in your daily life. You can also write the name down somewhere where you will see it frequently. If you meet someone new you have to remember their names especially if you are going to see them again. When you met someone new and you forget their names they think that you don’t want to be their friends. Also not remembering names make it look like you’re a self-centered person and people don’t like a self-centered person, why would they want to be around someone like that?

How to remember names:

1.    Focus on the other person.

2.    Ask a question.

3.    Create an image or association of the person with the name.

4.    End the conversation by using his or hers names again.

5.    Keep a name file.

Rule 4: Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.

“If you aspire to be a good conversationalist, be an attentive listener.”

‘’Remember that the man you are talking to is a hundred times more interested in himself and his problems that he is in you or your problems.”

Sometimes it’s better to sit back and listen to what others talk about. Sometimes people have many problems going on in their mind but they don’t see anyone that they can talk too, it’s good to notice when someone needs an ear to listen. When people talk about their problems to you, you get to know the person better and understand their situation. Also who knows if you might be going through the same thing they are you won’t know unless you ask. When talking about their problems people see things clearer and also you can give them advice on how to get through their problem or hard time. I think that when you sit and listen to someone’s problem you build a good relationship with them. People like it when they are able to talk about themselves, they feel like you genuinely care about them and they become more interested in you. It also helps them gain confidence and open up to others as well.

 Active Listening Tips:

1.    Stay Focused

2.    Really Listen

3.    Allow for Periods of Silence

4.    From time to time repeat what the other person has said

5.    Understand the emotion behind the words

Rule 5: Talk in terms of the other man’s interest.

“The royal road to a man’s heart is to talk to him about the things he treasures most.”

Talking about others interest is important when having a conversation with a person. When you talk about only you and the things that you are interested in, the conversation will not get so far the person will get tired of only hearing about you.  When you talk about the interests of the other person the conversation will go on for much longer and you will get to know the person so much better than you would only talking about yourself. When you sit back and just listen to what others say and like you learn new things and hear about other people’s experiences in their life. You never know what you can learn from sitting back and just listen to what other thinks and the way they see things. I like listening to others perspectives and ideas because my mind becomes more open to other views and possibilities. People like it when others listen to their stories and their interest. So next time that you’re having a conversation with someone makes sure that you talk about them and listen to their stories.

Rule 6: Make the other person feel important—and do it sincerely.

“The desire to be important is the deepest urge in human nature.”-John Dewey

“Helping people feel important and appreciated works magic.”

People like to feel important, everyone does. When you make someone feel important they feel how much you appreciate them and they know that you care. Just siting and listening to what other has to say makes people feel important because you’re showing them that you care enough to listen. People like talking about themselves and feeling that someone cares about them and that they want to hear what they have to say. When you make other feel important they feel good about themselves and they appreciate that you are making them feel that way. You will be able to make lots of friends and have them like you because they know that you care about them.

Ways to make people feel important;

1.    Listen while the other is talking

2.    Start a conversation with “it’s amazing how you….”

3.    Tell them you believe in them and why

4.    Encourage them to go for new thing they want

5.    Give them your time

6.    See the potential in them

7.    Tell them some secret to show that you trust and value them

8.    Enjoy a day out with them

9.    Include them in your life and events

10.                       Ask them to share something personal with you

11.                       Ask them if they need your help

12.                       Share your dreams with them

13.                       Comfort them

14.                       Give them gifts (no need for big one)

15.                       If you haven’t seen each other ask to get  together

16.                       Let them know that you’re interested in them

17.                       Tell them to make a difference

18.                       Take interest in THEIR hobbies

19.                       Give them credit for their work

20.                       Help them with their dreams

Reflection:  All of these rules seem to me like a good way to make friends. I think that if everyone applied these six rules to their lives they would make friends like a piece of cake. My favorite rule would definitely have to be SMILE. Smile is my favorite rule because I think that a smile is a person’s best feature and when they smile to a person you can tell a lot about that person and you can see how nice they are. It’s important to show people your smile whenever you first met someone so that they can feel more comfortable with you. Another rule that I like a lot is Be a Good Listener, I like this rule because how else are you supposed to get to really know a person if you don’t listen to what they are saying. Listening is a very important thing to do if you want to make friends because not a lot of people are going to like you is you never listen to them. Being a good friend means just sitting down and listening to what the other person has to tell you because sometimes that is all that they need. Although those are my favorite rules they are all equally important to fallow in the process of making friends.

“The Six Attitudes of High Achievers”

JOHN R. NOE

1.  Make No Small Plans

To become a high achiever we do need to make big plans. Big plans will take us to big achievements; small plans will not get us anywhere, we need to make big planes and if we make any small plans they have to be plans that will help us reach the big plan. Life is about think big going for the best, we all need to have high achievement plans because those plans will take us places. We all have something that we want to do but the only way we are going to reach those plans is if we make set high goals and achieve them no matter what it takes. I know that I want to be a high achiever I don’t want to have a hard life; I want to make it as easy as possible for myself and the way to do that is to make sure that I have high plans that lead to high achievements. When we aim for high achievements we are sure to end up in a good place as long as we are determined to achieve them. We must also never try to get anywhere in life by cheating because if you manage to get yourself in a good work by cheating, you are not going to last very long. When we cheat through life we are sure to get caught and when we get caught there is so much that we lose like; respects, trust, accountability, and the opportunity of ever getting any better because nobody want to be with a cheater.

                                                  QUOTE:

This is such a great quote. What it says is true the only way to get something done is by doing it. And if what you want to be is successful than you have to work hard for it because dreaming will not get you nowhere in this world but hard work will.

3. Are Willing To Prepare

High achievers are willing to prepare for anything that comes there way, they are always ready tests or pop quizzes because they are prepared. Being prepared is very important especially for high achievers because you never really know how much being unprepared will affect you until you see the consequences for not being prepared. When you are prepared you ahead of the game, you’re not behind worried about how you’re going to catch up and keeping up with the work that they already have. Being prepared also helps you accomplish your goals because you are able to plan ahead and make time for them and easily accomplish them without any rush.

Quote:

                  

This quote shows that when you’re prepared nothing will go wrong. Luck will be with you if you are prepared contrary to when you aren’t. When you are not prepared everything seems to be going wrong and you are most likely do something wrong, that is why it is always important to be prepared.

4. Are Willing to Risk Failure

Not everything you do will be successful, sometimes we are going to fail but just because we fail we shouldn’t give up. Failure may not feel great but there is always something that can be learned from it, we must always look at the possibilities of thing and know that we might possible fail. I’m not saying be negative, but we should keep in our mind that there is always a possibility of it. Failure is not always bad it teaches us how to do better, what changes we need to make and makes us look at things from a different view. Even if we fail we can always go back retry it that is the best thing, if we fail one or twice, when we go and do it again we will know what to do to not mess up again. For example inventors, do you think that every invention comes out perfect the first time? Of course not that is why they call it a prototype because they know that there is always the possibility of their invention failing and even if their invention does fail they don’t just give up on it, they find other ways to make it better until it is perfect.

QUOTE: 

I like this quote because it shows that you must always be willing to take risks even if you know that you might fail at it. Failure is risk taking and taking risks can take you far, it can really teach you things. Failure is also another way to learn when we fail we learn how to do things better and also to never give up because you will get where ever it is that you are trying to reach, it doesn’t matter how many times you fail what matters is that you keep trying and that you don’t give up on it.

5. Are Teachable

If you want to be a high achiever and be successful then you8 have to be willing to learn. To be a high achiever you need to listen to people and let them teach you things because they have experience and they can tell you what mistakes they made or how they dealt with a problem. You can learn some many things from other people experiences. It’s important that you can be taught and you’re not being ignorant or rude when someone is trying to teach you something. Also when you learn from a young age you will not feel or stressed out when problems present themselves in the future. You must also learn to take advice and know who to take advice from because sometimes the wrong person can give you wrong advice. When learning from someone, anything, I think it is always important that that person has experience and that they have faced problems because this way they can really give a sense of whatever you trying to learn is like.

Quote:

6. Have Heart

What this is saying is that high achievers need be kind, being kind is a virtue that we all need to have. When we’re kind to people we make people feel good and we also make ourselves feel good too. When you are a kind person who does the right thing many people like and also they look up to you but if you’re choosing the wrong and being greedy, nobody is going to want to be around you. To have heart can also mean that you take the time to help someone out or listen to them if that’s what they need. Another way to show you have heart is to show passion and determination on your goals, we must not let anything get in the way of us achieving our goals and making our dreams come true.

Overall Reflection: These six attitudes will help me become a high achieving person. I will incorporate these six pillars in to my daily life and strive to become the best high achiever I can be. I think that with these six attitudes anyone can become a high achiever and have a great future. I have confidence that I will become a high achiever when I grow up. I will also need to set my goals and work hard to achieve each and every one of them, no one said that it would be easy but I am sure that with hard work and dedication I will make it. One of the Six Attitudes that I like is Do What They Fear. I like this one because everyone needs to be willing to take risk and do what they fear. If we only stay in our comfort zone we won’t learn new things and truly see what the world has to offer.