The seven habits of highly effective people

The seven habits of highly effective people

Psychology

These principles give us the security to adapt to change, the wisdom and the power to seize the opportunities that change creates.

We all like to feel effective and efficient, both personally and professionally. And what differences are there between one and the other? According to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, efficacy refers to the “ability to achieve the desired or expected effect”, while efficiency is defined by this body as the “ability to have someone or something to achieve a determined effect ‘.

And every lover of self-help reading knows the book ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’, written by Stephen Covey. In this 500-page tome the author presents a holistic, integrated, and principle-centered approach to solve personal and professional problems. With insightful insights and anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step path to living with equity, integrity, service, and human dignity: principles that provide us with the security to adapt to change and change. wisdom and the power to seize the opportunities that change creates.

The good thing about these habits, as the psychologist Beatriz Gil Bóveda (@ psique.cambio), who specializes in leadership and personal development, says, is that they can be learned and then forget about them, and it does not mean that learning is fast or comfortable … “It involves a process and a very large commitment,” the expert warns.

Let’s see what the seven habits of stephen covey:

1. Be proactive. In addition to taking the initiative, take responsibility for your own life: for your decisions and choices.

What the psychologist says. “I propose that you focus your energy on your circle of influence, rather than your circle of concern. The latter takes into account all the things that concern us, what takes us away from sleep, what we cannot control but still occupies time and effort in our mind. The circle of influence refers to those things that we can do something about. A proactive and effective person focuses on his circle of influence, that is, on solving the things that he can really act on and not on worrying about the things that he cannot control or solve. Take care instead of worrying, ”explains Beatriz Gil Bóveda.

2. Start with an end in mind. Work on your vision being very clear about your objective. This will help you every step of the way to steer you in the right direction.

What the psychologist says. “Starting with an end in mind means knowing your destination. Know where you are going and always take the right steps in the right direction. We can be very efficient doing many things, but we will only be really effective when we start with the end in mind and clearly know what we want, ”says the expert.

3. Put First Things First. In order to manage yourself, you need the discipline to be able to prioritize day-to-day activities. It is the discipline of carrying out what is important and freeing yourself from the tyranny of the urgent.

What the psychologist says. According to Beatriz Gil Bóveda, identifying the different roles in your life (work, leisure, husband, children…) will help you not to neglect any and maintain a balance between them. It is important to know how to distinguish between what is urgent, what is important: “Sometimes we spend our time attending to urgent tasks, which are not really important and do not make us move towards our goal.”

4. Think about winning. Commit to creating ‘win-win’ scenarios where any solution or agreement satisfies both parties.

What the psychologist says. In the relationship with others there are 4 options:

– Lose / Lose: I don’t mind losing as long as you lose too.

– Lose / Win: I will let you win and I lose.

– Win / Lose: even if I win, you will lose at all costs.

– Win / Win: Can we do something to mutually benefit each other? “If you think of mutual benefit, you will develop an abundance mentality, a bi-winner mentality. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts “, advises the specialist.

5. Try first to understand and then to be understood. It is the essence of respect for others, the need we have to be cared for is one of the most intense feelings of all human beings.

What the psychologist says. Listen and really connect, trying to understand the point of view of others. “We do not all have the same mental map and the same paradigms and we tend to think that there is an absolute truth for everything and the discussions tend to focus on seeing who is right. Each person, due to their education, fears or beliefs, sees things and acts differently, sometimes totally differently, ”he recommends.

6. Synergy. Cultivate the ability and attitude to value diversity. The synthesis of divergent ideas produces better and superior ideas than individual ideas.

What the psychologist says. «Go out into the streets, meet people, have new experiences, expand your circle of acquaintances and friends … In this way you improve your ability and your attitude when it comes to valuing other people, other thoughts, other paradigms. Adding up different good ideas always produces better ideas, “he proposes.

7. Sharpen the saw. Renew yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually. It is what will allow you to establish a balance between all the dimensions of your being, in order to be effective in the different roles that you play.

What the psychologist says. “If a lumberjack doesn’t sharpen his saw, he won’t be able to cut trees, or at least not at the same rate. Taking time to recharge the batteries, think, reflect and analyze, is essential to continue moving forward, “he concludes.

Although all of them together guarantee an important change, these formulas can be carried out little by little in a fragmented way and as you progress in one habit, start with the next.