7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Restoring the Character Ethic

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Restoring The Character Ethic By Stephen R. Covey While I was reading ‘The 7 habits of highly effective people’ by Stephen R. Convey, many things were running through my mind. Stephen R. Convey’s words encourages us to live our life by some specific â€Å"principles† which can represent our overall effectiveness as a human in individual or social context. This book helps us to know â€Å" How our habits can affect our character† and â€Å" How our character can affect our destiny†. I am completely agree with Steven R. Convey’s The 7 habits of highly effective people’s principles and will try to evaluate their significance in general life. There are 7 habits mentioned by Steven R. Convey in his book by adopting them in our everyday life we can become highly effective people. He defined Habits as the combination of Knowledge, skills and desire. By adopting all these habits in our everyday life, mentioned in his book, we can move through the maturity continuum day by day. Initially, according to first three habits of Convey, we move from dependence to Independence (private victory) and later by four habits we move from Independence to Interdependence (public victory). In his words, â€Å" How we apply a principle will vary greatly and will be determined by our unique strengths, talents, and creativity, but, ultimately, success in any endeavour is always derived from acting in harmony with the principles to which the success is tied. † I like the Convey’s style of writing and the way he structured his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The words he used and the forms in which they are used are very simple and different from what we are used to seeing today’s literature. I think, this is one of the main reason why Stephen R. Convey is on the bestseller lists having sold more than fifteen Millon copies. Every single people in the world, who want to be a leader in personal and professional level want to know more about Stephen R. Convey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. PARADIGM The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People begins with the notion that every people perceive the world differently. They have their own unique â€Å"lens† to view the world, so; it’s nearly impossible to separate observation from the observer. In Convey view, all of us have our own paradigm. In general sense, paradigm is a way we see the world around us in terms of perceiving, understanding and interpreting, not in terms of visual sense of sight. Convey writes, â€Å" Depend on our way to see things, our behaviour and attitude change. The way we perceive things is the main source of the way we think and act toward that situation. † These paradigms are the main source for defining our behaviour and attitude towards any particular situation. I quite agree with his statement, that we cannot act and think outside of the paradigm in which we find ourself. It’s true that we cannot talk and walk differently than what we seeing and perceiving in any moment. We can try to change our outward behaviour and attitude for very little time but finally we have to find out actual paradigms from which those behaviour and attitude flows, because in the long run we can’t sustained same attitude and behaviour for paradigm different than the one where these attitude and behaviour actually belong. PARADIGM SHIFT Thomas Kuhn was very highly influential author who introduced ‘Paradigm Shift’ words first time into his own book: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Kuhn mentioned in this book that for every breakthrough in any field of human endeavour is start by breaking old and traditional paradigms. Convey tell this paradigm Shift as an â€Å"Aha† experience, when someone sees the picture from another view or angle. It has been observed that if a person is more bound to his initial perception, this ‘Aha’ experience is more intensive in his case. Its true in my case as well, I often felt this Aha’ experience many times in my life. Whenever my paradigm shifts, I see things differently, and because I see differently, I feel differently, and because I feel differently I behave differently. During this paradigm shift process, I don’t have to worry about controlling my behaviour and attitude; they change by themselves. According to convey, sometime s just a little knowledge is quite enough to examine our paradigm shift and sometimes people need life threatening experiences or complete role change in a their life to realise paradigm shift. As we know, many people want to be successful and effective in their respected lives. They have some desires, goals and dreams to full fill but they are reluctant to honestly examine our own paradigm. They are unwilling to look at the things in the way they supposed to look. This can be easily understood by the story of the manager, who was taking management training classes and seminars. Although, he was very friendly with his employees but he never seen any sign of loyalty and responsibility from his employees toward him. He knew, that if he took a day off from his work, his employees would spend all day by walking and talking around water cooler. Convey suggest the manager to ask some question to himself before asking anything to employees like, â€Å" Despite, having friendly behaviour of my, are they disloyal employees so bold to ask me why I am treating them like a mechanical objects? † Having Knowledge of our own paradigm is good in many ways. By knowing our paradigm can help us to understand how we can interact with others, and that will help us to know how they interact with us. So, Convey suggests, we must examine own paradigm, motives and character. In my opinion, Convey is right. In our life, sometimes we have to examine our own paradigm first, and then put feet on someone else shoes. INSIDE-OUT APPROACH There is one ‘Inside-out’ approach mentioned by Stephen R. Convey. This Inside-out approach says that, â€Å" Every self-help program should begin with the Inside of man. Which mean if you want to have happy marriage relationship; we must start from ourself to cherish our relation. We shouldn’t expect or wait for our partner to do something for our relationship. SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People suggest us to implement all 7 habits into our life for being an effective people. First three habits mentioned by R. Convey are habits of independence. They will help us to achieve private victory or self-mastery. The remaining habits mentioned by Convey are habits of interdependence or public victory. These remaining four habits help us to effectively work with others. And I think its quite true, an any individual person who might be very good independently, but he is not good enough to think and act interdependently could be good individual producer but he can’t be good team member or team leader. HABITS OF INDEPENDENCE Habit 1: Be Proactive Convey says, each person has two circles around him, first circle is circle of influence and second circle is circle of concern. He says, if you worry endlessly about outside of your circle of influence then you never be proactive. If we work within our circle of influence than we will be very proactive. Moreover, the more effective we become, the more our circle of influence will expand. He tells us to be proactive in every situation. We should take the full responsibility of our actions. We are fully responsible for whatever happens to us in our life. We should believe in ourself to shape up our future. We are the only one who knows our strengths and weakness. We can understand our abilities only in difficult problems because this problem makes us solve it by different-different approaches. And during this time we know more about our own physical and mental abilities and skills. I can elaborate this proactive-ness by giving my latest life experience. I enrolled in Leadership and Responsibility subject, for which I am writing this response paper. Our teacher Tom Anderson have told us before that, we have to one write 3000 words response paper after reading Stephen R. Convey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Although, I bought this book at the beginning of my semester but I never read it. I was thinking that I have plenty of time to read it. I started reading this book just before 3 week from my final date. And I knew, that my actual job was not to prepare this response paper of 3000 words. But, I had to read Convey’s 7 habits and applied them in my daily behaviour (Which I will do later on my summer vacations). Anyway, I was telling you about proactive-ness by my example. As you can see if I start reading this novel after few more days I won’t be able to submit my assignment on time. And, I might fail this subject. No one going to be responsible for failing this subject because I had my books on time and I had plenty of time. Just because I didn’t take my action on right time I could failed that subject. Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind â€Å"Begin with the end in mind† habits mean that whatever we do in our life, we should have clear picture about our goal. Convey says that some people start climbing the ladder of success and finally when they reach at the top they find that ladder was leaning against the wrong wall. As we all want to be very efficient and effective in our task. We can be very efficient but we can truly effective when we begin with the end in mind. And for setting ‘end in mind’ Convey suggests a process ‘Visualization’. Visualization is a process in which we visualize achieving our final goal like any athletic, performer and sales representative. Doing this process of visualization we create an internal â€Å"comfort zone† and when we find our self in final situation, we not find it completely foreign. It doesn’t scare us. In our daily life, mostly we all apply this habit of visualization in some extend. This visualization helps us to plan and schedule in advance before start our journey. As you can see in my previous example, I started reading this The7 Habits of Highly Effective People, just 3 weeks ago my paper submission due date. Otherwise, I have to request my lecturer to extend my submission date. I have visualised my plan and schedule in my mind before start reading my Stephen R. Convey’s book. Habit 3: Put First Things First After Habits 2 ‘Begin with the end in mind’ comes habit 3 ‘Put First Things first’. Perhaps after applying habit 2 or visualisation process we can have many things to do at same time. They all can be significant and can have positive impact on our life. But, probably we don’t do them because they aren’t urgent for us. We should know how & when we have to organise our priorities according to our needs. Sometimes we aren’t good in prioritising things and we realised the importance of it unless we end up in trouble paying for them. It’s really important for us to practice this habit as much as we can in our life. For example, my friends were calling me for going to night club with them on this coming Saturday, but going to night club is not so much important for me as much as I have to finish this response paper before its due date. So, finishing my Assignment on time is at the top of my priorities list. HABITS OF INTERDEPENDENCE Habit 4: Think Win/Win Convey points out that there are two kinds of people some are those who think Win/Win and other are those who think Win/Loss. The people who think Win/Win are those who are not selfish, they seeking mutually benefits for all. And people who think Win/Loss are those who are selfish. They always think about their own benefits, they don’t care about others. They believe that, ‘if I win, you lose’. People who think Win/Lose can be extremely effective, but they have trouble making good relationship. They people mainly focus on power and credentials, and sometimes these things drive other people away from them. To be successful, we should know, how to utilize strengths of others and how you can be benefits for them. We must find the Win/Win situation every time. Lets take an example of any organisation, in which business owner don’t share his profit with his employees. He enjoys all the profits generated by his employees’ hard work and dedication. He is thinking Win/Lose. So, what do you think, after sometime will his employees feel dedicative and cooperative towards him? I am sure he will not succeed in his business in long run, if he continuously being selfish. He should realised soon that overall performance will always good than individual performance. Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood In this habit ‘Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood’ convey suggests that, if we really want to think in Win/Win way than we should be very good listener. If we will not listen to anyone then how we will discover Win/Win deals. Most of the time we just pretend to be listening, actually we are busy in preparing our next sentence. In any communication we shouldn’t pretend to be active listener. In experts view, only 10% communication based on verbal, 30% by tones of our sound and rest 60% by our body language. In empathic listening, we usually use our ears with our eyes and heart. We can take an example of a Doctor, in his profession he should be very good listener. If any patient comes to meet him, he should have to listen him very carefully to know his problem and pain. If he won’t listen him carefully than this doctor can’t diagnose his patient properly. Habit 6: Synergize In Collins Dictionary, Synergy means the potential ability for individuals or groups to be more successful working together than on their own. This habit enclosed all the above habits mentioned above. After listening carefully to others we can combine and can work together for common goals. Convey says that we human have our own mental, emotional and psychological difference. And, for working together we should understand each other values completely so that no conflict will generate. When we work as a team member during any group assignment, we must ignore someone’s weakness and should strengthen his strength. Every group member has his or her different habit, values, behaviour and culture. So it’s common to have conflicts. By applying all the above habits (specially Synergize) we can resolve all the conflicts and work toward achieving our final assignment. Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw This is the last and most important Habit mentioned by Stephen R. Coney in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. As we have seen in Habit 3: Put First Things First, we must maintain Productivity (P) with future Product Capability (PC). â€Å"Sharpen the Saw,† means self –renewal. We must take out some time to harness our skills. Just like a machine, we will wear out very soon if we continuously work, so, we must take out some time to relax and learn new skills. It will improve us to be more productive in later stages. Convey defined four dimensions for personal renewal: Physical Renewal (do exercise, good food and control stress) Mental Renewal (Read, Visualize and Plan) Social or Emotional Renewal (Communicate with others) Spiritual Renewal (Religion, kindness, altruistic) CONCLUSION The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is a magnum opus written by Stephen R. Convey. The language of this book is very simple and easy to understand. I would recommend this book to everyone whether he is a man or woman, boy or girl and young or old. Convey has provided numerous life-based examples, which make this book easier to understand. In my view, he has done an outstanding job in trying to improve individual’s life. This book: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is a real source for empowering individuals, families, society and business. REFERENCES (1) Stephen R. Convey (2004), The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Deed of Undertaking Essay

Do hereby given an undertaking as under:- 1) That I have passed Xth std. / XIIth std. Examination through (Name of the School) Villa Theresa High School Is situated in Taluka Mumbai Dist. Mumbai City StateMaharashtra 2) That I am desires to take admission in Std. XI/XII in Jr. College (Name of the Jr. College) for the Academic Year 2014-2015 3) That while taking admission, I am required to furnish following documents. i) Statement of Marks of the last public Examination / Statement of marks of Std. XI th Examination of the Jr. College (Home Exam) ii) Passing certificate of the last public Examination iii) School leaving Certificate/Transfer Certificate. iv) Migration Certificate in Original 4) That I am also aware that my admission, is provisional and that the Jr. College shall have every right to assess independently, the truthfulness and the correctness of the documents mentioned at Serial Number (3) of this undertaking. That in the event, if it is subsequently found out by the Jr. College/Board that the particulars furnished in the admission form or the documents furnished while seeking admission are false and fabricated, in that event Jr. College authorities will have right to take action against me, including right to cancel the admission. 5) I am also fully aware of the fact that the Jr. College has given me provisional admission subject to grant of eligibility certificate by the Mumbai Divisional Boar, Vashi, Navi Mumbai – 400 703 of Maharashtra State  Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education having its Head Office situated at Bhambhurda Shivajinagar, Pune – 411004. 6) In case if the Divisional Board reject my application, submitted through the Head of the Jr. College for grant of Eligibility Certificate, my admission to the Jr. College shall stand automatically cancelled. 7) In case if the Divisional Board grants me Eligibility Certificate with instructions to furnish certain documents within stipulated period, I here by undertake to fulfil the requirement within the stipulated time limit. 8) I am aware of the fact that, in case, if I fail to furnish the required documents within the stipulated time I shall not be eligible for admission in the Jr. College and as such my admission shall stand automatically cancelled. That I have read the contents of the undertaking and has properly understood the same and in witness whereof had signed on this Deed of Undertaking on this day of 2014 at place

Church Pays Tribute to a Man Whose Home Was Its Steps

A vast majority of people are of the idea that homeless people should struggle to get a job, and that they are homeless because they are lazy. The reality is different from what is commonly thought. No one becomes homeless by choice. There may be a thousand reasons as to why a person is homeless. Instead of criticism, long-term assistance by those who can provide guidance is required. It is a fact that runaway criminals may disguise themselves as homeless, but not all homeless are criminals. Another misconception is that all homeless people are alcoholics or drug abusers.This again is a misunderstanding. The reality is that this can happen to any one of us at any stage in life, as there is no intention or will involved in becoming homeless. At the same time it is a fact that these homeless are in continuous struggle to carry on with their life, facing problems in abundance. A few things should be kept in mind before helping this class of society. Instead of helping them in the form o f money, the society should help them with things they need. Helping a homeless by buying for him his breakfast is better than giving him money to buy that breakfast himself.The reason is that many homeless are involved in unlawful activities or addicted to drugs and if money is given directly, the result is more drug addiction instead of satiety. Shelter is another problem, especially in the winter season. Provision of health services to the homeless is a challenge for the medical community. Those who are addicted to drugs, or are affected by an illness need to be managed properly. Just like the common people, these homeless have needs which in a sense are special to these homeless.It is not only the responsibility of the government to cater for these need, but the society is also under obligation to share this responsibility, for improving the living conditions of the homeless. Question 1: What kind of intervention, if any, would be appropriate here? The self-destructive behavior of Arthur Cafiero was perhaps promoted by his loneliness. A lot of people were around him, but perhaps he never felt close enough to anyone to share what he wanted, or simply to share the problems he was facing.His intentions for suicide were not taken seriously. Who knows why was he willing to commit suicide? Was he affected by a psychiatric disease? Depression? Or was it a feeling of being useless for anyone or doing anything? An attempt to look for the root cause of his problems was the first thing that should have been done. Justifying one’s death by saying that he was willing to die, clearly implies that no one showed interest in knowing the cause of his problems. He was offered shelter, but he refused it.Good counseling by an expert mental health care physician would have shown better results. Refusal can be converted to acceptance by letting a person realize that what is being offered to him, is nothing else but his own need which should be fulfilled under all conditio ns. Question 2: Do you agree with what Mr. Brashear says about Arthur Cafieros choices? Why or why not? Arthur Cafieros appears to be the kind of person who is very much limited to himself. He has a complicated personality.On one hand he dislikes taking favors by refusing to take shelter, but on the other hand he returns the burger saying it has less amount of meat. It appears that Mr. Cafieros is not clear about his preferences. Showing resistance against police officer’s actions may mean he was afraid of their actions or that he had no trust in them. Taking an action that defends one’s right does not make him proud as Mr. Brashear mentioned in his words. It might be his love for justice and an attempt to keep this matter in his control. Reference Newman, A. (2003). `Church Pays Tribute to a Man Whose Home Was Its Steps.` The New York Times.

(Public Health) Provide and overview of the development of the public Essay

(Public Health) Provide and overview of the development of the public health movement from the Nineteenth Century to the present day., - Essay Example The major ingredients of an individual's health are nutritional, spiritual, intellectual and of course physical. Through the centuries, there have been various far-reaching and historic developments in this realm, which have made the health sector look like what it looks today. Some consider public health to be a contemporary concept, although it has its foundations way back in time. First, appreciating the essence of public health is important. It basically establishes parameters around the things we do in the world. This can be at the state level, at well at the societal level. However, the more integral thing to understand here is that whereas public health itself is ratified by the governing authority, yet it stems from within the values of the society itself. Thus it takes the form of a cycle, in which all entities become inter-dependent. Taking an imaginary starting point in this circle, the factors start to become prominent within a social group. These are then highlighted at the appropriate levels, and take a more potent form. Religious beliefs, superstitions, moral values, customs of service, all contribute to the same. The colonization that happened in the previous century is a very good example. All the European powers who administered their might over the rest of the world initially went in as economic traders. They stayed in that country for sometime, and tried to understand their emotional climate. Subsequently, they put actions to their thoughts, and militarized their expeditions. The impact of their stay on the now independent colonies is still visible. The places, which had the same culture and customs for centuries, now were changed immensely due to their new leaders. When people at appropriate levels begin to establish the true societal norms of a community, then half the job is done. But the other half remains a much more crucial and even controversial entity. If the established norms would have stayed the same all these centuries, then the world would not be witnessing so much disparity in today's date. The fact of the matter remains that there has been constant change in the paradigm of public health for various cultures. But the establishment of this change has not been easy. Sometimes, it has just taken the normal course of the 'time factor' wherein things gradually mould into the new shape. However, there remains a more abrupt and definitive means of change, which has met its opposition all this while. The reason is simple; as norms are largely based on people's beliefs, therefore so is public health, if anybody attempts to make any change in the same, then their action would be met with opposition. This is more so true in today's age, wherein the global village now exists beyond a metaphor. A person sitting in any part of the world can find about the customs and tradition of the other at an equally diverse area. The human body is susceptible to any new stimulus. Therefore, now people begin to look for common grounds as human beings, something that was only a dream only a couple of decades ago. Technology has brought new life into the concept of public health. Now terms like abortion and euthanasia may still be taboo in a place, but there would be people who will lend an ear if a movement regarding the same would be in process. This is a direct stance against the conventional system of policy based on values. Understanding, studying, analyzing and most importantly applying public health is therefore imperative for the growth and evolution

Ethics in Business Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethics in Business - Research Paper Example One of the most important qualities a business leader must have to remain ethical is the ability to maintain divided and often contradictory loyalties. When thought about most basically, a business leader is often a middle person between two other groups who have mutually opposing desires: board members who would like maximization of profits, and employees who want to maximize their own value for work. If imagined in the utmost simplicity, shareholders would prefer that all work be done for free so long as the quality remains sufficient, and employees would all prefer that they get paid for nothing, and these are incompatible goals. One of the fundamental problems for a business leader is how to treat both of these groups ethically. Many business leaders have a fiduciary responsibility to stockholders to maximize their profits while also having an ethical, legal, and often business interest in keeping the workforce happy and healthy.There have been several suggested solutions to thes e problems, which would allow a business leader to think of these competing interests as part of the same goal. Amongst the most prominent of these is stakeholder theory. This theory essentially states that many of these conflicts can be dealt with theoretically by imagining everyone involved as being â€Å"stakeholders,† whose interests must be collectively guarded. Firstly, it can have a paralytic effect (Heath 2006), because it does not deal with the fact that individual stakeholders will still have competing goals.

What is enterprise infrastructure Research Paper

What is enterprise infrastructure - Research Paper Example Enterprise infrastructure is stated to be the technology backbone of modern business (IT World Canada, 2011). According to Camp (2004), a blueprint of the enterprise infrastructure, known as enterprise architecture, forms the basis of an organisation’s Information Technology planning. A complex infrastructure is usually found in an e-business environment. Web services are being increasingly used for putting e-businesses on the Web, as well as enabling users: either humans or other Web services to use them. â€Å"Web service refers to a business or computational function delivered using standard web technology such as HTTP (Hypertext transfer protocol), XML (Extensible markup language), and SOAP (Simple object access protocol)† (Sahai & Graupner, 2005, p.5). Web services have to be interfaced with the internal business processes to receive, fulfill and deliver orders. IT World Canada (2011) states that business process improvement software, business performance management and other enterprise infrastructure software are essential for Thus, the logical business processes, the Web services and the operation of enterprise infrastructure require the support of hardware, software, as well as humans. For example, an e-business infrastructure would include â€Å"web sites, web server farms, applications servers (J2EE, .Net) and business processes execution platforms such as Process Manager, MQSeries, and Web Method (Sahai & Graupner, 2005, p.44). Further, management of enterprise infrastructure includes desktop, data storage systems, networks, and the reduction of complexity and costs including minimizing the number of people required to efficiently operate the enterprise IT sytems. This paper has higlighted enterprise infrastructure and its components; and examined the need for its management, for achieving best outcomes in e-businesses. With the transformation of information technology from

Critically assess the impact of the Hague-Visby Rules in relation to Essay

Critically assess the impact of the Hague-Visby Rules in relation to duties of a carrier - Essay Example Introduction Before and at the start of 19th century , a bill of lading offered by a ship owner contained wide exclusion clauses due to which a genuine claim cannot be made against the carrier in case if there was a loss or damage to the cargoes. The Hague Rules were consented in an international conference held at Brussels in the year 1924, and it is concerned with the accountability for damage or loss to goods carried by a ship under a bill of lading. The Hague regulations were intended to be applicable to all exports from any country, which acknowledged The Hague regulations. ... It is to be observed that 1968 amendment which is known as Hague-Visby Rules (hither after will be referred as HvR) advocated a variety of changes which is intended to be applicable to all bills of lading where (a) the shipment is made from a port of a nation which ratified it, b) if the place of issue of bill of lading is in a ratifying country and c) where the Hague-Visby Rules are applicable to the bill of lading contractually1. 2. The impact of the Hague-Visby Rules in relation to duties of a carrier 2.1 The main objectives of the HvR The main aim of the HvR is to modify The Hague Rules since there were lot critiques especially about the rules on restriction of liability per package or per kilo as the quantum of restriction was too little and less due to technological advancement like usage of pallets, use of containers, etc which demonstrated that the present rules were not adequate and hence, appropriate reforms were introduced through Hague –Visby Rules2. 2.2 Scope of a pplication of HvR HvR is applicable only for contract of carriage where there is a bill of lading or port of loading should be within a contracting State. Thus, HvR is not applicable to a contract of voyage if the port of loading is situated in a non-contracting State to a port of discharge, which is situated in a contracting State. Bill of lading is the essential criteria for the application of HvR. In Pyrene Co Ltd v Scindia Navigation Co3, though, Art 1 (b) demands that contract of carriage is applicable only to contracts of carriage covered by a bill of lading, when an accident happened in the above case, no bill of lading was issued by the career, and it was held by the court that the carriage was yet