If you ever wanted to improve your results in life, you've probably come across the classic self-help book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey. The title alone inspires and sparks interest: what are those 7 habits and how can I make them mine, right?
If we were, to sum up in one word what Dailygreatness is about, it would be effectiveness. We provide practical tools for being more effective.
Today, we pay tribute to Steven Covey's personal development classic as we take a look at his 7 habits and how you can use your Dailygreatness edition to apply these to your life.
Habit 1. Be Proactive
Personal growth requires you to be proactive; change doesn’t happen on its own. It's entirely up to you to take responsibility for your life. With that said, a big part of proactivity is knowing what you can or can’t control and keeping the focus on what you can change.
The traits of proactivity include decision, responsibility, and persistence. The first step toward proactivity is to move from dependence to independence. Meaning, when you become independent, you live life by your own rules and your own game plan. You are the creator of your reality, nobody else. With this knowledge, you make the decision to proactively work toward your goals.
Dailygreatness Habit
Working with your Dailygreatness edition is confirmation that you are being proactive in your quest to make positive change and be more effective. By making the decision to work on your daily pages, (even on days when you'd rather curl up in bed and binge Netflix) shows personal responsibility and proactivity. Deeply understanding that change doesn't happen overnight but it will happen if you continue to work on yourself, even when it seems like you're at a standstill.
Habit 2. Begin with the end in mind.
Beginning with the end in mind means that you make decisions based on your values and what will feel fulfilling in 5, 10 or 15 years or at the end of your life. It highlights what really matters to you.
These values and standards are your bedrock. By determining what's most important to you, it’s easier to navigate life, especially when a crisis hits. When you're clear on your values and standards, all other choices naturally fall in line. This helps you to avoid the trap of ever climbing a ladder...only to realize it’s leaning against the wrong wall!
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Every Dailygreatness edition starts with clarity worksheets and an overview to define your values, purpose, goals, and mission. Starting with the high level and seeing the big picture means you’re able, to begin with, the end in mind and work backward to construct a plan to execute your vision.
Habit 3: Put first things first.
The third habit has to do with discipline and honoring your agreements, including the ones you have with yourself. Once you’ve defined your vision, there will inevitably be actions to execute. Execution requires discipline. No matter what your goal is, prioritizing the important tasks (putting first things first) is crucial to being effective.
Dailygreatness Habit
In every Dailygreatness edition, Sunday is strategy day, beginning with the weekly check-in and planner. This is designed to help you brainstorm and prioritize the most important actions for the week.
On the daily pages, you’re prompted to write down your top 3 inspired actions or your top 3 priorities each day.
The Business edition of Dailygreatness features a dedicated priority planner to help you prioritize your important tasks as well as delegation, decisions and pending tasks.
Habit 4: Think win-win.
The 4th habit urges us to reframe our thinking to a win-win mindset. A common tendency is to think in terms of winning or losing. But Covey suggests the importance of cooperation and finding the win-win in all situations to be more effective to accomplish more.
When you operate at this win-win level, you know your own worth but you deeply value the contributions of others. In the event of a conflict, you search for solutions that are fair and where there are no losers.
At this point, you may make a move from independence to interdependence: creating relationships that are mutually reliant on each other in a healthy, productive way.
Dailygreatness Habit
The Dailygreatness concept is a targeted method to work on ourselves first. As a result, we build our self-esteem and in turn creates healthier relationships. This empowers us to more readily and easily find win-win opportunities with those around us and partnerships that expand our options in life and business.
Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
The heart of this habit is about listening. First seek to listen and understand others, before seeking to be understood. This habit is easier said than done because it requires a level of maturity, self-awareness and time to master.
This trait is the hallmark of great leadership. When one can actively listen to those around them, it makes it easier to uncover the essence of what is being said and make informed, effective decisions.
This habit also includes listening to yourself. By tuning in and listening to your intuition and acting on your own needs, you make space to achieve in accordance with your innermost needs and desires.
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The self-reflection questions each evening help you to contemplate how you showed up during your day with all the people in your life (including yourself). If there is any dysfunction or "drama", the simple act of bringing your awareness to these issues starts the process of change.
Habit 6: Synergize.
This fascinating principle asks you to find synergy in all relationships and situations. What is synergy, you ask? Simply put, it means the whole is greater than its parts. When you join forces with others, you can create something bigger than each individual for a shared and beneficial purpose. At this level, you operate on respect, co-operation, and trust. This level could be characterized as strength as you are always looking for ways to strengthen and co-operate and to make something even better.
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As you gain more self-awareness from using Dailygreatness edition, you start to naturally feel more secure in all areas of life. Instead of feeling vulnerable or living defensively, you develop an inner strength that allows you to grow from any experience, positive or negative. You're able to co-operate with others on an entirely new level, based on mutual trust, respect and shared values.
When you master this principle and surround yourself with inspired people, you see goals materialise much faster. A synergised team is much stronger than any one individual.
Habit 7: Sharpen the saw.
The last and final habit is all about creating a solid foundation and maintaining that foundation by continually "sharpening the saw."
Building a solid foundation through self-care and self-reflection practices (such as exercise, meditation, contemplation, inspiration and relaxation) you keep your body, mind, relationships and spirituality in balance.
Taking care of yourself in this profound way gives you the energy to execute your plans and to be highly effective in the world. Without this final habit, all other habits are ineffectual.
Simply put: self-maintenance leads to mastery.
Dailygreatness Habit
By turning up to your Dailygreatness edition each day, you're sharpening the saw through reflection, renewal, and self-care. Every day, your foundation becomes stronger and more solid.
Being highly effective day after day in a consistent way is how you achieve your goals, live with passion and purpose, contribute in a way that feels fulfilling and make an impact that may just lead to a legacy that endures long after you are gone.
Not bad for a simple practice that only takes 10-15 minutes a day. Some would even say, that’s time well-spent!
