Stephen Covey- The 7 habits of Highly Effective poeple

My thoughts after reading first 12 pages of the “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” novel are as follows:

Common practices are in stark contrast from principled solutions and ineffective people are ruled by the below factors such as:

1.    Fear and Insecurity -  Most of our daily life is spent on securing our future, our possession, our relations. We are always worried of losing what we already have and most of the times this acts as a major impediment to achieve anything new or even learn anything new. One has to go beyond fear and naturally this will also help in feeling secure which in turn will help in creating a positive mindset, a open mind to accept new challenges (to accept challenges instead of seeing them as threats and staying in our own cocoon) and continuously learn to adapt ourselves to changes.

2.    Impatience and short term satisfactions - Whatever we want, we want it right now. People say it is the whole generation problem. We say why wait when we deserve to get everything that we ask for. Well, if I alone decide that “ I deserve” no wonder that I will get impatient -  fundamentals are wrong here don’t you think. We should let our actions decide for us, we must constantly reinvent and re-educate ourselves to survive. It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but rather the one most adaptable to change. So lets set a long term goal to survive in the toughest of competition by putting in our efforts in a steady manner to adapt with patience.

3.    Blame and victimization - Blame and victimization has never done any good to anyone till date. It is like our soap operas, dramatic and never ending. Its very easy to blame outside factors (other people, outside situation etc) and crying over getting victimized. However, both are a waste of time and energy, which will many times lead to troubled image of self and gets the worst of every relationship. So any situation should be handled in a objective manner to solve instead of blaming or victimizing.

4.    Hopelessness - If only our ancestors had resented to “Hopelessness” during their tough times, human species would have been wiped off the our planet. We are the same species who have fought famines, earth quakes, ferocious animals, oceans, bloody long wars and we have almost lost every possession, loved ones still we survive. We have to face life as long as we are alive and hope is believe me the best companion that has been with us all our lives right from Adam and Eve. Reminds me of a famous quote from Shawshank Redemption Movie "hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies".

5.    Lack of life balance - What’s important in life keeps changing every second is what we think, we also feel that once we achieve a particular goal we will be happy and that what we want in life but don’t you think that we get carried away in achieving the goal so much that we actually forget the main point as to why we set out to achieve that goal. Happiness is state that everyone has to be in, that they have to strive to achieve. This fact has been acknowledged even by great psychologist like Abraham Maslow during his last few days on Earth and this fact has also been very beautifully included even in United Stated Declaration of Independence by saying “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness “. If  even the most capitalistic country includes this in their Independence declaration  then don’t you think this is something that everyone has to strive to achieve!

6.    Selfishness - Selfishness has ruined kingdoms, has made brothers kill each other, has broken many beautiful relationships. But even after doing the worst deeds that anyone could imagine, owner of selfishness has never been at peace. Because happiness, peace are those things that can be achieved by being selfless, by helping others, by growing together, by achieving together like we are doing in IU.

7.    Hunger to be understood - We will never listen to anyone but we surely expect and hope that the whole world listens to us. First thing we should understand is it’s mutual relationship, once we listen to people and empathize with them, am sure they will reciprocate the same.

8.    Conflict and Differences - I found this idea the most interesting and though provoking because here the author introduce a great idea which could not only solve all our personal, professional problem but if this idea is made the barometer am sure we can solve most of the problems faced in our World today and in future too.
Differences are a part of life as every person has lot in common and magnificently lot more differences. Conflict is a natural outcome of these differences but right now the best way conflicts are solved is by compromising, where in the parties involved reach an acceptable lower point and neither gets what they had started with or better. This art of compromising is a waste of the magnificent differences we have inherited, only by mutually cooperating and creating a solution which is greater than the sum of both our differences will lead us to use this great human ability. The outcome of this “creative cooperation” cannot always be measured in terms of numbers like most of the best things in life yet like we strive for these priceless moments we have to try and make best use of the differences that we all are gifted with to solve all kinds of problems immaterial of their nature.

9.    Personal Stagnation - Stagnation is not good, it could be harmful enough to cause end to lives. If nature has though us one important thing then that is “ ADAPT”. We have changed, we have adapted and that’s why we are still alive else we would be endangered species too.  We need to continuously change and adapt to survive in this ever fast moving times. Stagnation is not even an option. Beautifully used in one of the Bollywood movie “ I want to fly, I want to run, I even want to fall but I don’t want to just stand”



I would like to leave with awesome lines from the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” -
“ To learn and not to do is really not to learn.
   To know and not to do is really not to know.”

Psychologist Abraham Maslow's HIerarchy of needs

While reading “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” I came across Abraham Maslow, a renowned psychologist. So I looked up to read about him and found that his contribution to the understanding of the human psychology is great and his best work is “ Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs” - a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. Its a pyramid with 5 distinct levels and a human transcends from the bottom most to the top after satisfying the needs in each level, levels here also cover our famous Indian saying“ Roti, Kapda and Makkan”. The 5 levels of the “Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs” from the bottom are

1.    Physiological – At the bottom of the hierarchy there as basic needs such as breathing, food, water, sleep etc
2.    Safety – Second level covers safety of body, employment, resources, morality, family, health and property.
3.    Love/ Belonging – Third level covers various relationship in human life
4.    Esteem – Fourth level covers self- esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, and respect to others.
5.    Self Actualization - Fifth level consists of Morality, Creativity, Spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice and acceptance of facts.

He was initially of the opinion that one person cannot move to a next higher level without fulfilling levels from the bottom of the pyramid. Later he concluded that self-actualization was not an outcome of satisfying the other human needs.

During the end of his life he put happiness, fulfillment and contribution to this posterity ahead of his self-actualization, calling it self- transcendence.

And we call it “Pursuit of Happiness”.

Making a short 1 min clip video

“I am leaving now. Stop me if you want me. because remember if I leave now, I won’t come back!”-This is what ran in my mind every time a minute passed by. And I feel happy to tell that I realized the worth of every single minute today and I dint even waste a single second. I got so much involved in the book “7 habits of highly effective people” that I kept blogging every 10 pages.

 Today I helped my friend take a video for applying for Google student ambassador and wrote the script for him. It was a wonderful experience and we shot one full day for just one minute video and I have started respecting the whole movie making crew which makes a movie for around 3 hours. I understood the value of a director, background music, voice editing, crowd controller, script writer, actor, actress, and cinematographer. This is the first step towards making one of my dreams come true-movie making.

Today was yet another beautiful day and each day is getting better. 

“If you haven’t done any mistake in life, then you haven’t tried anything new and exciting.”My life has been so exciting from past one week.

Adventure continues…..

Learning from the successful people

“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” authored by Mr. Stephen R. Covey is the novel that I chosen to read next. Let me explain why this book instead of numerous books which give a details description about how major Organizations were formed, about the life of the founder on a personal and professional level, S.W.A.T analysis  of the company and so on, I chose this book because I feel people are the center of every achievement till date and like Antony Robbins – author of Unlimited Power and Awake The Giant Within- says “ fundamentals are the key to success” and I strongly believe that understanding the habits of effective people are the fundamentals that a budding achiever has to start with. Once I am done with this book, I would definitely read about the great minds that have changed many lives. But right now it is this one and I hope I learn as much as I wish I could.

Well, let me pen down the habits that I think are the most fundamental of highly effective people so that I can compare once I finish reading the book. According to me the habits of highly effective people are:

1.    Empathetic to people, One who strives for greater good and for symbiotic relationships
2.    Smart worker (combination of goal orientation, long term strategist, great planner and dedicated person)
3.    Great networking skill holder
4.    Ingrained with great value system
5.    A Continuous Learner
6.    Patient (with people, situation, wait for success)
7.    Someone who carves out a better and higher form in future after every failure.

I would like to call it Harshitha's Prediction of 7 habits of highly effective people ;)  :P

Things to learn from people around you

“If you were never rejected, then you never asked for anything”

I spend the whole last night thinking what to gift my friend .I wanted to gift her something different, something productive and useful. I was going through internet and I rightly knew what to give her. The day started off by wishing my closest friend and giving her a very special gift, something that is close to my heart and relevant to my dreams. I gifted her 2 plants. She thanked me for giving her such a wonderful gift and she said that it was the best ever gift she had ever got! It made me happy to see my dear friend be a part of my dreams of making “Namma Bengaluru” greener.

“Set a limit line and ensure no one crosses it”. You won’t have value if you don’t cut in boundaries in your life. You look around and there are millions of things that inspire you. Look at the friends around you. You could learn so much from them. Here are the list of things I learnt from my friends

I leant from Aditi to be caring at any point in time not to lose patience and never give up!

I learnt from Aishwarya to concentrate at one work at a time and to excel in it and move to the next one.

I learnt from Anusha to be sportive, energetic and ask for something if you don’t know to work it out.

I learnt from Bhavava to manage multiple important tasks at a time and to dream Big.

I learnt from Harikiran to overcome the fear and the only solution is to face it.

I learnt from Nikhil to embed in you the helping nature, great articulation skills and to be honest.

I learn from Rajath that nothing is impossible if you believe you can do it.

I learnt from Spoorthi to thank everyone and appreciate everyone for even the small achievements.

I learnt from Manju to get over your bad habits and to use as much time as possible

This is the best group I have been with and I truly believe that these people will remain in my life till the end.

Behind hard work

“You feel the heat of the summer only when you have free time to notice it. And deep triumph summer begins laziness finds responsibility”.

Some lessons seems to have sunk into me like I was born with those lessons. Every morning I wake up and find “myself”. I thought my articulation skills went down for a day, but at the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet. A love for yourself, love for what you do, love for your future and now you are ready to challenge the whole world. Today, I had been to my friends treat and everyone over-ordered thinking they could finish it and in the end, a lot of food was left and no one could push themselves any more. That’s when I told them that we should pack it and each one of us should find the needy and give it to them. After a while, we gathered around and my friends seemed real fresh and a hearty joy ran through them and they couldn’t stop smiling. Teaching is the greatest act of optimism. Now I strongly feel that inspiration is running in my blood waiting to inspire many more thus making inspiration truly unlimited. I discovered the inspiring touch in me today and it made me so happy to have taught something about a social cause.To help the people below poverty level and to encourage them to go about and work was a wonderful experience. If every youth in India develop this nature, then seeing India as a developed country is much closer and will no longer remain a distant dream.

I then came back from college at around 6 and started reading my own blogs and a ray of discontentment flew over me as I thought that I could have done better. And if you feel that this blog seems better than the old one, then please do leave a comment below.

Today when I was riding my bike and wasn’t very sure which road to take as I was in a new place, a line popped into my head” There is no read to success, some are destined to succeed while some are determined to succeed”

Live every minute like there might never be another

Lose as if you enjoyed it for a change

Win as if you were used to it,

Achieve as if you were born for it!

Read more, Leearn more!

“Understanding is a two-way street. Understand your inner-self and the outer-world will understand you, both being equal in size”.

 I finally completed “How I braved Anu aunty and co-founded a million dollar company” by Mr. Varun Agarwal. This is undoubtedly a book a person wanting to start a company should read. The author has been successful in teaching the reader about the staircase of a start-up. Every time you go against the gravity and try to move up, gravity (laziness and fear) along with the external forces (negativity) tries to pull you back.

He has explicated every step from the birth of the company to it speaking all over the world, with a massive sense of humour .It is one of those books which makes the readers stick themselves to one place thoughtlessly and compete the book without realizing a tick of a clock. The chapter name “Get busy living” is so much pertinent at this speck of time and it has come to my realization that 24 hours is extraordinarily long only if you believe that you live every minute with a purpose. I have realized how important each and every second is and you can change the world within you in a day!

I couldn’t believe I finished 100 pages in 2 hours. Well, that’s huge for a person who doesn’t sit in a place for more than 20 minutes. Firstly, it teaches one a great level of patience .secondly, instilling in a belief that a task can be completed within a day or few hours and all one needs is some determination. Thirdly, it really improves communication skills and impulsively I started using new worlds. Fourthly, it gives me confidence to speak up and express my views in a pleasant way.

At this point, my blog is viewed by 873 people out of which 663 are viewed by foreign countries and I feel so happy and I hope to improve my blogging and serve as a inspiration to many people across the world.

“A busy day loaded with lot of work, yet infinite time is spend in appreciating the beauty of every single thing like each one is your only obsession”

Below is a video I watched recently describing about how reading books can change ones life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bB_fVDlvhc
 

RUN, becasue you CAN!

“The men who have succeeded are the ones who have chosen one line and stuck on it”

I read from page 28 to page 100 today. The story now sets into his start-up finally starting up. Varun along with his friend visit Tirupur-the T-shirt capital of India and finally establishes a deal with the shop-keeper and agrees to pay him once he receives the samples. Here they were, on the brink of a major decision. If they told him “yes”, they stood a chance of losing 4lahk and if they told ”no”, they went back to their insignificant lives. The shop-keeper dint seem interested but like their enthusiasm. On their way back, they thought of 2 names ”lemontee” and “backbenchers” .in between, he clearly quotes that the aunties of India have mastered the fine art of negotiation with the vegetable sellers and greatest MBA schools can learn the tricks of trade from them. The thought provoking and hearty inspiring sentences were:”if you’re so desperate for a job, then create one. If everyone foolishly limits himself to a single line of track and border himself with walls, then how is this country going to have any entrepreneurs.” They decide to sell their samples in the alumnus of bishop cottons boys’ school and sell over 500 pullovers and decide to change their company name to “the alma mater” to make it sound professional. They then set up e-commerce to spread their company far and wide. Meanwhile, he attends the interview set up by Anu aunty just to ensure his mother isn’t hurt.

“Depression is the inability to construct future whereas Enthusiasm is the supreme luxury of a better future”. You and only you govern your life and the first and the best victory is to conquer self. There is absolutely no upshot by mere sulking, cribbing and being depressed. If you want some changes, then be the change you want to see in the world. Victory is the sweetest when you have known defeat and a man may learn wisdom even from a foe. It’s important to be positive and not let the anger or the grief have power over you. Here I would like to quote a sentence from the book “The alchemist” by Paulo Coelho ;”If you aim to do something with you full heart, then the whole universe conspires into making it happen”

When you know it’s the right time, it’s the angel inside you that’s whispering and the angel is never wrong because it’s born only when you are certain you are doing the right thing. So go for it!”