Personal Development
Discuss about the seven habits of highly effective people.
‘The 7 habits of highly effective people’ by Stephen R. Covey has changed my entire perception about human leadership in organization. The author has well-described human condition and delicately placed the words to raise an improved understanding among the readers. The reading of this book has given me immense knowledge, which I will be able to implement in my future career. All these years, I have not come across any guide or mentor who could help me in enhancing my effectiveness to generate positive reaction. However, a reading of this book has helped me in gaining knowledge about the philosophy of principles.
Covey has brilliantly raised the curtain of the book by drawing our attention towards difference in human behavior in terms of outward success and inner struggle. The treading of this book has let me travel in the journey of deep thoughts and sent me to the destination of my own life. I could relate the findings of the book in terms of an extremely successful professional career hard struggle to lead a normal personal life. This book was a mirror in front of me where I could see own reflection.
As much as I delved deep into the book I thought as if it was written for me. My habits were clearly outlined throughout the chapters of this book. All the instances of individuals mentioned in this book were derived from real life and I could learn from the mistakes made by those individuals. I learnt about control and restrictions and the role played by them in my life. This book has been effective in teaching me that in order to reach the peak of success I need to set my goals and abide by it. I will need to keep up to my promise that I have made in the beginning. It will be helpful in enhancing the path to my future career.
The writer has put all his efforts in making the readers understand about the detailed know- how of prospering in the field of management and the habits that should be adopted for the same. I have agreed with the thought of Covey where he mentioned about employee- employer relationship and the ways in which it needs to be maintained. I always knew that employee management is not an easy task and it cannot be improved with managerial training. This is because employees only understand the benefits that they will get from the company and the way they are treated or valued in the organization. Being over- friendly or amicable with the employees will not be of much help until they feel loyalty from their inner self.
The Importance of Habits
I felt that the underlying content of the book has tried in every way to amend our thinking towards personal development rather than going through extensive training programs. I think that understanding and realizing from within and grooming myself, accordingly will bring the most effective result in building up a better career. I need to make my personality stronger in order to manage my employees and let go of the negative habits that might affect my relationship with them. Even if there are severe problems going on with my personal life, I need to be extremely professional in my workplace. In the same way, if I am having a tedious day at work, I should never bring that feeling home. On the contrary, I should remain joyous and involve in merriment activities with my family members. It will not only help me in maintaining an effective personal relationship but also remove the stress of office work. It is good habit that I think will be helpful in maintain my professional career in a good way.
I was an absolute novice in the sphere of personality and character ethics. Thanks to this book as it has helped me in learning about the technicalities in detail. As much as I proceeded with the pages of the book, I was deeply engrossed in the wide extent of research carried out for publishing this book. While reading about the condition of United States in 1776 I gained strong insights about self- help, personal improvement and other significant psychology of humankind. I was mesmerized when I knew about the elements of successful living as listed by the free and democratic people. I was properly acquainted with the success factors that play an important role in human life and I found out a surprising pattern that kept binding all the factors. A portion of the book made me stop and I re-read the line. I could not agree neither disagree with the fact and so I started brooding over it. This hampered the flow of reading which was consistent from the beginning. My perceptions about success could not align with the researched fact of the book. I was awestruck with the consideration of success to be shallow due to the reason of personal pain and sufferings in the surrounding. I did not want to agree with the same as I felt that success is an independent factor and it is not related to anyone’s pain or pang. The inclusion of the ornamental words to give an artistic feeling to the explanation of success did not convince my understanding prowess.
Role of Principles in Building an Effective Career
To give myself a temporary break, I switched to next paragraph, which was associated with character ethics. It was a completely new segment and therefore, my interest and excitement was at the zenith to know more about it. I read about the fundamental principles of a successful living. I made a promise that I will apply these principles in my personal life and build up a successful career in the coming days. After knowing about the principles, I understood that it is possible to experience real success and happiness by implying these in personal and professional life. Again, there was a halt in my reading as well as thinking when I read about the basic criteria of success during the First World War. At that point, my focus shifted from character ethic to personality ethic. I realized that success is more associated with public image and personality, techniques and sills, behaviors and attitudes, which are responsible for softening the process of human interaction. There were two new terms, which I came across, human and public relations technique and positive mental attitude or PMA. Later on I understood that these are the two paths to personality ethics.
The reading of this book has been effective in opening a new window for me. I learnt about many new factors and elements that are significant in human life. My thoughts took new turn whenever I came across something new and innovative. I learnt about the habits that will help me in boosting up my future career by removing the negative elements. This book came in the form of a reward for me and I felt extremely lucky to possess this. Unlocking of the new pages increased my zeal to read until the end of the end of the book for knowing the unknown and seeing the unseen. This book has taught me that it is important to get rid of our old habits with the aim of embracing the newness. Only if we can forget the bitter past, we will be able to be accustomed with present modernism. By doing so, I think I will be able to evolve into a more confident individual. Confidence is the secret to success; on the contrary, pain and sufferings cannot only lead to success. I could relate to the personal experience of the author in his book and smiled a bit. I knew that the happiness, which is accompanied by success, is a lifetime achievement and one must be fortunate to achieve the same. I was happy to observe that my thought were in line with the content of the book as I read the line, which said that personality ethic deepens the internal sense of value. I was content to find out that at this point there was no clash of opinions.
The Habits to Adopt for Professional Success
After reaching almost at a convenient part of the book, I felt myself eligible to comment on its content and express my views in relation to that of the author. Initially Covey had stated the elements of personal ethic whereas, he mentioned in the later part that those elements are beneficial for paving the path to success. I could not agree with the fact that the elements of personality ethic such as communication and skills training, personality growth and education is not influential for setting the strategies of positive thinking. However, I have a strong belief that these factors are highly responsible which might not be in a primary level. I tried to think from the perspective of the author and felt that there might be a chance among the human being these days that they have forgotten the foundation of their personality while focusing on building one such trait. One important factor that I could infer from the reading is that there is no point in influencing the employees to forcefully like and follow the manager, if there are flaws within his personality. It will also reduce the pace at which I was moving towards success. I will need to build and groom myself in such a manner that my employees will consider me as their role model. In such a situation if I try to stress on human relationship building techniques, it will not bring any kind of effective outcome.
While reading about the personality and human characteristics, my eyes were caught in the phrase- power of paradigm. When I reached almost at the climax of the book, I was well acquainted with the fundamental principles. As knowledge knows no bound, therefore I wanted to enhance my intelligence by gaining insight about social paradigms and their ability. I came to know that both character ethic and personality ethic are the two outstanding examples of social paradigm. I tried to hover around the term paradigm and learnt that it is mostly related to model, perception, theory and assumption. One strategy that this book taught me about paradigm is to know it well by using maps. I always knew that map is a territory but my notion broke when I knew that map is further explanation of some aspects of territory. Therefore, I concluded that paradigm is the frame of reference and an explanation of something else.
I felt positive as well as motivated when I started recalling the content of the book in my mind. I could understand that there is positivity instilled in my character. However, I need to work upon my attitude to retain this positive attitude. I believe that being positive is a blessing and one must know how to nurture it. Being positive directly influences happiness and confidence within an individual. My learning was enriched when I realized that our attitudes and behaviors are dependent on assumptions. It is our tendency to perceive things in similar ways as we think and act. I again had to pause at this line because this is absolutely my characteristic. I am such an individual who will work as per own thinking and look at the external affairs in the same way.
There was a strong influence of paradigm in this book and it led to the learning about paradigm shift. I understood that this is the most important thing in the perception of human beings as represented in the arena of paradigm shift. This book has taught me certain unknown theories and concepts such as Newtonian model of Physics and germ theory. A complete reading of the book allowed me to think that my knowledge level has increased than before. I felt satisfied and content. The extent of knowledge gained from this book will help me to build up my future career. The theories and concepts can be incorporated in the functioning of the organization. I will not repeat the mistakes as a manager, which I have read in the book.
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