One More Thing.

Although I am done reading Habit 4 “Think Win/Win”. I would like to make an entry about an interesting topic that was being covered in the Linked2Leadership group on LinkedIn. The topic is “How can there be so much written about leadership yet so little understanding?”. This one really hit home since I am amidst of reading leadership books so I can grasp all the concepts and techniques. Why? In hopes that if someday, people are relying on me for genuine leadership – I’ll be well-informed. However, the more I read the more I realize: It really is all technique. Not that there is anything wrong with that – but once I started reading “The 7 Habits” I realized that there is more to it than technique. It has to start from within: the true desire to be self-disciplined, that self-mastery with a solid core. Be able to manage yourself first. Everything else will almost follow on its own. If anything, all of those techniques will make more “sense” once I have the proper foundation.

Before Habit 4…

I am almost Half-way through the book ! In terms of Habits, more like 3/7’s of the way. Before Mr. Covey starts to cover Habit #4 there is a chapter on the “Paradigms of Interdependence”. This really is a great chapter that contains great examples and analogies that summarizes the big-picture. I felt like I had a clear understanding of the order of what I was reading, like I was building toward something. All I have achieved so far with the first 3 Habits, and the 4 that are to come. My favorite quote from this chapter is “you can’t have the fruits without the roots.” His point being, that you cannot have “Public Victories” without having “Private Victories” first. You must be well “rooted” as to who you are. The “Private Victories” are everything covered in Habits 1, 2 and 3: self-mastery and being truly independent.

If we prioritized well - What would come first? Chicken? Egg?

About a month ago, I had an entry on “Prioritizing” [Click Here]. It was mostly about day-to-day corporate tasks and who should handle what. After reading the 3rd Habit, Put First Things First, I understand that Covey’s perspective is that “time management” determines a great deal of what “comes first”.
Although I do believe in processes, creating flow-charts and having methods to madness… I have difficulty trying to do such a thing for my personal life. That is, I don’t see myself organizing my week into a piece of paper and prioritizing ahead of time what I should do day by day. Not saying that I won’t do it someday – just not right now. If you read "the 3rd Habit" you will find yourself questioning everything that you are currently doing. It was kind of scary for me to realize how much time I may be wasting on “Quadrant 4 activities”. OH – wait. I should definitely explain the “Quadrants” and the “Time management matrix” first. This is one eye-opener we can all take away and identify with right away.