Please reply to the discussion 1 and 2 in your own words: Discussions 1: Stephen

Question

Please reply to the discussion 1 and 2 in your own words:

Discussions 1:

Stephen Covey’s “Habit 3: Put First Things First” from his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" hit home the greatest for me. This concept is all about deciding what is most important and valuable in your life and putting those things at the top of your priority list. In our world of fast-paced environments and busy schedules, people find their days filled with urgent tasks that ultimately are not important or valuable to them. People often find themselves putting things that cause us stress because they are so urgent above other things that are actually more important.

I think this concept is the most valuable to me because it impacts both my personal and professional life. I'll put it simply: I'm a push-over. I have a hard time saying "no" to people. I feel like if I say no, people will I'm not a team player, I'm not dedicated enough, I'm not capable, etc. Although I know these things are not true, I value the opinions of others. This leads me to going out with friends when I'm exhausted and just wanted a night in to myself, working hours off the clock to get a project done, and baking into the late hours of the night because someone needed a last-minute birthday cake when I was already booked. I would consider myself a "Yes Woman."

This concept really made me aware of how unhealthy my behavior as a "Yes Woman" is. It not only affects my mental and physical health, but it also affects my relationships with other people including my friends, family, and boyfriend. Because I am constantly working myself to please other people and attempt to reduce pressing tasks that are stressing me, I find myself exhausted. As a result, I don't perform my best at work or when I'm trying to study. By focusing on the most urgent tasks, the more important things in my life suffer. This leaves me feeling ultimately unhappy with my life due to my own actions. Often times, I feel frustrated, defeated, and disappointed.

For myself and others, it's essential that the most important things in life are treated as important as they really are. Life is too short to focus on anything that is not important or valuable to yourself and yourself only. Shifting your perspective into one that doesn't always put everyone and everything else before yourself can be challenging, but it will have a beneficial outcome. I think that by making small changes in my life already, I have found my stress reducing, my relationships improving, and my overall happiness improving as well. I can only imagine what a few years of change will do; I'm excited to see where the future takes me.

Discussions 2:

There are several concepts that have stood out to me this semester, two in particular - Attending the little things and Empathic listening from Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Narrowing it to one, I'd have to say Empathic Listening is the most important concept I will take away from this course. As Covey puts it "seek first to understand, then to be understood". I think this is important both personally and professionally as it is essentially improving communication and relationships, things that are important in all aspects of life. This will allow for a better understanding of our customers, coworkers, friends, and family members. Being able to understand what they are saying, and the intent that is behind it, is crucial to successful relationships.

I think that applying this concept is all about getting in the right mindset and developing a habit of doing so. First thing would be to seek to understand what you are doing and where you could improve in you interactions with others. Next step is consciously try to listen and understand those you interact with - look deeper than their words and try to understand what they really want from this interaction (sometimes simple, sometimes complex). Finally, after getting step 2 down, you need to actively practice it for 21 days (the time it takes for a habit to form) to ensure that it becomes second nature and that little effort will be required to maintain this mindset.

Explanation / Answer

1) Managing personal and professional life will be quite easier if we shall make some priority list to most important tasks for us. Even, it will release our tension and increase our efficiency and accuracy as well. We should focus on time management. If, we will kill our precious time then time will also ruin our career. One must get rid off from exhausting their time in unnecessary discussion. Due to our excessive involvement in pleasing others we get frustration, stress and tiredness. This situation will harm our mental and physical health. So, one should try to live a balanced life by setting life preferences and priorities.

2) It will be good to develop a quality of good listener which makes a better understanding of our customers, co-workers, friends, family members, clients and other important people. Communication skills contribute for our success or failure to some great extent. We should work hard to improve our soft skills which make us capable to handle the team and leadership. An emotional and mental awareness helps us to recognize people of importance in our life.

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