When you don’t have a plan for your life, you drift and become part of someone else’s life plan. It’s about designing the life you want to live. This habit is about defining your What and Why. So know what you can control, what you can influence and don’t waste time or energy on the things that you can’t control. This is so important! If you remember one thing from my 7 habits of highly effective people summary, this would be it! When you focus or worry about the things you can’t control, this is a waste of your time and energy.
It’s also the actions of most other people. This also includes political decisions, recessions and world events. You can’t change your past, only how you view it and the meaning you give to it. This is what is outside of your control or influence. When you work on improving your communication skills and abilities, you will get better at influencing others. This is a skill that gets better with time. This is influencing others to take action through something you say or do. This is what you can control or influence. These are circle of influence and circle of concern. So it means the ability to change your response.Īnother important component of this first habit is knowing what you can and can’t control. The word “responsibility” is a combination of the words “response” and “ability”. It’s coming from you, rather than being influenced by other people such as family, friends or colleagues. It’s knowing the difference between right and wrong and acting accordingly. You want to know that the new response is ethical and good for you and others. This will help you choose different and better responses. You need self-awareness to notice the gap and pause before you react. Do this repeatedly and you develop new subconscious and automatic responses. This is crucial to understand! When you change what you do in this gap, you change your response. However, Stephen Covey explains that there is a gap between the stimulus and your response. It’s very habitual, and the response is often based on memories or experiences of similar situations or events that happened in the past. You might respond with a certain thought, feeling or action. We respond to these stimuli unconsciously, automatically and predictably. This could be events, situations and other people. Thousands of times a day, we are bombarded with stimuli. Let’s kick off my summary of the 7 habits of highly effective people with the first habit which is to be proactive.Īn important part of this habit is choosing how you respond to the events that happen in your life. Listen to the Podcast Habit 1: Be Proactive