MUST READ!!: Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Note: In order to do this book justice I think I would almost need to write a book about it.  In order to preserve my readers' I've decided to just write about the impact the book has had on me.  If you've had a similar experience with this book or another book, please share!  If you're interested in reading it, go reserve it at your local library!

I don't know where to start with this book except for to say that it honestly changed my life.  This book goes right up next to The Feminine Mystique in terms of books that have dramatically altered my approach to life (which is saying quite a bit).  If it helps to give you an idea of how much I loved this book: I started reading this book as a checkout from the library, but about halfway through it i just had to go buy my own copy.  I went and scoured the DI looking for a copy of this book (I would've gone and bought it from a bookstore, but I was already at the DI looking for something else so I figured I might as well look for it).  It was actually good enough that after having read it I decided I wanted to own a copy... that rarely happens.  With most of the books I read I'm just fine reading it and then returning it to the library (I don't know how many books I've bought from a bargain book bin, read, and then given away... growing up my sister Allie would inherit loads and loads of books from me each year).

A little (or maybe a big...) back story as to why this book had such a big impact on me.  I love organization, I love efficiency.  Every year since I came to college I've worked on developing a time management system that worked for me.  Now that I'm out of college--for the time being-- I'm finding that my planner needs have changed.  I no longer faced with pressing deadlines or long lists of things that need to be read or researched in the near future.  My planner has a lot more carry over each day because it's more of a "holding place" for ideas for things to do eventually by the time I get home from work I'm too lazy to pull out my planner and actually look at what I wrote in there.  As a result, finding my planner for the next year has been much more important to me.  I've already started looking all over the internet for planners; I've drawn up a list of things I need/want in a planner; I've made lists of the pros and cons of going digital... I've done it all.

As I did research on-line I came to realize that there were 2 schools of thought when it comes to time management and productivity: the Covey method (as outlined in 7 Habits and First Things First--which is now on my to-read list) and the Getting Things Done method (from David Allen's Getting Things Done--my next read!).  So, I decided to read the books that have inspired these two methods of time management to see of they could help me figure out what I need.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, did just that.  It didn't answer my question at all of what type of planner I should buy, but it DID answer my question about how to set up my planner to make it work the best for me.  Some of the highlights of this book for me were the concepts of writing a personal mission statement, planning on a weekly basis instead of a daily basis, and spending an hour a day on your "Daily Personal Victory."

Personal Mission Statement.  I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before (well I kind of did, but not really), but the concept of a personal mission statement really resounded with me.  It makes perfect sense to me to spend a significant (several hours, days, or even weeks) amount of time reflecting on what you want to accomplish in life and what you want to be remembered for.  Covey emphasizes working backwards when coming up with your personal mission statement.  Begin by thinking about your funeral.  If you had one speaker from your family, one speaker from the community, from your job, and from your church, what would you want them to say about you.  What qualities or achievements would you want them to mention?  Once you know what you want said about you, you know where your goals and values truly lie, and then you only have to go back and figure out how to achieve those things. 

Plan on a Weekly Basis.  When Covey finally started talking about time management in Habit 3, he recommended something I had been thinking for awhile.  Planning for a week at a time makes a lot more sense than planning for each day.  He recommends sitting down at the beginning each week and deciding on what your goals are for that week, and what things you need to accomplish that week.  Once you have a master list of things you need to do, you can go through your calendar for the week and plug those things in.  When you look at the week at a whole and plan accordingly, your daily to-do list is going to be a lot more manageable.  This is something I really find applicable to me.  I have to write everything down on my to-do list as soon as I think of it or else I'll forget it.  As a result, on days when I'm really on top of writing everything down I'll end up with 20 or more things to do that day, because I just plug things into that particular day.  What if I were to set some time apart each week to do that?  Then I could actually plug things into the day they're actually going to get done rather than having that feeling of failure when I have to transfer things from day to day until they're finally done.  (This is actually something I love about 2-pages-per-day planners... you have a whole blank page for writing down all those things you suddenly think of and then at your weekly planning session you can look through the last week to see what you need to put on your plans for the next week).

Daily Personal Victory.  In essence, this is your personal enrichment time.  Covey recommends spending at least one hour each day improving yourself physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually.  I love the thought of this and really want to try to implement this!  It goes hand in hand with the two other things I mentioned (which makes sense since the daily personal victory is Habit 7).  If you know what your personal mission statement is, and if you're spreading out everything you need to do throughout the week, you're more likely to take the time to put yourself first for some portion of time each day.  Spending one hour a day on ourselves equates to 4.17% of our time, but what a difference that time makes!  If you think about productivity in terms of how much output you get for your input, then that hour each day is going to be your most productive hour of the day.  By exercising you get all sorts of benefits (more energy, more endorphins, a higher immune system) that will allow you to be more productive throughout the day.  By spending some time reading or studying something each day you will keep your mental faculties sharp and learn new things which will greatly improve your situation in life (if you let them).  By spending some time each day studying the scriptures, praying, or meditating, you'll gain a new sense of peace and purpose that will carry you through even the most stressful times in your life.  By spending some time each day focusing on building your relationships with other people you will have a network of people who will be there to help you through the hard times.  Isn't it amazing to think about what 1 hour a day can do for you?

So that's my challenge for today.  If you haven't read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People yet, read it.  If you've read it, but it's been awhile, read it again.  No matter what though, search the book for one or two things that profoundly touch your life in some way.  I bet you won't stop at just one or two though...