Habits

1. RACTICAL
RINCIPLES OF
ASTORING
Steven Covey’s
7 HABITS OF HIGHLY
SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE
Instructor
Dr. Arnold Lastinger

5. PROBLEM: Can these dots be connected by
4 straight lines without lifting your pencil?

6. Thinking
“OUTSIDE THE BOX”
 PROBLEM: Our preconceived
ideas assume that the lines have to
be inside the box, which makes the
task impossible!
 SOLUTION: Not until we begin to
think “outside the box” do we see
the possibility of solving the
problem. Hence the expression…

7. PERCEPTION
COLORS THINKING
 Your perception of the second
female figure you saw was colored
by the opinion you formed of the
first figure you saw.
 CONCLUSION: Present perception
of reality is colored by past
perception and experience

8. PARADIGMS
 PARADIGM: The pattern of how
things were done in the past,
applied to how things should be
done in the present.
 Example: Henry Ford’s black car
 Example: Swiss sold the quartz
watch movement to the Japanese
 Galileo: Argued for a spherical
world

9. DISCUSS
“The way we see the
problem IS the
problem!”
(Steven Covey)

10. Habit #1
BE PROACTIVE
 Don’t wait for things to happen;
make things happen!
 Necessitates a life plan (vision)
 Never react from a position of
weakness; act from a position of
strength.
 When you allow someone to
provoke a reaction in you, you
have given them control of you.

11. VICTOR FRANKL
 Jewish psychiatrist imprisoned in
a Nazi death camp
 Parents, brother, wife executed in
the gas ovens
 Beaten, tortured nearly to death,
naked on his cell floor
 Became aware of what he calls,
“the last of human freedoms”
 He could decide for himself how all
this was going to affect him

12. “What happens IN you is
infinitely more important
than what happens TO you.”
(Lastinger)
Only you can choose whether
you will become a
VICTIM or a VICTOR!
(Reactive) (Proactive)

13. Proactive or Reactive?
There’s nothing I can do!
Reactive
He makes me so mad!
Reactive
Let’s look at our alternatives.
Proactive
That’s just the way I am!
Reactive
If only things were different.
Reactive
I will choose a different approach
Proactive

14. Habit #2
BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND
 “Start with a clear understanding
of your destination” (Covey)
 What you expect down the road
will affect what you do right now.
 “What do you want to be when you
grow up?”
 Necessitates hearing from God,
having a plan
 Luke 14:29 Never build a tower
without first counting the cost

15. Possible Steps In
BUILDING A LIFE PLAN
 “What do I want to retire TO?”
 “What do I want to BE in life?”
 “What do I want to DO; when do I
want to have it done?”
 “What steps do I need to take to
get there? When?
 Using these answers, chart
yourself a timeline…a LIFE PLAN.

16. APPLIED TO A
SHORT-TERM PROJECT
 Decide what you want to accomplish
 Determine what resources you will
need in order to get there
 Determine specifically what steps you
will have to take to meet your goal
 Calendar your steps from the end
backwards to the present
 Develop a specific plan to reach your
goal
 Work your plan diligently

17. Habit #3
PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST
 It’s an issue of TIME MANAGEMENT
 “Time Management” is really “Me
Management”
 Interaction of URGENT and
IMPORTANT
 You at check-out vs. the telephone!
 Our problem is not that we do BAD
things; we just don’t do the BEST
things!

18. THE TIME MANAGEMENT MATRIX
URGENT NOT URGENT
 Crises
 Pressing problems
 Deadline-driven
projects
 Problem Prevention
 Relationship building
 Planning
 Creative thinking
 Cultivating new
opportunities
 Training others
 Interruptions
 Most phone calls
 Most mail
 Reading reports
 Some seemingly
important matters
 Popular activities
 Trivia
 Busy Work
 Some phone calls
 Some Mail
 Time wasters
 Drop-ins
 Pleasant activities
NOT
IMPORTANT
IMPORTANT
Where do you spend most of your time?

19. THE RESULTS
URGENT NOT URGENT
 Stress
 Burnout
 Crisis Management
 Always putting out
fires
 Reactive
 Short-term focus
 Crisis Management
 Chameleon character
 See goals & plans as
worthless
 Shallow or broken
relationships
 Visionary
 Balance
 Self-disciplined
 In Control
 Few Crises
 Sees “Big Picture”
NOT
IMPORTANT
IMPORTANT
Which future do you want?
 Total irresponsibility
 Fired from jobs
 Dependent upon
others
 Unsuccessful in life
on all fronts

20. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
 Make and use a “to do” list
 Prioritize that list; most important
items first
 Tackle the most important items
 Delegate the less important items
 ASK: “What is my time worth?”
 Learn to say “No!” and smile!

21. Habit #4
THINK WIN/WIN
 Most of us were raised in a
“Competition Paradigm”
 Somebody wins; somebody loses
 Nice if you’re the winner…but…
 In a “Cooperation Paradigm”
everybody wins!
 Effective leaders tend to think
“Win/Win”

22. Hindrances to a
WIN/WIN ATTITUDE
A power-hungry leader
 Not satisfied unless he tastes a subordinate’s
blood
 Not a winner unless he’s standing over bodies
 Uses others to reach the top
An insecure leader
 Afraid that others’ success will make him look
inadequate
 BUT, “When the tide comes in, all the boats
float higher in the harbor!”

23. Interpersonal Relationships and
THE EMOTIONAL BANK ACCOUNT
SIX MAJOR DEPOSITS
1. Understanding the individual
2. Attending to the little things
3. Keeping commitments
4. Clarifying expectations
5. Showing personal integrity
6. Apologizing sincerely when you
make a withdrawal

24. Habit #5
Seek First to Understand,
Then To Be Understood
 Communication is the most
important skill in life!
 Communication is a 2-way street
 Communication is the transfer of
ideas from one mind to another
 Words, gestures, etc. are vehicles
 LEADERS are talkers, but…
 GOOD LEADERS are listeners first!

25. Cultivate the Art of
EMPATHIC LISTENING
 Ask open-ended questions:
 “How did that make you feel?”
 “How did you react to that?”
 “What was going on inside of you?”
 Don’t try to trump them with a more
impressive experience.
 Playback what they say to you in an
effort to genuinely understand.

26. THEN: Seek To Be Understood
 Be sure you have their attention
 Don’t try to talk above distractions
 Present your position in a logical
way, outlining wherever possible
 Ask for a response that will indicate
that you are understood
 Illustration: (Marden) “I guess it
means to speak in tongues!”

27. Habit #6
SYNERGIZE
 DEFINITION: When the outcome is
greater than the sum of the input.
 Example: 1+1=5 (1 husband + 1 wife
= 3 children)
 CLASSROOM: Brainstorming often
brings out ideas that one person
would not have thought of

28. SYNERGY REQUIRES…
 A leader who is willing to relinquish
some control
 People willing to participate
 Thinkers willing to let their minds go
into unexplored territory
 Open minds willing to entertain
radical ideas
 RESULT: Creativity in excess of what
any individual could have done

29. Habit #7
SHARPEN THE SAW
 (HINT) You are the saw!
 4 Areas Needing Sharpening
 Physical (good diet, rest, exercise, sleep)
 Social/Emotional (loving relationships
with others)
 Spiritual (receiving ministry, intimacy
with the Father)
 Mental (continual learning; exercising the
mind)

30. REVIEW: 7 HABITS
1. Be Proactive
2. Begin With The End In Mind
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win-Win
5. Seek First To Understand, Then
to Be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw