This section focused on the emotional bank account, which was a metaphor I really liked. By making little deposits over time you are able to build a trusting relationship. Covey also points out that you can overdraw the emotional bank account and then trust is lost within that relationship.
It is kind of ironic that this is the section we are reading this week. I had a little falling-out with one of my best friends from high school when I came to Notre Dame. This had been bothering me a lot, so I sent her a card at the beginning of this week. She called me Friday afternoon and we had like a two hour conversation and everything is great. I was building up my emotional bank account with her without even realizing it.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Habit 3 Put First Things First
In this section Covey focuses on Quadrant II activities and the fourth generation of time management. These two ideas are complementary and could be very beneficial for both a college student and an officer in the Army.
As a college student I am in the second generation of time management. I rely on my planner for everything and love being able to check things off as done. Covey pointed out the shortcomings of the system and after reading it I totally agree. I go about my homework on a day-to-day basis according to what my planner says, which often gets my into trouble when it comes to essays or long assignments because I have not been planning things out by the week, like in the fourth generation, and have to do it all in one night.
Quadrant II activities are important for officers in the Army because they allow you to focus on the important but not urgent things. One important, but not urgent activity for an officer would be building positive relationships with your people. This would be beneficial when something urgent does come up because they would be more likely to help with proactive solutions. Also, it would be easier for an officer to keep a high morale among their people if they had positive relationships with them.
As a college student I am in the second generation of time management. I rely on my planner for everything and love being able to check things off as done. Covey pointed out the shortcomings of the system and after reading it I totally agree. I go about my homework on a day-to-day basis according to what my planner says, which often gets my into trouble when it comes to essays or long assignments because I have not been planning things out by the week, like in the fourth generation, and have to do it all in one night.
Quadrant II activities are important for officers in the Army because they allow you to focus on the important but not urgent things. One important, but not urgent activity for an officer would be building positive relationships with your people. This would be beneficial when something urgent does come up because they would be more likely to help with proactive solutions. Also, it would be easier for an officer to keep a high morale among their people if they had positive relationships with them.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Habit 2 Begin With the End in Mind
As I was reading the sections about alternative centers I was envisioning people in my mind who reminded me of each one. Then I got to the end of the section and Covey totally called it out how it is easier to recognize someone elses center rather than your own. So then I tried to recognize my own center and it was hard because nobody wants to point out their flaws.
The thing that Covey said that I liked most from this chapter was about the final step of being a principle-centered person. He said you need to feel comfortable with your decision and focus and enjoy it. I thought this was important because so often people play the "what if" game which takes away from your actual choice. This can happen all the time like in college when you wonder what if I would have just stayed in the other night would I have done better on my test? Or I'm sure you can think of numerous other examples.
The thing that Covey said that I liked most from this chapter was about the final step of being a principle-centered person. He said you need to feel comfortable with your decision and focus and enjoy it. I thought this was important because so often people play the "what if" game which takes away from your actual choice. This can happen all the time like in college when you wonder what if I would have just stayed in the other night would I have done better on my test? Or I'm sure you can think of numerous other examples.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Habit 1 Be Proactive
This section focused on being proactive. The one point that Covey made that stuck out most to me was when he talked about responsibility. I liked how he pointed out that responsibility "response-ability" is the ability to choose your response. I had never thought about the word in such a way, it makes sense though. Proactive people are responsible and they realize their behavior is based upon their own choices.
One other thing that Covey touched upon was the idea of self-fulfilling prophecies. He says that "a serious problem with reactive language is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy." I think this stuck out to me because earlier today I read a study William Chambliss did about self-fulfilling prophecies called The Saints and the Roughnecks. It was about two different groups of students, one was perceived highly by the community and the other was not, and at the end of the article it showed how the students reacted to the labels they had been given. The group who was perceived highly succeeded in life, but the others for the most part did not. Neither group of students were proactive, rather they were just reacting to their situations and this ended up hurting the roughneck group.
Here is the link for the article. If you have an extra 5 or 10 minutes it's worth reading. http://alpha.fdu.edu/~peabody/Lexicon/Chambliss,_The_Saints_and_the_Roughnecks.html
One other thing that Covey touched upon was the idea of self-fulfilling prophecies. He says that "a serious problem with reactive language is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy." I think this stuck out to me because earlier today I read a study William Chambliss did about self-fulfilling prophecies called The Saints and the Roughnecks. It was about two different groups of students, one was perceived highly by the community and the other was not, and at the end of the article it showed how the students reacted to the labels they had been given. The group who was perceived highly succeeded in life, but the others for the most part did not. Neither group of students were proactive, rather they were just reacting to their situations and this ended up hurting the roughneck group.
Here is the link for the article. If you have an extra 5 or 10 minutes it's worth reading. http://alpha.fdu.edu/~peabody/Lexicon/Chambliss,_The_Saints_and_the_Roughnecks.html
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