7 Habits of Highly Effective People

     I would say that most of us have heard of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This week we focused on learning what these 7 habits are. I haven’t actually read the book, but I think that I may have to now. The 7 habits are broken into two groups. The first three habits, once mastered, give a person a private victory. The last four, once mastered, give a person a public victory. A person must have had a private victory before accomplishing a public victory.

In my life right now, I am drawn to the private victory. I have a beautiful family with lots going on and often struggle to feel on top of it all. The first habit is probably the one that jumps out at me the most. Be Proactive. To me being proactive is the same thing as playing offense in a basketball game. You are the one to make the move rather than responding to the move someone else made. I have had a few times in my life when I was successful at being proactive. More often, though, I am on defense. Just scraping by to get everything done, everyone where they need to be, and fed. Don’t forget to feed the children. Things will get messy if you forget.

I feel like these 7 habits (be proactive, begin with an end in mind, put first things first, think win/win, seek first to understand, then to be understood, synergize and sharpen the saw) will help me on my road to a successful business in the quilting industry. I have already partially skipped the first habit and began to visualize my quilting studio filled with people, learning from one another and building a community together. I guess I need to go back and work on being proactive before I get too far ahead of myself.

When I accomplish my private victory, I will be prepared to move on and have a public victory.