Everyone wants to achieve a successful, fulfilling life, but we do not all know how to accomplish this. How do we do it? Sean Covey wrote the book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, help us teens learn to want to make a restored life, and teach us how to achieve this goal. He has three ways to do this to make this happen with wholeness, relationships, and balance. By applying the principles of the seven habits, we can find wholeness, meaningful, productive relationships, and balance in our everyday lives.
According to Covey, and the seven habits, teens should complete private victory before public. This is how we can achieve wholeness in our daily lives. Some teens think they need to make everyone like them before they appreciate themselves. This is a misconception. The first three habits are, “Be Proactive”, “Begin with the End in Mind”, and “Put First Things First”. If we just go with the flow, we will get caught up in other events, and not do what is really important for our lives. Being proactive means we chose to think comments through before we speak, or we can just react right away.
If we react we will lose control of our lives. Having the end in mind can help us too. This is the second habit. Thinking through what we are going to say can help us make good choices, and become better people. It also makes us aware that we ca not control everything. We can only control ourselves. “Control your own destiny or someone else will” (73). We can just sit around and wait for something to happen, or we can make something happen. Thinking about the way we want our life to end is also something Covey stresses in the book. We all want to be happy and healthy.
If we just go with the flow, we will never end up there. Covey wants us to put our goals in action. Nobody wants to “Climb the wrong wall”. Habit three suggest that we prioritize. The little items can be filled in last. We need to do the big events, which will make the most impact first. This may be uncomfortable for some. However we need to get out of our comfort zone, and into our courage zone. “Putting first things first takes courage and it’ll often cause you to stretch outside your comfort zone” (117). Sean Covey wants us to step outside of the circle.
Another reason to prioritize is because it allows us to gain control, balance, and satisfaction. After we turn all of our weaknesses into strengths, Covey says we are ready for the next step. Public victory is the next step on the staircase to victory. This involves habits four, five, and six. The habits are “Think WinWin”, “Seek First to Understand, Then to be understood”, and “Synergize”. We can make meaningful, productive relationships with these. Sean Covey wants everyone to win.
If we think positive, show self-confidence, and treat everyone with respect we will accomplish the goal. Win-Win is a belief that everyone can win” (152). Habit five helps us with understanding each other. If we actually listen to others we will bond more. We can make more out of every conversation. We cannot just hear what we want to, we need to listen to their emotions. We also need to pay attention to their body language because, this helps us see what they are feeling. In habit six, Covey explains the way everyone in the world is categorized. We can be someone who tolerates diversity, and except others but keep to themselves.
We can be the shunners, who do not like the idea of diversity at all, or celebrators, who like the idea of diversity and include everyone. To make relationships with everyone we should be celebrators. “We are all a minority of one” (186). When one synergizes, they are working together with everyone. True relationships come from coopaperation. Covey wants us to know that working together is good. For example, geese help each other a lot. They are always working together to find a better solution. He wants us to all act like geese.
Six habits down, one more to go because, the last thing we need to accomplish in life is to actually balance out our lives. We need to renew ourselves daily. Covey wrote we need to take care of our heart, soul, mind, and body. To take care of the heart we need love, for the soul we need relaxation. For the out mind we need to gain knowledge, and for our bodies we need to stay fit and healthy. Habit seven is “Sharpen the Saw”. Taking care of ourselves is very important. Covey writes about our values. What are values? Values are the items we are proud of in life, and the people that we love.
These people and items are true treasures. Just taking time to sit back, and look at all of the challenges we face, and to feel good about ourselves is amazing. We can however ask ourselves if we could do better. Everyone should say they can do better, however perfect is not an option. If we follow our values and the seventh habit it will make life easier, and happier. At the end of the day we need to be able to look at ourselves and smile. Covey wants us to take care of ourselves.
“Abraham Lincoln was once asked “What would you do if you had eight hours to cut down a tree? He replied, “I’d spend the first four hours sharpening my saw. “(241). Now our journey of the habits is coming to the end, and we will still continue to use the habits to achieve wholeness, relationships, and balance. We need to take control of our lives now, and make something of them. We cannot follow other people, and expect that they will do everything for us. When we look back at ourselves in years to come, we want to be happy with our choices, our friends, and our life. We should blow on the sail of our boat, across the life river, and not just sit there and wait for wind.
