Covey - 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Covey – 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Doesn’t fall under behaviour consultation model.

Covey suggests that to deal with life, you need to establish in your own mind, a set of principles you use. Covey uses:

• Fairness
• Integrity
• Honesty
• Human dignity
• Respect
• Service
• Quality
• Excellence
• Potential in human growth
• Patience
• Nurturance
• Encouragement

To Covey, these are deep, fundamental truths that you live by ,and that, hopefully everyone shares.

Covey: The way the problem is is the way we see the problem. It is our perception – we need to correct our perception, not the problem.

1. We can have either a negative or positive outlook.
2. You can have either a blaming or a responsibility taking outlook.
3. You can have a problem solving or a fatalistic perspective.
• For these three areas, you can place yourself on a continuum.

There is a continuum of maturity that we go through. We progress from dependence to independence, to interdependence. Independence is not the final outcome. We want to work interdependently with others.

Dependence: dependent on others for support
Independence: on your own in all that you do. Make and solve your own problems.
Interdependence: you are cooperating with others. Solutions are synergistic. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Effectiveness issue: the balance between the production of desired results and the production capability. You must set your boundaries

Three aspects to keep in mind when setting boundaries: Emotional, Physical, Financial

Be proactive – be planfull about how you are going to be a professional and how you are going to live your life.

Talks about the social mirror – what is important in light of others.

Talks about the fallacy of the stimulus and response. In pure behaviorism, you can predict what the response will be based on past patterns of behaviour. Humans, however, have the freedom to choose, and are aware they can do this is there are alternate responses available. Just because something works on one student doesn’t mean it will work on another student. One’s conscience and independent will enable them to make this choice.

Reactive people have more difficulty changing the way they act than do proactive people.

Proactive people recognize that they have responsibility; they take initiative; they don’t blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behaviour; their behaviour is a product of their conscious choice. This choice is based on values and feelings, rather than a product of their conditions.

For Reactive people: if the weather is good, we feel good.
For Proactive people: you carry the weather with you.

As a proactive person, you take the initiative. Find solutions before the problem starts. Stick to your principles.

Some reactive language: It’s not my fault, it’s his fault, I can’t, I must, If only, someday when, they won’t allow it, I have to, that’s just the way I am, etc. Includes blaming and an increased feeling of victimization, spend a lot of energy on uncontrollable areas of their life – the circle of concern.

Some proactive language: Let’s look at some alternative, I can control my feelings, I will choose an appropriate response, I will, I choose, I prefer, etc. Spend most of their energy in the circle of influence – on positive efforts; and in areas you can do something about. The more you have in the circle of influence, the bigger the circle of influence will get.

Direct control has to do with problems involving your own behaviour – these are things you can work on

Indirect control – involves problems involving other people’s behaviour – and you can not change these things directly, but you must change your influence on the habits of interdependence. In school psych, you want to change the behaviour of those surrounding the child, to change the child.

Remember, you have no control over the past – you should not live in the world of regret.

A key issue: when you make a commitment, keep it. Even to your own hurt. If you do not, you will undermine your own credibility with other people.

Begin with the end in mind.

All things are created twice: First you create something mentally, then you make it happen.

There is a difference between leadership and management. Leadership looks at the bigger picture, deciding where you want to go. Management runs the day to day.

Develop a mission statement. Professional and Personal. It helps keep you grounded and focused. When you write your mission statement, you need to focus on what you want to be, what type of character you want to develop, what you want to do (at the end of my career, I want to look back and see…), what are your values.

Take a principle centered approach to life. Use this to guide all your actions. If you stick by your principles, they are constant throughout your life, provide security. Help with wisdom and guidance – when making choices. Gives you a sense of power over your own destiny and influence over others. – All this flows with having the ability to change when things are not as they should be.

Filed under: EDC 510-511 Consultation in Schools and Practicum
Copyright: October, 2003 - David Profitt