The first, most fundamental of Covey’s seven habits, without which you cannot hope to master the other six and reach the holy grail of effectiveness, is proactivity. But the term proactivity is rather misleading. Covey’s notion of proactivity is a lot richer than in common parlance, which equates ‘proactivity’ with ‘taking the initiative’. For Covey taking the initiative is merely the beginning of proactivity. Covey relates how he discovered the essence of proactivity whilst he was working as an academic in Hawaii . Whilst browsing through a psychology book in a college library, one paragraph leapt out at him. It contained the idea that, for human beings but no other animal, there is a gap between stimulus and response. How you use this space is the key to our growth and happiness. Whatever your ‘programming’, a normally functioning human being has the capacity to rise above it. Whatever the weather, you can carry your own weather with you. Whatever impulse you have, you can choose to ignore it and act on a carefully selected value instead.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 17:17:49 +0000
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