Brave New Life

Day Nine

Today was a great day. It's really turning out to be an overall fantastic week and I'm not sure if that's due to my newfound mindset or not, but it couldn't hurt right? I listened to about an hour of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey and got a lot of good information out of that, but have limited time to break down the information, nor do I intend to copy and paste the entire book to you when you could and should go out and read it. Immediately. It is turning out to be the most useful and effective book I have ever read. I will copy and paste my notes from today below: 

Four squares diagram: urgent, not urgent, important, not important

Peter Rucker? "Effective people are not problem minded, they're opportunity minded. "They feed opportunities and starve problems. They think preventively.

Biggest focus should be important but not urgent matters.

Organize on a weekly basis*

Do not prioritize what's on your schedule, schedule your priorities

Organize:

Write down your roles

Select goals for each role for the week

Schedule with goals in mind

Adapt, review schedule daily and decide priorities to help with unforeseen events

You cannot be efficient with people. You need to be effective with people and efficient with things

Frustrations are the reflections of our expectations, and our expectations are often the reflections of our social mirror rather than a function of our own principles.

Primary focus on relationships and results and a secondary focus on time.

I intend to go back and do the exercise later this week, but I did go back and do one of the previous exercises today and was astounded at the result. Habit two was "Begin with the end in mind" and it is suggested to visualize your own funeral and write down what you want to hear your friends and loved ones say about you. Here's mine: 

What do I want to hear about my character, contributions, and achievements at my funeral?

-She always pushed you to be a better version of yourself.

-She was honorable and would not tolerate people putting others down.

-She always told the truth, even the hard ones (gave the best advice).

-She only kept the truest of friends and loved them unconditionally.

-She really listened to you and thought about your problems and tried to help you solve issues as if they were her own.

-She was wild to the core and loved the natural world around her, she preferred nature to people and believed most people should get more in touch with their wild side

-She was fun, the life of any party, and had a magnetic personality.

-She was a hard worker, dedicated to any task she put her mind to and able to overcome any obstacles in life.

-She was a fighter and clawed her way to the life she wanted, tooth and nail.

-She did everything she said she would do. If she said it, she meant it and it would happen. She would MAKE it happen.

-You had to earn your place in her inner circle and that was difficult, but once you were in, you were in for life. She fiercely protected these people, gave freely to them, supported them, and was their personal cheerleader.

-She believed in giving back to your community and did so without fanfare.

-She treated everyone she ever met with respect, even if they did not earn it or deserve it.

-She was loved deeply by the people closest to her.

-She was fearless.

I was surprised after reading my list several times, how little I actually cared about being popular, rich, or successful in the typical sense. Instead I realize that I care most about my close relationships, being respected and sought after for advice, and having strong principles that inspire those around me. I can begin to see how listing this out shifts my priorities for how I shape my daily life to earn this list of attributes. I intend to work more on my specific goals and priorities sometime very soon. 

In the meantime, here's what I did today to better my tomorrow (not including this work): I ate very well, I maintained a very positive mindset, I did a small workout that involved zero knee exercises, I made my bed, and I applied for an undergraduate certification program. I never wanted to take another class in my life, but instead of fear— like I felt when I first started going back to school—I feel only excitement. 

Til tomorrow my brave comrades,

-C.