Have you ever ended a day with a heavy working session, feeling all tired and exhausted, and think to yourself: How can I be my most effective self? Well that’s exactly what I’ve been focusing on in the last four months. In Maker, we started this project called Believe in Good. It’s based around a book called the 7 Habits. It’s a guide book that tells you how to become successful in 7 steps. Each habit builds on top of each other, so you can’t skip a step and move on to the next one. The 7 habits fall into 3 big categories, private victory, public victory, and renewal. Alright, let’s dive into my journey of believing in good, and see if there are any tips and tricks for you to become a more effective person.
Habit 1-3 is about private victory. The first step is “be proactive”, focusing what you can control rather than what you can’t control. Recognize your mistakes, make changes around you instead of complaining about others. A example could be having a positive mindset to face difficult challenges. The next step is “begin with the end in mind”, have achievable goals and make plans to achieve them. Most importantly, have a vision of what you want to be like. Whether it’s being busy all day, being late for work, or finishing everything on time and have control over your own life, it’s all up to you. Last step of achieving private victory is to put first things first. Priories your tasks, spend your time on the right things. Focus on what you need to do in order to achieve success, rather than what you want to do to entertain yourself.
We’ve all been there, spending time on some unnecessary things such as Tiktok or Youtube, and end up not finishing your work on time. Put first things first is more kinesthetic than just a mentality. That’s exactly why I created custom alarms for myself. My custom alarms remind me of what to do, and my personal mission statements. In the morning I have badminton practices, so my alarm will go off at 6:45 and say “Randy, you have to exercise daily, and always be on time”. This is one of the best ways that I can think of to put first things first, set strict time schedules, and keep reminding yourself who you want to be. The custom alarm is pretty much a level up from my daily calendar, I wrote weekly schedules on my personal calendar and looked at it every morning.
This method had some pros and cons, once you mess up the timing a bit it becomes difficult to keep up with schedule, and you will just end up delaying your work to the next day. What happened to me was it didn’t help me to manage my time, although the checklist made sure that I knew what to do for each day, but I never had the sense of when to do what. My custom alarms on the other hand fulfilled this duty, it plays sound to remind me the time and what to do. This method effectively improves my time management skills, helps me to achieve private victory, and very useful on a daily basis.
Habit 3-6 is focused on public victory. It’s all about how to communicate and work with others. The first step is to think “win-win”, see interactions as a cooperative opportunity instead of a competition. Mentality is key here, not everything in life are “I win you loose” or “you win I loose” situations. Next step is seek first to understand then to be understood. Listen to what others have to think before sharing your opinion. If you don’t want to listen to others, then why would they listen to you? The last step before achieving private victory is to synergize, have a teamwork mindset. Remember, you are not alone. Support one another will be a lot easier than working by yourself.
I created this Youtube video of me synergizing and working with Jordan. Me and Jordan are both in the badminton team, and everyday we would work on different shots at practice. Like deep back hand returns, smashes, etc. This is a “Win-Win” situation in my opinion, we both represent Seycove for badminton, so it’s great that we can help each others to improve. We were competing during the tryout, but at the end of the day we are not enemies. Thanks to my “Win-Win” mindset, I was able to recognize this and make myself a better person.
Last habit might seem unnecessary, but very important to our physical and mental being. It’s called sharpening the saw. It’s essentially just taking a break, and regaining your energy. You might have a great passion about something, but at one point you’ll feel burnt out. It’s important to step out of your tiny bubble, and work on yourself instead of working on your computer.
Sharpening your saw doesn’t mean go watch Netflix, that will just consume more of your energy. What you should be doing is taking a walk or exercise. A healthy life style is key to success no matter what your goals are. I made this playlist for myself to relax, so I can be more productive after a break.
Combine all the habits we just went through, and you will become a highly effective person. Not just privately outstanding, but also an amazing team player. Set some goals and take baby steps, it’s time for you to make a change, I’m sure you can be a better person.
see ya next time!