This first step entails that being proactive includes taking responsibility which Covey defines as “Response-ability. The ability to choose your response” meaning that you must fully understand and analyze a situation before making decisions. In order to understand you must first listen, not only to what someone is saying but the whole consensus of a problem and then decide what to do. The second habit is Begin with the End in mind which is denoted as setting up goals that will help drive your focus forward and at a faster rate. To do this you must first listen, use engaged listening and find out everything that your company or even just you are trying to accomplish. Understanding your end point makes your journey a lot easier and sensible. The third habit is “Put First things First” where an individual is learning how to prioritize their day-to-day actions based on what is most important and not necessarily what is most urgent. These first 3 habits deal with self mastery and moving from dependence to independence where an individual must learn to take a step back, listen, understand and then move forth onto physically gaining the goals they have set for themselves. As Dr. Magee stated, “part of listening is knowing your own …show more content…
The sixth habit is to “Synergize” which means two minds are better than one. By understanding and valuing the differences in another person’s perspective through listening, you create a stronger form of creativity and ideas that you once did not have before. The seventh habit is “Sharpen the Saw” where a person must learn to renew themselves and enhance their greatest asset. This may seem like it can’t really relate to listening but being that the ability to listen is one of the most powerful steps in becoming effective, it is an asset that you must enhance and thus “Sharpen the Saw”. When sharpening the saw you can have a list of multiple activities that will help better yourself in order to obtain the effectiveness you want to achieve and become a catalyst in your own