Books On Purpose

Shoremates,

Welcome to the final habit: sharpen the saw.

Dr. Covey talks about how all 7 habits intertwine with each other and if you focus on one habit, then it will make the rest of the habits that much easier and improve your life.  By spending an hour a day focusing on sharpening the saw in these 4 areas: physically, emotionally/socially, mentally, and spiritually, it causes an upward spiral inspiring growth and continuous change. 

Action Items

1. Where do you think you stand in regards to the four areas: physically, emotionally, socially/emotionally, and mentally?
2. Where can you take a few minutes out of each day to think about these 4 areas?  If you are tempted to say there is no time, ask yourself how much time is spent on TV, social media, or spent scrolling on the phone.
3. Celebrate.  We just finished our 4th book!  If these principles and habits are followed, your upward spiral of growth has begun.  It is slow and small at first, but will gradually get bigger and bigger.

Shoremates, I hope that this episode was valuable to you. The 7 habits of highly effective people is a life changing book, and I highly recommend adding it to your bookshelf for greater detail on each chapter.

Always, always remember.  You’ve got this.

-J.D. Elliott

Shoremates,

Welcome to the 6th Habit, Synergy from Dr. Stephen R. Covey's timeless book, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

In this chapter, we discuss how different we all are, and that these differences are not only ok, but help us all elevate to a whole new level...if we apply these differences correctly. 

Action Items

1. Next time you’re in a meeting and someone says something that you do not agree with, say the following: “good, you have a different opinion than me.  Help me to understand from your point of view.”
2. While they communicate, genuinely seek to understand what they have to say and show respect for them as an individual.  This will help to allow synergy to take place for your next project. 

Shoremates, I hope that this episode was valuable to you. The 7 habits of highly effective people is a life changing book, and I highly recommend adding it to your bookshelf for greater detail on each chapter.

Always, always remember.  You’ve got this.

-J.D. Elliott

Shoremates,

In today's episode we cover habit 5, seek first to understand then to be understood, from Dr. Covey's book, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  It is in this section we learn that if we truly want people to understand us in life, then we need to ensure we first hear them.  Caution: this section is not for the feint of heart.  Truly understanding others will take a lot of work, and there is no "quick" way to do it.

Action Items

1. Look for situations today where you can genuinely listen to others and their concerns without trying to interject your own points of view or unsolicited advice. 
2. Evaluate how you do after every conversation.  If this is new to you, you’re going to fail a lot, and that’s ok. By seeking to be just 1% better every day, eventually you’ll be an all star.

Shoremates, I hope that this episode was valuable to you. The 7 habits of highly effective people is a life changing book, and I highly recommend adding it to your bookshelf for greater detail on each chapter.

Always, always remember.  You’ve got this.
-J.D. Elliott

Shoremates,

Welcome to the 4th Habit, Think Win/Win from Dr. Stephen R. Covey's timeless book, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

In this chapter, we discuss how the greatest way to win in your own personal life, business, friendships, or anything else it to think in a win/win perspective.  From thinking about their point of view, we are better able to ensure we meet their needs, and ours in the process. 

At the end of the day, thinking win/win is not a clever psychological trick or new management scheme.  It is a way of life where you genuinely show care and compassion for others and show empathy for their concerns.

Action Items for today.  For ease of reference these are also listed in the show notes:

1. What is something that you need a win/win in?  
2. Spend some time understanding the other person’s point of view, the biggest concerns involved, and what results would win for both of you.
3. After this, brainstorm ways to achieve those results, after communicating that “no deal” is on the table for the sake of the relationship. 

Shoremates, I hope that this episode was valuable to you. The 7 habits of highly effective people is a life changing book, and I highly recommend adding it to your bookshelf for greater detail on each chapter.

Always, always remember.  You’ve got this.

-J.D. Elliott

Shoremates,

In today's episode we cover part 3, a paradigm shift, from Dr. Covey's book, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  It is in this section we lean to think about relationships more as an emotional bank account, where we learn to intentionally make deposits if we desire success.

Action Item

1. While going through this section, what relationships came to mind that you have withdrawn or are near bankruptcy?  What can you do today to start mending it, knowing it will take several deposits?

The reason we designated an entire day to this emotional bank account idea is because this is the frame of reference over the next few days as we cover the remaining habits. 

Shoremates, I hope that this episode was valuable to you. The 7 habits of highly effective people is a life changing book, and I highly recommend adding it to your bookshelf for greater detail on each chapter.

Always, always remember.  You’ve got this.

-J.D. Elliott

Shoremates,

In today's episode we cover Habit 3 from Dr. Covey's book, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: put first things first. 

This chapter starts out with two questions.  Just like the visualization exercise from habit 2’s chapter, the information for this is vital for the rest of this episode. 

The first question Dr. Covey asks is “what one thing could you do that you’re not currently doing that if you did on a regular basis would make a tremendous positive difference in your life?”

The second question is what one thing in your business or professional life would bring similar results?

Action Items:

1. If you didn't do the exercise at the beginning of the chapter, go ahead and do it.
2. Google the time management matrix chart from Dr. Covey and print it off. Tape it somewhere you’ll constantly see. Anytime an activity comes up, ask yourself which quadrant it is in.
3. Knowing that 20% of your efforts will yield 80% of your results, what are you willing to say no to in order to move to more quadrant 2 activities. 

Shoremates, I hope that this episode was valuable to you.  If the exercises are done, The 7 habits of highly effective people is a life changing book, and I highly recommend adding it to your bookshelf for greater detail on each chapter.

Always, always remember.  You’ve got this.

-J.D. Elliott

Shoremates,

Welcome to Habit 2: Begin with the end in Mind.

The biggest part of this is to do the visualization and action items from this chapter.  If done, then this chapter alone will help to revolutionize your life.

Shout out to this podcasts sponsor, Nautical Teas. Gourmet, delicious, loose leaf teas.  Each tea you see at www.nauticalteas.com has been handcrafted with you in mind.  If you love tea and this podcast, check it out today

Shoremates, I hope that this episode was valuable to you.  If the exercises are done, The 7 habits of highly effective people is a life changing book, and I highly recommend adding it to your bookshelf for greater detail on each chapter.

Action Items:

1. Do the visualization exercise from the beginning of the chapter if you haven’t done so already.  From this, you can even write down what you imagine people saying.  This will give clues into your value systems. 
2. Create a personal mission statement.  Dont rush through this part…take time to think about what it is you want to live for. 
3. Create some visualization exercises. Imagine something that you are struggling with in extreme detail. Then, picture yourself relaxing your body and calmly handling the situation how you want to handle it according to your personal mission statement. 

Always, always remember.  You’ve got this.

-J.D. Elliott

Shoremates,

In today's episode we cover Habit #1, be proactive, from Dr. Stephen Covey's legendary book.

Shout out to this podcasts sponsor, Nautical Teas. Gourmet, delicious, loose leaf teas.  Each tea you see at www.nauticalteas.com has been handcrafted with you in mind.  If you love tea and this podcast, check it out today

Action Items for today.  For ease of reference, these are also listed in the show notes and summary. 

1. Draw a circle.  This is going to be your circle of concern. In it, write down literally everything you’re concerned about.  
2. Draw a circle.  This is going to be your circle of influence. From here, look at your circle of concern and rewrite the things in your circle of influence that you can directly change.  One quick way to determine the two is whether you use “have” or “be.”  I’ll be happy when I pay off my house is a circle of concern, whereas, “i can be more patient” is in the center of influence.
3. For the next week resolved to only work on the things in your circle of influence.  If something comes up that is in the circle of concern, let it go.  If you like the results after a week, try to do it for 2 more weeks.  If you mess up, that’s ok.  In fact, I’ll let you know that you’re going to mess up…and that’s ok..  When this happens, immediately get back into the game, forgive yourself and move on. 

Shoremates, I hope that this episode was valuable to you.  The 7 habits of highly effective  people is a life changing book, and I highly recommend adding it to your bookshelf. 

Always, always remember.  You’ve got this.

-J.D. Elliott

Today we cover a vitally important concept to understanding the rest of the book: the P/PC principle and the maturity continuum.

Shout out to this podcasts sponsor, Nautical Teas. Gourmet, delicious, loose leaf teas.  Each tea you see at www.nauticalteas.com has been handcrafted with you in mind.  If you love tea and this podcast, check it out today.

Action Items.

1. Find someone to teach the goose and the golden eggs story too, and explain how this relates to life financially, physically, and in human relationships.
2. Think about your own life in these three areas, and ask yourself if you're killing the goose financially, physically, or in human relationships.

Shoremates, I hope that this episode was valuable to you.  The 7 habits of highly successful people is a life changing book, and I highly recommend adding it to your bookshelf. 

Always, always remember.  You’ve got this.

-J.D. Elliott 

Shoremates,

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen Covey is the answer you've been looking for.  It is the quickest way to hack into being more efficient in a fun and more rewarding way. 

Shout out to this podcasts sponsor, Nautical Teas.  Gourmet, delicious, loose leaf teas.  Each tea you see at www.nauticalteas.com has been handcrafted with you in mind.  If you love tea and this podcast, check it out today.

The purpose of this book, the 7 Habits of highly effective people, is to train an inside out approach to personal growth and development. It focuses on changing the one thing you have power to change…you.   This is the view that says in order to have real public victories, you have to have private ones in your core first.

Action Items:

1. What kind of map or paradigm have you seen the world from?  Has it been from the character development view point, or one from the common microwave culture point of view?
2. These habits over the next few days can challenge previous viewpoints. All I ask is for you to think about them, compare them to how you see everything, and make a judgement call for what changes to make.  A 1% improvement every day makes a 37X change over the course of a year.

Shoremates, I hope that this episode was valuable to you.  The 7 habits of highly successful people is a life changing book, and I highly recommend adding it to your bookshelf. 

Always, always remember.  You’ve got this.

-J.D. Elliott