excellence | Giuseppe Gianni

Aristotle’s famous quote says that “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit”.

Stephen Covey’s besteller book “The 7 Habit of Highly Effective People“, worldwide symbol and foundation of modern coaching, try to gather together the most relevant habits of successful and happy people.

The lesson I learned reading this book, that’s probably my favourite one, is how to strive excellence in everything we do and how to avoid life to pass you by.

Waiting for something good to happen in your life doesn’t provide you the same satisfaction than striving to achieve it.

Those are the 7 habits Stephen Covey pointed out:

HABIT 1: Be Proactive

Proactivity means “taking control and making things happen rather than just adjusting to a situation or waiting for something to happen”. ⁽¹⁾

HABIT 2: Begin with the End in the Mind

“Begin with the End in Mind” means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination.
If you don’t make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life.

HABIT 3: Put First Things First

What comes first in your life? First Things are those things you, personally, find of most worth.
If you put first things first, you are organizing and managing time and events according to your personal priorities.

HABIT 4: Think Win-Win

We think about succeeding in terms of someone else failing. Life becomes a zero-sum game: “If you win, I lose”.
Thinking Win-Win means to constantly seek mutual benefit in all human interactions.

HABIT 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

You spend years learning how to read and write, and years learning how to speak. But what about listening?
Most people listen with the intent to reply, not to understand.

HABIT 6: Synergize

When people begin to interact together genuinely, and they’re open to each other’s influence, they begin to gain new insight.
It is the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

HABIT 7: Sharpen The Saw

Sharpen the Saw means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. It keeps you fresh so you can continue to practice the other six habits.

7habit