Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind Flashcards

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1
Q

What thought experiment does Covey open the chapter with?

A

Envisioning your own funeral and thinking what you would want four speakers to say.

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2
Q

Where are each of the four speakers in Covey’s funeral thought experiment from?

A

Your friends, your family, your work or profession, and a church or community organization.

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3
Q

What is the most fundamental application of “begin with the end in mind”?

A

To begin today with the image, picture, or paradigm of the end of your life as your frame of reference or the criterion by which everything else is examined.

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4
Q

What does “begin with the end in mind” mean? What metaphor does Covey use to explain it?

A

It means to start with a clear understanding of your destination; Covey uses the metaphor of a ladder being leaned up against a wall: you can climb the ladder even very quickly, but that’s ineffective if the ladder is leaned up against the wrong wall.

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5
Q

How many times does Covey say things are created? Name these creations.

A

Twice. There’s the first, mental creation, and the second, physical creation.

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6
Q

Explain the relationship of the two creations to the Circle of Influence.

A

To the extent to which we understand the principle of two creations and accept the responsibility for both, we act within and enlarge the borders of our Circle of Influence. To the extent to which we do not operate in harmony with this principle and do not take charge of the first creation, we diminish it.

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7
Q

What happens in our personal lives if we do not develop our own self-awareness and do not become responsible for first creations?

A

We empower other people and circumstances outside our Circle of influence to shape much of our lives by default. We live scripts not of our making/to our liking.

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8
Q

Describe the difference between leadership and management.

A

Leadership is the first creation. Management is the second creation. Leadership has to come first. Management has a bottom-line focus–“How can I best accomplish certain things?” Leadership deals with the top line: “What are the things I want to accomplish?”

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9
Q

What metaphor does Covey use to illustrate the difference between producers, managers, and leaders? Briefly describe each role.

A

Cutting through a jungle with machetes. Producers are cutting through the jungle; managers sharpen machetes, hold physical fitness seminars, set up schedules and compensation plans, etc.; leaders survey the situation and say “wrong jungle.”

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10
Q

What does Covey say leadership in business must do?

A

Monitor changes in industry/customer needs to organize resources in the right direction.

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11
Q

What allows us to be proactive? What allows us to expand our proactivity and exercise personal leadership in our lives?

A

Self-awareness; imagination and conscience.

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12
Q

Briefly summarize the story of Anwar Sadat rescripting himself that Covey tells.

A

Sadat spoke of his hatred for Israel, but knew that script would ultimately be ineffective, so he rescripted himself using mental/meditation techniques he learned in prison. Briefly, during Nasser’s administration, Sadat was relegated to a position of relative unimportance, but eventually he realized the opportunity to become president of Egypt. He visited the Knessett in Jerusalem and started an important peace movement, bringing about the Camp David Accord, affecting millions of lives.

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13
Q

What does Covey say is the most effective way he knows to begin with the end in mind? Describe it.

A

To develop a personal mission statement or philosophy or creed.

A personal mission statement based on correct principles becomes a kind of standard for an individual. It becomes a personal constitution, the basis for making daily decisions in the midst of the circumstances and emotions that affect our lives. It empowers individuals with timeless strength in the midst of change.

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14
Q

Where must we begin in order to write a personal mission statement? How do we do this?

A

At the very center of our Circle of Influence, where we deal with our vision and values.

We use our endowment of self-awareness to examine our “maps” and, if we value correct principles, to make certain that our maps accurately describe the territory and that our paradigms are based on principles and reality. We use our endowment of conscience as a compass to help us detect our own unique talents and areas of contribution. It is here that we use our endowment of imagination to mentally create the end we desire, giving direction and purpose to our beginnings and providing the substance of a written personal constitution.

(1. Use self-awareness to examine our paradigms to make sure our paradigms accurately reflect principles and reality.
2. Use conscience to detect our own unique talents and areas of contribution.
3. Use imagination to mentally create the end we desire to give direction and purpose to our beginnings and provide the substance of a written personal constitution.)

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15
Q

Whatever is at the center of your life will become the source of what four things? Describe them, then describe their relationship to each other. Do we possess these qualities in an all-or-nothing manner?

A

Security, guidance, wisdom, and power.

Security represents your sense of worth, your identity, your emotional anchorage, your self-esteem, your basic personal strength or lack of it.

Guidance means your source of direction in life.

Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other.

Power is the faculty or capacity to act, the strength and the potency to accomplish something.

These four factors are interdependent. Security and clear guidance bring true wisdom, and wisdom becomes the spark or catalyst to release and direct power.

We don’t possess these qualities in an all-or-nothing manner; the degree to which you have developed each one could be charted somewhere on a continuum. On the bottom end, the four factors are weak; at the top end, you are in control.

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16
Q

What are the nine “alternative centers” Covey mentions?

A
Spouse centeredness
Family centeredness
Money centeredness
Work centeredness
Possession centeredness
Pleasure centeredness
Friend/enemy centeredness
Church centeredness
Self centeredness
17
Q

What is the ideal in regard to centers?

A

To create one clear center from which you consistently derive a high degree of security, guidance, wisdom, and power, empowering your proactivity and giving congruency and harmony to every part of your life.

18
Q

What center does Covey suggest is ideal? Describe how the four life support factors flow from it.

A

A principle center.

Our security comes from knowing that, unlike other centers based on people or things which are subject to frequent and immediate change, correct principles do not change.

The wisdom and guidance that accompany principle-centered living come from correct maps, from the way things really are, have been, and will be.

The personal power that comes from principle-centered living is the power of a self-aware, knowledgeable, proactive individual, unrestricted by the attitudes, behaviors, and actions of others or by many of the circumstances and environmental influences that limit other people.

19
Q

What example of a problem does Covey give to demonstrate the different centers he’s described? Describe how he says a decision based on a principle center is different than the others.

A

A man having invited his wife to a concert, but getting a call from his boss that he needs help through the evening to get ready for a presentation at 9 the next morning.

There are five important differences when you are coming from a principle-centered paradigm:

First, you are not being acted upon by other people or circumstances. You are proactively choosing what you determine to be the best alternative. You make your decision consciously and knowledgeably.

Second, you know your decision is most effective because it is based on principles with predictable long-term results.

Third, what you chose to do contributes to your ultimate values in life.

Fourth, you can communicate to your and your boss within the strong networks you’ve created in your interdependent relationships.

Fifth, you’ll feel comfortable about your decision. Whatever you choose to do, you can focus on it and enjoy it.

20
Q

Do we detect or invent our missions in life?

A

Detect

21
Q

Describe brain dominance theory. Describe the different hemispheres. Which tends to be more valued in life? Which do you need for “the first creation”?

A

Each hemisphere of the brain–left and right–tends to specialize in and preside over different functions, process different kinds of information, and deal with different kinds of problems.

The left hemisphere is the more logical/verbal one, and the right hemisphere is the more intuitive, creative one.

The left tends to be more valued in life.

The quality of our first creation is significantly impacted by our ability to use our creative right brain.

22
Q

Name and describe two ways to tap the right brain.

A

Expand perspective; you consciously create your own perspective-expanding experiences, rather than waiting for the death of a loved one, etc. Write your own eulogy, visualize 25th or 50th wedding anniversaries, visualize your retirement, etc.

Visualization and affirmation; a good affirmation has 5 basic ingredients; it’s: 1. Personal, 2. Positive, 3. Present tense, 4. Visual, and 5. Emotional. Visualize yourself in whichever situation you’d like to change, and write an affirmation.

23
Q

Why does Covey suggest visualization works?

A

After you see the situation you’re visualizing clearly, vividly, relentlessly over and over again, when you get into the situation, it isn’t foreign and it doesn’t scare you.

24
Q

What’s one way Covey suggests to make your mission statement more balanced and easier to work with?

A

Break it down into the specific role areas of your life and the goals you want to accomplish in each area.

25
Q

When should you set a goal? What does an effective goal focus on?

A

After you’ve identified your various roles, then you can think about the long-term goals you want to accomplish in each of those roles.

An effective goal focuses primarily on results rather than activity.

26
Q

What important function do roles and goals serve?

A

They give structure and organized direction to your personal mission.

27
Q

What two stories does Covey tell to make points about organizational mission statements?

A

One was about his training a group of about 20 people from IBM in New York when one of them became ill. His wife wanted him to be treated by their personal physician in California and time was scarce, so IBM hired a helicopter to bring him to a private jet to take him there. This was because IBM said they as a group stood for the dignity of the individual, excellence, and service.

The other was about a hotel where covey was training 175 shopping center managers. The service at the hotel was very personalized and excellent. When he talked to an employee about it, the employee told him the hotel chain had a mission statement, and the individual hotel he was at had an individual mission statement in harmony with that one, which they included everyone in writing.

28
Q

What does Covey say is one of the fundamental problems in organizations?

A

People are not committed to the determinations of other people for their lives.

As he says, “no involvement, no commitment.”