The 8+6 Success Rule: 8 High Effectiveness Habits + 6 Greatness-Inhibiting Cancers
I created the 8+6 Rule not only to simplify the success formula, but also to make it much more easily memorable. There is a plethora of work in the success literature out there on the habits of highly effective people, and perhaps one of the most prolific ones is that of Stephen Covey. Thus, I will analyze them on here along with the 6 cancers that inhibit greatness in most folks that fail to so achieve because greatness-inhibiting traits are as damaging as lack of effective habits/traits.
Prior to discussing the “8+6” of success, it’d be wise to analyze the two general ethics that govern success, namely: (1) Personality Ethic, and (2) Character Ethic.
Personality Ethic
This modern ethic evolved in the success literature of the last half of the 20th century, and it attributes success mostly to personality traits, skills, techniques, maintaining a positive attitude, motivation, etc.
Character Ethic
Character ethic came into play during the 150-year period that came prior to the “personality ethic” era, during which point the literature on ethic was ‘character’-oriented. Under the latter, success was more attributed to characteristics such as integrity, courage, justice, patience etc.
Character building is important as it involves maturity and the idea that “there is enough success for everyone”. Accordingly, in developing an organizational culture, be sure to reward win/win behaviors among colleagues.
Having covered these two main ethics, without further ado, let us move right along to the 8+6 elements of success.
The 8 Habits of Highly Effective People
Habit#1: Be Proactive
Habit#2: Begin with the End in Mind: Principle of Personal Vision
Habit#3: First Things First: Principles of Integrity and Execution
Habit#4: Think Win/Win: Principle of Mutual Benefit
Habit#5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be understood: Principles of Mutual Understanding
Habit#6: Synergize: Principles of Creative Cooperation
Habit#7: Maintenance: Principles of Self-Renewal and Continual Improvement
Habit#8: Find a Voice and Inspire Others to Find Theirs.
The 6 Greatness-Inhibiting Cancers (C’s) – The Six C’s
Success Cancer#1: Cynicism
Success Cancer#2: Criticism
Success Cancer#3: Comparing
Success Cancer#4: Competing
Success Cancer#5: Complaining
Success Cancer#6: Contending
The 8 Habits of Highly Effective People –Explained
Habit#1: Be Proactive
When it comes to responding to things, one may either the PROACTIVE or REACTIVE. When one is REACTIVE s/he blames others and circumstances for obstacles or problems. Whereas, being proactive means that one takes responsibility for every aspect of one’s life.
Habit#2: Begin with the End in Mind: Principle of Personal Vision
This habit is about setting long-term goals based on key principles that will guide one’s daily life. The latter is facilitated by a “Personal Mission Statement”, and documentation of one’s life vision. The latter is essential but not so easy to achieve.
Habit#3: First Things First: Principles of Integrity and Execution
This habit adopts a framework to prioritize work that is aimed at short-term goals. After all, there may be tasks that may deceptively appear not to be urgent that may be important after all. One must not forget to DELEGATE certain task as to manage one’s time effectively. Delegation is an important part of time management. Thus, successful delegation focuses on results and benchmarks that are agreed upon in advance rather than prescribed as detailed work plans.
Habit#4: Think Win/Win: Principle of Mutual Benefit
One should also think of mutually-rewarding solutions to satisfy the needs of all parties involved by asking “What’s In It For Them (WIFM)”. This requires a healthy emotional bank account which contains the following: Understanding, attendance to little things, commitments, clear expectations, and personal integrity.
Habit#5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be understood: Principles of Mutual Understanding
When people feel understood, they try to return the favor by understanding the other party’s position or plight. If one fails to understand the other party, the given advice will have fallen on deaf ears because the other party will not feel understood. People love to be understood. Understand them first and then they’ll return the favor.
Habit#6: Synergize: Principles of Creative Cooperation
It is important to establish synergy among colleagues as to create an effective work flow. In order to so accomplish one must find ways of working in teams; applying effective problem solving and collaborative decision-making; valuing differences; building on diverging strengths; leveraging creative collaboration; and embracing and leveraging innovation.
Habit#7: Maintenance: Principles of Self-Renewal and Continual Improvement
Human beings are creature of habit, and some habits can induce us to way from the other habits of effectiveness. Accordingly, one must strive to self-renew and continuously improve by building one’s personal capability. In order to so accomplish, one must find the proper balance between actually doing what one desires to do and doing other things that will improve one’s performance in that category and others as well.
One cannot self-maintain, renew and improve without taking into account the three aspects of a human-being BODY/PHYSICAL, MIND/MENTAL, and SPIRIT/SPIRITUAL.
In order to succeed or be highly effective:
PHYSICALLY: we all need to have enough FOOD, WATER and EXERCISE
MENTALLY: we all need to remain LEARNABLE, and to maintain continuing education
SPIRITUALLY: we all need to maintain some CORE BELIEFS and VALUES.
Habit#8: Find a Voice and Inspire Others to Find Theirs.
Highly effective people are inspirational and motivational. They are able to perform because they have mastered the performance tools, namely, motivation, skills and opportunity mining. Having established their voice, theme or style, they can PERSUADE others to CHANGE their positions (i.e., LEAD them to being success bound).
The application of the above 8 Habits of High Effectiveness along with the minimization of the six cancers to success will ensure that one is nothing short of being SUCCESSFUL. Success is now reachable to all…. but please don't forget to minimize the 6 cancers to success/greatness as much as possible as they too can reduce even the smartest one of us into complete failures.
Cheers to your Success, Friends!
Dr. Pete Lorins is the Chief Editor of LorinsPOST.com. This article is sponsored by LORINS.biz
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