7 Habits Of Highly Effective School Leaders

7 habits of highly effective people

Positive change. How do we know which direction to head when we decide we want to be more effective. The ideas from the book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, are a good place to start.  Here is a series of articles to help you on your journey to be a […]


Habit 8 | Find Your Voice

Habit 8 Find your voice

Over the past two weeks I’ve shared insights from Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People. In 2004 Covey published The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness To Greatness. In The 8th Habit Covey urges us to find our voice and help others find their voice.  One idea from this book that I use almost every […]


Habit 7 | Sharpen The Saw

sharpen the saw

Carpenters and cooks know a certain rule of productivity. A sharp well-maintained tool makes a job go faster and easier. Plus, tools that are ready to go are a pleasure to use. One of facts of life that I understand now, that I didn’t appreciate in my 20‘s, 30, or 40’s, is that our physical […]


Habit 6 | Synergize

Synergize

Synergize? When I first read The 7 Habits, this idea of synergize lacked clarity for me. Covey subtitles this chapter on synergy as Principles of Creative Cooperation. As I incorporated the first five habits into my life, though, synergy appeared in my life. As I worked to put my ideas into action, solutions to setbacks […]


Habit 5 | Seek First To Understand

Habit 5 Seek first to understand

There are four basic types of communication: Reading and writing, listening and speaking. Most of our days are spent communicating in some form or the other. Our school days are filled with learning to become better readers and writers, but how much time do we spend in learning to become more effective listeners to understand […]


Habit 4 | Thinking Win/Win

Habit 4 Think Win/Win

One of the habits of highly effective people is to think win/win. In our building of relationships there is a fundamental idea that comes into play: We cannot create interdependent connections until we have established independence in ourselves.  The first three habits help us develop independence: Be Proactive Begin With The End In Mind Put […]


Habit 3 | Put First Things First

Habit 3 Put First Things First

In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey tells us that time management is a misnomer. Our challenge is not to manage time but to manage ourselves. Our focus should be on enhancing relationships and accomplishing results instead of focusing on things and time. Covey says that our activities can be categorized into […]


Habit 2 | Begin With The End In Mind

Habit 2 Begin with the end in mind

Begin with the end in mind. A simple yet profound idea. How many of us would start to build a house without having a detailed blueprint?  But many of us go through life without much of a plan. Begin with the end in mind is a habit to help us be more effective in our […]


Habit 1 | Be Proactive

Habit 1 Be Proactove

Recently I made a list of books that I felt had been pivotal in my growth as a leader. Needless to say, Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People made that list. In early 1989 my husband, Mark, came home one evening telling me he had been in a corporate training session that day […]


Ten Minutes From Overwhelmed To Overjoyed

ten minutes from overwhelmed to overjoyed

An article In The Harvard Business Review, How to Spend The First 10 Minutes of Your Day, reinforced my own practice of how I spend the first part of my day. Yeah!  For a while I’ve made it a daily practice to plan my day with worksheets that I keep in a notebook. These ten minutes planning […]