One of my greatest challenges is controlling the way that I talk to myself. Whether we realize it or not, most of the talking we do is to ourselves. We’re experts at getting ourselves worked up over a situation, generating self-righteous indignation toward others, and convincing ourselves that we’re right and others are wrong.
Last month, there was an event that caused me to stop what I was doing and think back to 1989. That was the year I purchased The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, a book written by Stephen Covey. The event that caused me to stop and think about Covey’s book was a report on the news that he had passed away. Covey died on July 16, 2012, at the age of 79. At the time of his death, he was a professor at the John Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University.
During the 1980s and 1990s, I had the great fortune of working with Herman Heilman, a commercial and industrial real estate appraiser. I was introduced to Herman by my Uncle Tony Couri. Herman and Uncle Tony were good friends who went back a long way – Herman was born in 1904, and Uncle Tony was born in 1912.
In last week’s article, Habit Gravity & Escape Velocity, I told you about a New Year’s resolution I imposed upon one of my teenage daughters last year. The resolution was for her to make her bed every morning immediately after waking up. In the article, I provided one of the primary reasons most people don’t keep their resolutions – they fail to develop the new habits that are necessary to follow through on the resolutions. I also provided a formula that can be used to help facilitate the development of new habits.
Georgette and I still have three daughters living at home with us – Mary (20), Christine (17), and Teresa (15). Although Georgette has asked all three of the girls to make their beds every morning, only one has consistently complied with her request. The other two daughters have expressed various reasons (excuses) as to why they can’t seem get the job done every day, such as, “I don’t have the time” or “I keep forgetting.”