New habits for a new job

Amy Ching, 18 August 2016

Here’s my first blog entry since I joined Magnetism. I have been reading a book by Stephen Covey titled “The 7 habits of highly successful people” which I have learnt so much from.

I will share my three main takeaways:

All about the perspective

The young woman/old lady. When I first came across this picture, I did not think it is about the perspective. It is just something fun for me to look at. But in this book, it opened my eyes to see the young woman and old lady from the different images. This book really challenges me to see situations in a different light – paradigm shift. One example is my big move to Auckland. People from Wellington constantly told me how terrible the traffic is and how hostile the people are (Really? I guess they just don’t want me to leave). But after I moved here, I told them, “Auckland is fun. When you leave from a place to another, no matter what the new place is like, you will always gain new perspective because you see different things. Embrace changes as they will grow you to become a better person.” I will continue to work on my paradigm shift using the suggestions made by Stephen Covey so I can be more accepting towards various perspectives that are different to mine. There’s always than my own perspective.

First things first

Now, the time management matrix really impacted me. I am in Quadrant 1, while thinking about Quadrant 2 things. Ok, I am probably a mix of both. I love relationship building, hence I love bonding with people and I invest a lot in my friends. I think I am doing well in this aspect of Quadrant 2. But I am also a person who wants to complete everything within the shortest amount of time so that I can have more time to finish other tasks. But after reading the book, I realise I might have been in Quadrant 1, feeling that every task I am given at work is a crisis; that I have to finish them asap so that I don’t hold anyone up. Habit 3 has made me rethink my priorities. What is the most pressing thing I should be doing at work? What can I do to make myself more effective, rather than just efficient? What would make a tremendous positive difference if I changed the way I worked? As I am in the Project Assistant role now, priorities will be different compared to when I was a Personal Assistant. Now I have to relearn my priorities using Quadrant 2 when my tasks start to pile up.

Seek first to understand, then to be understood

Big chapter. I learnt that taking time to understand a friend, an employer, a colleague, a client or even a situation is definitely a valuable thing to do. In fact, they probably fall in Quadrant 2; Not urgent but bringing long term benefits. I learnt that listening to people with your heart is more effective than listening to them with your mind; trying to assess, judge or jump to conclusions. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”. So true. We can understand the situations from their perspectives, then ours, and eventually come up with a solution which benefits all. Oh, I guess that falls into Habit 4 too – think win-win. There’s always more to listening than speaking.

Hope you enjoy this entry.

Here’s some fun. Can you find the horse and the frog in this picture?