The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The book titled “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” was published in 1989 and written by Stephen R. Covey. This book relates to business and self-help for individuals. In this book, Covey explains how to be effective and obtain your goals by aligning yourself with a principal called “true north”.

The seven habits that Covey explain include:

1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the End in Mind
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win-Win
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

The three main habits that are aligned with my personality are: Be Proactive, Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood, and Synergize.

Be Proactive: I’m a proactive person because I set goals that motivate me to be a better person in my life and career. With motivation and determination I will become successful with changes in life. Click here for more information.

Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood: Communication is important part of our daily lives. I believe that communication and listening are closely related. For example, when someone talks to you, understanding them is a key factor and in return others will understand you when you speak. I always like to be informed about new things, so when i talk to others they can understand me and receive the right information.

Synergize: Teamwork is a very important skill to have throughout your life. I’m a good team player and very supportive with my group members. Also, I’m open to feedback and provide positive thinking for success. Click here to read more.

As a student, I will apply these three habits by focusing on school and life balance, we need to have a good balance, because it will make us more positive and more motivated to do well in school. Having good communication in school will prepare me for the professional working world. Being able to write appropriate letters and to speak in a professional manner is important skills to learn at school. I always pay attention to lectures because the more I understand about the subject the better I will do on assignments. Being a good team player will not only help me, but will also help others achieve similar goals that I want to achieve.

Applying these habits within the workplace will be beneficial for success in my career. Being a good communicator and listening to others first and then providing appropriate feedback or insight.  This is a good skill to have because in the workplace today you have to work effectively with others on projects. In addition, sometime you will have to deal with upset clients and Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood will be useful in these situations. Being a good team player in the workplace is also something that I think is important for me because sometimes you may come across a projects that can’t be achieved by one person.

Social Media Tools for Work & Self Promotion

Since the evolution of social media, there are many different ways people share information and communicate. Many businesses use social media tools in a variety of different ways to get their message across, as well as promote their products and services. The tools that are used in social media today include: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, SlideShare, and Flickr. All these services provide businesses with an advantage to tap into different markets to advertise for free or at low cost.

Self-promoting and self-marketing thru social media tools are common in todays society. Business professionals manly use these tools to promote their image or market themselves in different ways. For example, using LinkedIn to support their personal experience and education to potential employers. There are many professionals that use YouTube to gather attention and brand themselves to the world. When professionals use these tools it will be a benefit because these tools are available globally.

Businesses use these tools mainly to advertise their products, but also get valuable feedback from their consumers. This is very useful for providing recalls, improving services, and quality control. Another advantage for businesses is the low cost of using these tools to promote, advertise, and gather information from consumers. In addition, these tools are updated in real time which can benefit businesses for making timely decisions.

Job recruiters utilize social media more today to recruit potential employers then traditional resumes of the past. When a recruiter views a potential candidate’s personal branding  video, this will provide them with a comprehensive view of their image. This makes it easier for the company to make a informed decision on who to hire the right person.

Here are five social media tools that are widely used by business professionals

Twitter: Twitter is similar to blogging but on a smaller scale. This service enables users to send and receive messages similar to text messages, known as “tweets”, which are limited to 140 characters. These services can be accessed from their website and through a wide range of mobile platforms. This provides  business professionals with ways of communicating with other professionals. In addition, business professionals can also promote and develop their brand.

Facebook: In 2004, when Facebook launched it was primary a social networking site that allows users to reconnect with old friends and meet new friends. To this day Facebook has revolutionized the meaning of social media. Facebook has added many different types of tools that are used by individuals, business professionals, and product branding. One of the tools are joining groups, users can join different types of groups depending on there interests, for example: school, work, and personal interests. Joining these groups could be a benefit for personal branding.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is another social media website that is geared towards professionals. This website allows users to connect with other professionals in many different industry’s. This is also helpful in finding jobs and opportunities that are within your contacts network. One of the main purposes of LinkedIn is to build your virtual resume that everyone can see, as well you can receive professional recommendations from people you know or worked with in the past.  Companies also post jobs within LinkedIn which makes it a professional choice to become a user to take advantage of these opportunities.

YouTube: YouTube is a video sharing website that allows people to upload videos for anyone to see. Many users post personal videos of themselves to promote their personal brand or their opinions. This is also used by business professionals to highlight their skills and brand themselves for specific jobs.

SlideShare: SlideShare allows users to upload PowerPoint and many other presentation files to share with other people. This service allows business professionals to share their slides through the website or can link it to other sites for people to view. SlideShare was originally used just to share slides with employees, but now it has expanded to provide business professionals with ways to market themselves.