Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

if you ask 100 people what they came away with after reading the book,  you will probably get 100 different answers,  so for me to give you an answer it would only be my personal point of view.

JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER BOOK.

Take the bible,  how many different perspectives are taken from that book.

 

My answer to your question is:

It will make you a better person for reading it, if you are ready for it.    Yes very general

 

Mike

If I had to choose the step most important I would pick

#5 to understand and then be understood. 

Although every step is important, without proper communication most of it falls apart.

as stated by SolidGrnd

I heard once that if you pick up a book, or are given a book and don`t read it right away...then you aren`t ready to hear what it has to say yet!

For those who have not read the book yet,  if I were you, I would ask for the lord to make you ready.  It is a great book  just like "think and grow rich" which I still think is the first must read.

Mike

I`d argue that one habit of an effective person IS to make things personal! We hear over and over again how, in business, we shouldn`t take it personally. What other way is there to take things?

Even taking things objectively means starting with the assumption that we have a personal brain, personal senses, personal mind, and personal judgements, as well as evaluations. So if you read this book, and you have a personal opinion of why it`s important, isn`t that the whole point?

Anyone can pick up a book, read it, put it down, and walk away without the slightest impact to their life other than they noticed some ink on paper. Is that the function and point of reading? People say this book is very important, it affected them deeply, and I ask in what way. What other way is there than to be affected personally?

Would we say, "This book affected me deeply. Not personally, just deeply." What does that even mean?

I think this is more about creating your future. What are you looking to accomplish (what is the end result you are looking to create) then put the plan together and follow it until you get there. Always changing what you are doing if what you are doing is not working until you get there.

John


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Funny it has been a few years since I read the book, but I remember the picture of what looks like an old lady and they ask if you see the beautiful young lady. On the nect page in the same picture they show you where the beautiful lady is. The idea is many people can see the same event and see two seperate events.

John


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John, 

I am at a disadvantage because i just listened to a cd.  Thanks for your comments.

Mike

Here`s a link. It`s a famious optical illusion. "Old/Young woman illusion."

I read the teen version. I loved it. It really changed the way I think. Maybe I should try the adult version. But if anyone has a teenager that would actually read the teen version, I think it`s be a great idea. Wish my rotten teenager would read it! LOL!

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Well CraigL I will tell you how this has affected me, and I used it in my life and business.

First, I agree it is a philosophical overload to which no one person can absorb it all and use it. The author can not even do it. He is an author that can theorize about many things, and yes he is successful, but not because he lives this stuff everyday. You would have to be GOD or some such creature to really REALLY apply all that is in it.

Now, "the look at the end first" part has been helpful for me. It asks that at your death or eulogy what people will know you for? What will they say about you? What will your family think of you? Try planning or seeing the day to day things you do or don`t do as determining what you will be thought of. That tends to have a powerful effect on what you do that day.

Here is and example: suppose you are the best number cruncher for a company that has ever existed. You spend every waking hour doing this. You have a few kids and a wife, and you live, but live to work, because many rely on your number crunching. Than you die. Will you be satisfied that EVERYONE at the funeral could only say WOW he was a great number cruncher. Yep, no one can argue that. George was the best.

 I don`t use it everyday, but it is one thing I consider on occasion now. When I find I have been REALLY busy in my life and not having much time to do anything else. I stop and ask myself hey is the contributing to what you want the result of your life to be.  Are you going to care about this hustle and bustle in the end? How I answer those questions may change the course of what I am doing.

Now you may say, this is all common sense, and you would be right. However, you asked the question how we can apply this day to day. It is to me a reminder list of how to be a good person and responsible business partner to those around me. Does this help at all?  I know you are genuinely asking for examples, so this is mine.

Finally, I could state a case for each step and how I use it, but hopefully this gives you CraigL an answer you were asking for.

 

:-D I think at this juncture I`d say that answering "my" question is about putting into coherant language "your" thoughts about the question. Frankly, I ran across the book long ago. I think it was big in...what...the 70s? Something like that. I didn`t read it other than to glance through the 7 habits. (I think all of us tend to do that sort of "cut to the chase" thing.)

Anyway; I saw the habits, realized I did a number of them (but not all), and contemplated what else I`d want to do. The thing is, at the time I considered myself already to be effective, so I wasn`t really looking for a way to be effective.

What does make sense is that I`d forgotten the source of the "eulogy" exercise, but I think it was likely this book. That, I always remembered and actually brought out in some other thread here on SuN not long ago.

The bottom line is that nobody is going to be effective until they first decide that being effective is a higher value than going along with the flow. Although Taoism is a widespread philosophy, with many subscribers, it`s not very effective. Unles you consider passive resistance to be effective in certain situations.

Does that mean there`s no place for the Tao anywhere? No, of course not. But we choose our "style" of living, and when we`re young, that choice is a repeated event until it becomes a "habit."

Long before this book came out, people used to be described as "go-getters." Other people prefer to go along to get along. There`s nothing objectively wrong about either style, it`s just that---a style.

What DOES matter is when anyone stops and re-evaluates their current style and they`re not happy with it. At that point, they have to decide how important is it to them to make a fundamental life change.