Category: 7 Habits Class

Life classes for me was rebuilding the 7 habits of highly effective people in me. It had a great impact on me. I understood the importance of having a small circle of influence in my life. The change you want to see in the world will start with you. So I learned that instead of finding errors in others, I should begin with myself first, build a stronger foundation of values. With each activity and group discussion, I grew as a better person. There was a discussion on making our own wealth statement where I realized that the things that matter the most in my life are given the least time whereas the things which do not matter are given the utmost time. Moreover, the sharings from other contestants of life classes made me realize that we all have troubles in our lives though in different ways but what matters is the way we look at the problem. Life classes also made me realize the value of balancing social, spiritual, mental and physical aspect of my life. Having synergizing activities and movie reflections made the life classes more interesting.

Thank you Nisha mam and Bhumika mam for enlightening me through the life classes. These learnings will always be cherished by me. Thank you FS for giving this opportunity.

The year long sessions on the book “7 Habits of Highly effective people” was a different learning experience. It has helped me enhance my circle of influence and has motivated me to be proactive rather than reactive. It was also interesting to know the perspectives of all co-participants and to participate in various activities. A few activities and sessions were boring and less engaging. Overall, it was a good experience.

Happiness is the key to success!

You are successful, if you are happy :).

I enjoyed effective listening as it was helpful and useful with the students.

Regards,

Malvika Gandhi

I remember the 1st day of the life class where my expectation from the series of sessions was to revisit the idealogy of 7 habits and review that how much of it I had really applied in my 7 years of career. Earlier also I attended 2 workshops on 7 Habits in my previous jobs and they too were focused on improving leadership, managerial skill, decision-making, work-habits etc., just like any professional 7 Habits workshop. It certainly helped me this time too post attending life class at FS because of which I believe I have become more Empathetic, Compassionate and Competent HR Professional… I have been more Proactive, better at planning, started developing ability to see Big Picture and attempted to come out as more acceptable leader at FS…but I the truth is I feel more contented thinking the impact it has made at personal level…

First time that I connected with my inner-self…my emotional part and I introspect on my relationships and on how have I been living my life and here on how I would like to live it. I remember that I confessed that I am ‘Emotionally deficit’ and how difficult it is for me to express my emotions… Well what do I say… I am a changed woman… This time each session helped unlayer areas of improvement on personal front…So here goes my reflections:

• My approach now towards life is to have liberal and broader perspective about relationships that I have.
• Its fine to express as it only brings close-ones more closer. I remember pouring my heart out several times during life-classes and all examples were personal; which was so unlike me but I enjoyed confessing as well as sharing.
• I now have my bucket-list which I want to achive in life and there is no professional goal in it. I have realised that as much as I get Kick every time I achieved a milestone at office…I now get same kick when I cook a tasty dish without burning, in less-time and with less mess in kitchen for my family.
• I now value work-life balance. It doesn’t not mean I have lost passion for work..Work defines me but now I also know few people who too defines me.
• I have also become responsible for my health and well-being. I have also discovered a new hobby…to write…any random thought to elated emotions…I pen it down everytime and then I try making sense of it…

Over a year I have laughed more, made more friends at workplace for first time, lost weight, changed wardrobe and started dressing as I use to, love more, express more and most importantly…live more.

How often do we get a chance to look within ourselves? “The 7 habits” life class was a experience like no other. All our lives we build walls around ourselves ensuring no one take a dig at our problems, worries, insecurities or the less talked about moments. This year I got to know myself a little better. Handling situations, people and myself in a way that doesn’t hinder my mental peace.

I have ceaselessly looked forward to the life classes.  The tears, laughter and the smiles we shared with people once unknown, has given a new perspective towards life. We had some crazy times where we depicted situations with various problems and discussed how these situations can be handled in a more responsible manner. I recall playing quite a humorous yet sadly realistic character of an overly burdened working woman, who struggles between work, family and home. We learned that sometimes effective communication can make all the difference.

The toughest thing was to gather the courage and make the apologies and garner the much due appreciations. We were given papers and roses by the facilitators for writing “thank you” or “sorry” notes. Funny how I knew I had so many people to thank and apologize to but once I held that pen my words just froze. Writing a note to my mother was the scariest feeling. That anxiety of not being sure how she would react almost made me not want do this. But I am glad I did.

There are countless things I have implemented from my Life class in my daily routine. Given a chance, I would do it all over again.

We all want to succeed. One path to success is identifying the habits that can help us on our journey. The book “7 habits of highly effective people” through life class helped us to identify them!

The first habit which we started with was “being proactive”. In order to be proactive we must focus on the circle of influence which lies within our circle of concern.The second habit we focused on was “Begin with the end in mind” where I learned changing some basic paradigms will help us proactively write our own values. It is also important to identify our center. Whatever is at the center of our life will be the source of our security, guidance, wisdom, and power. Our centers affect us fundamentally — they determine our daily decisions, actions, and motivations, as well as our interpretation of events.The third habit we discussed was “Put First Things First”. Here we did an activity based on two factors: Urgent and Important which can be divided to make Four Quadrants. Out of these 4 quadrants, 2nd quadrant which is important but not urgent is at the heart of personal management. The fourth habit “Think Win-Win” helped me understand to keep the focus on results, not methods; on problems, not people. The fifth habit which is “Seek first to understand than to be understood” encouraged me to be an empathetic listener. Sixth habit “Synergize” allowed us to create new alternatives and open new possibilities. Lastly, the 7th habit “Sharpen the Saw” where I learned to think upon and reflect on my own self.

When I started school, I came with a baggage of worries and issues. I was a girl who never believed in self-help classes or books and I categorized Life Classes under the classification of Good for Nothing Self Help Classes.

As the time went by, I started implementing few of the methods of shaping my thoughts and my routines and life. And guess what! I saw things were brighter. That was a turning point. I would want to put my learning from life classes in four points:

1. You cannot do anything about how a person feels or behaves if he is not part of your circle of influence, so there is no point wasting your time and energy on them.
2. Organize yourself well by managing your time, you can make the best utilization of the 24 hours available.
3. Listen to understand and don’t feel shy in apologizing and appreciating. Set the expectations which you will be able to fulfill. It will help you strengthen your relationship.
4. Your health is of utmost priority. And to be healthy, you need to take care of your physical, mental as well as spiritual health.

I have implemented these learningsin my life and I am happy and content.

Thank you, Life Classes!

The wow moment for me was when I gave a thank you letter to my parents, the happiness I saw in their eyes was more than any other thing. I would like to thank the facilitators for adding on to my knowledge!

Life classes helped me to get a better understanding  about me. All os us have problems in our lives. There are so many paradigms, there are so many perceptions for the same thing. First I was blaming, underestimating, doubting myself and circumstances. I started adopting that change starts from within and I focused more on  circle of Influence, then I changed my attitude from negative  to positive ‘I can also do it”. Turning setbacks into triumphs. From this I learnt that it is only you choose how to respond to what life throws at you. I love reading this line “The way  we see the problem is the problem”, Covey writes.

We must allow ourselves to undergo paradigm shifts- to change ourselves and just not alter our attitude and behavior. Also during the class reading about the various centers in the book, I realised that, I am not principled centered I always end up doing things that either please me or others. But now, I have started working upon this. Also most of the time I tend to complete everything on my desk at the sake of my health and family. I realized that I don’t need to  unnecessarily overstretch myself. I realized that it is vital  to keep ourselves energetic and renewed if we want to improve our ability. I started eating  healthy food and taking meals at appropriate time. I have also started focusing on the important tasks, even though they seem less urgent. Planning of  the tasks in advance so that it never becomes urgent. It was a wonderful time. Thanks FS for conducting a series of wonderful classes and  I am thankful to my facilitators, Bhumika Manglani and Nisha Jain for enlightening me.

The 7 habits life class helped me to look at the same thing from multiple perspectives. I could understand the concerns of other people on a particular thing and how they approached it and resolved it.

My humble suggestion for the life class is to have more activities. I also feel that each one need not be asked to share compulsorily. This can be done voluntarily. When something is made compulsory, people might share things not genuinely but for the sake of sharing. Also, the same seven habits can be instilled in the minds of participants through more activities than more sharing. I am not undermining the need for sharing, but I saw participants losing interest after a point when there was mostly sharing and no/less activities.