By Haekal Adha Al Giffari
We often put in our mind that “I must be productive; I will do many things today”. However, after day to day passed, we feel like less satisfying with what we have achieved, we feel like we have done a lot of thing but we do not enjoy the result, or we feel like we do nothing.
Being productive is not about how many things to do in a day but how impactful what have you done to our life and others.
The thing that we need is to be more effective, which means that we could modify our mind, personality and behaviour in dealing with our day-to-day life.
Stephen R. Covey in his book “The Seven Habit of Highly Effective People” elaborated seven elements that we need to consider in shaping our personality to be more effective. Gradually, when we uphold these things, we could cultivate our habits and feel the better transformation of self.
Adopting any ideas with full internalisation is not simple. What we need to do is initiating our first step, slowly but surely with frequent evaluation, and pushed by more motivation to achieve a satisfied self-transformation of our life. These are the habits:
Being Proactive
Each person has the ability to influence others and to be persuaded. We always react to some external event, especially by the media, we were exposed by it too much and slowly we are too passive and unconsciously they shaped our emotions and behaviour. Instead of thinking “what I will get” which could lead to our passive action, we could think “what is my responsibility”. For example, in social media when we think what I will get we just do scroll Instagram or Tik Tok for a whole day. However, constructing our mind by focusing on our responsibility, we will produce content which reflects our mission, our responsibility in life, especially in the media.
Begin with Purpose
To increase our quality of life, sometimes when many jobs in any aspect offered to us, we just accept it. Furthermore, we cannot handle those things and we start to become chaotic. Or when our friend invited us to a certain event, we just say yes because he is our friend without more considering what will happen next. We need a purpose in our decision which must be aligned with our goals. I found many of my friends, when I asked why you select this course, they have no idea, they do not know, they do not have a purpose. By accustoming our life to put a purpose in any decision, we can transform ourselves to be better.
Start to prioritise
Establishing a life plan is starting by putting the priority in our life which align with our main goals. If we would like to be a writer or a researcher, look for more information regarding to that and grab as much opportunities as we can. In case our friend invite us to hang out while we still need a time to finish our writing, we can negotiate, or we can just focus on writing and reject him politely.
Focus on Win-Win Situation
Prioritising thing is sometimes difficult when we think that both are beneficial. My friends ever invited me to join them to have a vacation for five days, from Monday to Friday. However, on Friday I have a competition which I need to do a preparation at least one day before. It is a dilemma situation. Further, I negotiate with my friend telling him “how about if we can just go for 3 days”. I proposed much of the argument why my option is better. Finally, they agree, and I got both.
To Understand First, Then To Be Understood
We should know that some people who tell their problems to us were not actually asking for solutions, but they just want to be listened to and release their stress. Understanding the ‘why’ point in people’s behaviour is important. And even if they want a solution, understanding what kind of solution and how to deliver our solution is crucial as well to help them.
Synergise
Instead of considering that other people restrict our freedom, I prefer to believe that others provide more freedom. We cannot do any thing alone, we are limited by our experience, skills and emotional aspect. I believe that the contribution of many people will bring a bigger impact or result.
Sharpen the Saw
“If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I will spend my first four hours to sharpen the axe.” The Abraham Lincoln’s quote reflected how important planning is in our life. We should ensure that our activities will be sustained and support our well-being; physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually. Therefore, listing a comprehensive plan is necessary with an alternative way in case we cannot follow our first plan.
Being productive is not enough while we need to maintain the balance of our life. By following those habits, slowly but surely, we could be more effective people and balance our life to achieve more. For you who are still thinking what is your purpose in university, in work or in life, donate your time or money to gain more experience to discover your inner self by reading more books, following certain programmes and so on. Try a new thing and explore it yourself.***