So this week has been so crazy with everything going on in the world (Prayers going out to everyone involved in all that is going on!) and these two huge projects I had to complete and the weather (yuck!). But today was INCREDIBLE!! First of all, the sun is FINALLY shining bright; it's been so cloudy and rainy lately. But the best part of my day so far was the workshop I went to this morning. It was called 7 Habits of Highly Effective People based on the book by Stephen Covey. I wasn't sure what to expect but it exceeded my expectations! I learned so much and it is something I want to implement not only in my classroom but my own life and home. Leader in Me is the culture that is instilled in schools worldwide that uses the 7 habits to create leaders in school-aged children. Here are the seven habits that are used and during the workshop we had 3 different sessions that explain each of these habits, and boy, did they fly by! I could have sat through these all day because I wanted to delve deeper and learn so much more!
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Courtesy of www.leaderinme.org
Habit 1 is "Be Proactive." This is becoming the A player vs. the B player. This means making it happen for yourselves, being positive and optimistic even in tough times!
Habit 2 is "Begin With the End in Mind." This habit teaches you how to live with vision, mission, and purpose. By having a plan and visualizing the future, you will be able to project your life forward.
Habit 3 is "Put First Things First." This habit is all about prioritizing and determining what matters most to you. Covey created a time matrix that is discussed in his book. It creates 4 quadrants that are different combinations of important/not important and urgent/not urgent. He calls the quadrant of not important and not urgent the "Quadrant of Excess" and this is not where you want to spend most of your time. The most important quadrant is the important and not urgent one. Your goal should be to live above the "not important" line.
Habit 4 is "Think Win-Win." This habit emphasizes that cooperating gives better results than competing. There are four paradigms that people operates in: win-lose, lose-win (doormat), lose-lose (take you down with me), and win-win (everyone wins). Everyone should strive to operate in the win-win paradigm. Achieving win-win requires courage and consideration. To reach this win-win
Habit 5 is "Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood." This habit really focuses on communication. In communication, 7% is the words themselves, 38% how you say those words, and 55% nonverbals/body language. As a teacher, I really need to be aware of the nonverbals. Listening is an important part of communication, and there are five levels of listening but the two most important are attentive and empathetic listening.
Habit 6 is "Synergy." Synergy is teamwork at a higher level and infuses habits 1-5. This can be used as framework in any part of life!
Finally, Habit 7 is "Sharpen the Saw." This is the habit of renewal of our body, heart, mind, and soul. We live in a country of people that work ourselves to death. We need to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others.
Habits 1-3 are private victories and habits 4-6 are public victories. Habits 1-3 are the foundation of this growth, especially habit 1.

We were lucky enough to have a panel of students that attend Leader in Me schools, three 5th-6th grade students and three 8th grade students. They were great examples of how this culture in schools works. They showed wonderful confident and pride in what they were learning. We were able to ask questions to both the students and their principals who were there.

At the end of the workshop, they showed this video and it is just so moving and shows that this is possible for any person at any age!

I'm so excited to continue training with this organization and learn more on this topic! I'm also looking forward to reading some of Stephen Covey's books,
If you want more information or have questions, you can go to www.leaderinme.org. They also have a map that shows where Leader in Me schools are located. I also have additional information from the workshop today but I did not want to bombard you with too much information today. If you would like more information or have questions for me, you can comment or email me!



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