Group 1, Day 1

Today is the day that I start my sharing session with my closest colleagues. Was very apprehensive at first, not knowing what to expect.

The turn out was beyond my expectation; 5 people (out of 10 who accepted the invitation). I think I did okay, could improve on both the delivery & content. But I did learn more and convinced myself even more about the effectiveness of the teaching of 7 Habits. Below are the items that I shared during the 1.5 hour meeting:

Day 1:
“What is a habit, anyway?”
“Why do I need to change my habit?”
- Common human challenges
- Our comfort zone
- Cultural Tendencies vs. Principles
- How it all started
- Outward success vs. Inward success
- Primary vs. Secondary greatness
- P/PC Balance
“So, what is 7 Habits all about?”
- Maturity Continuum
- The power of paradigm

The team decided to meet up on weekly basis to go thru each habit one by one. We will start each sharing with a 20 min sharing session of struggle & success stories of trying the principles. Then I will spend the next 30 minutes sharing the following habit. We'll close the session with a new challange for the new habit we're learning.

To be completely honest, I am not too sure how this sharing session will sustain. In the end, if I can only catch one person and help him/her to internalize any of the 7 Habits, then I've achieved my goal. Since while preparing all these, I have truly gain a lot more insight and motivation to really live by the principles and realize my Mission Statement. In the end, I merely help myself more when I help others.

To the participants, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.

Our Family Mission Statement

I shared my experience of writing a mission statement with my 6 year old son. To give him an idea of what it's all about, I suggest we write one for our family. We came up with a few ideas, of course I had to cross out most of his suggestions (one of which was "To be allowed to play PS2 all day") and in the end, we came up with this:

• To learn, love & laugh together EVERYDAY


• To use MAGIC words (Please, Thank you & I'm Sorry) generously


• To fill a NEED, when there's a need

My son said it's a piece of cake for the first 2 missions, but having trouble with mission 3. I borrowed that phrase from "The Robots" movie where Mr.Bigweld uses it to encourage fellow robots to be inventive (find a problem and create a solution for it). So I guess my son was afraid that he might need to invent a new thing to help others. I told him he need not be afraid to fill in a big need. Showed him some examples of how he can in fact fill a need without an invention. For example, offer to help carry things for others, or help by playing with his little sis to keep her occupied while mummy is cooking, or help close the window when it gets too chilly. He was less apprehansive once I shared all these kind of small things he can do, to fill a need. No fancy invention is needed. Immediately he agreed, and put his signature & tumbprint of the printout of our Family Mission Statement.

Another wonderful thing is that, everynight before the children go to bed, they make a check on all three missions, whether or not each of us have fullfill them. Once everybody have shared how they fullfilled each mission for the day, we all feel very proud of ourselves and declared it a day. That's when the kids will pull over their blanket and sleep. Isn't that wonderful? And yes, we had to use the Talking Stick to give each other the chance to share their stories....Thank God I have only 2 children so far!

How It All Started

It's very hard to stay focus on changing old habits. I'm trying hard to find ways to keep on track. I really feel like this tree, trying to strive out of the big rock (old habits). Mother Theresa once said "To keep the lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it." I guess I need to find oil.

I decided to start sharing these stuffs with someone who have interest to change as well. Tried it with my husband, but as usual I failed to catch his interest or attention. Trying to shift my paradigm (by stop blaming him), I guess I should blame it on my approach. But I don't know what approach would be effective. To be safe I better stick to my approach, but with different people. Maybe I'll start with my colleagues. I have sent out an invitation to my closest 10 colleagues for a lunch get-together next week to share what I've learned at 7 Habits. So far all of them accepted, let's see next week how many would actually turn up, and how many would actually value the things I'm about to share.

If that doesn't work either, I guess I better change oil again...

My Kickstart Mission Statement

Mission Statement is a written permission to do what is most IMPORTANT & most EXCITING to YOU, and to do what is MOST YOU. I had trouble writing my Mission Statement, so I decided to try the Mission Builder on FranklinCovey.com. They asked many intermate questions, which you have to answer within a limited time, since we need answers which comes straight from the heart, not the head. There is no wrong or right answer since everyone is build with diferrent sets of value and priorities.

One of the questions really hit me big. I put on Tchaikovsky piece "A time for us" (click above) to avoid the distraction from surrounding. The questions asked "When was the last time you were happy and excited about what you were doing. Describe where, what and who was there with you". My autobiographical response to this question was " I was backhome at my parents' place. There were mom, dad, my kids, my hubby, my brothers & their families. We were in the garden, fooling around, doing nothing particularly important.I remember laughing till my belly hurt to the joke dad was making with his grandchildren"

It hit me that no material possesion was in that picture - not my dream bungalow, no fancy car, no mention of how much I earn, what position I hold in a company. Just surrounded by people I hold close to my heart, enjoying each other's company.

In the end, I managed to complete my 1st draft of my Kickstart Mission Statement:
> I will honor my commitment in all of my roles
> I will make sure my children help to make the world a better place
> I will make sure my children leave a legacy
> I will learn, re-learn and un-learn daily
> I will have fun in all the things I do
> I will put God first, always
> I will never let anybody take away my freedom of being me
> I will earn teh trust of my loved ones
> I will be responsible for what I do and don't do, for what I say and don't say
> I will pursue my passion wholeheartedly, without holding back
> I will be happy in everything I do
> I will not do unto others, what I don't want to be done to me
> I will try to emulate Ghandi, to the best of my ability

Day 0: The Beginning

I just attended a 3-day seminar on the famous 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, designed by Dr. Stephen Covey. I have never learned so much in 3 days. But completing the program is not the end of the journey, it merely the start.

I decided to write a journal about my journey trying to conquer the 7 habits, as an attempt to

• remind myself of how I started, how I travel and stumble, and hopefully how I succeed
• prevent the internal inferno od passion from burning out
• share with others that might going thru the same thing as I do