The Seven Habits: The Leader in Me!
By Lily Fisher
Table of Contents
Introduction
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Be Proactive
4
Begin With the End In Mind
6
Put First Things First
9
Think Win-Win
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Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
13
Synergize
15
Sharpen the Saw
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Summary:
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About the Author
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Introduction You may be familiar with something called The Seven Habits. If you are unfamiliar with The Seven Habits, you will better understand them when you have accomplished reading this informational text. Most schools are introducing The Seven Habits, because they teach students to become better people. All seven of these habits are important to remember, and if you keep reading on, you’ll understand why they are so important.
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Be Proactive To Be Proactive, you need to be in charge of yourself - nobody else. You are responsible and take initiative. You choose your actions, and attitudes and don’t blame others for what you did. You do the right things, even if nobody sees it.
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You can Be Proactive in school by getting prepared for what you’re going to be doing. For example, if you know that math class is next, you would take out your math notebook, before your teacher tells you to. You could also do your homework during your own time. You could finish your homework during breaks, such as lunch and recess.
You can Be Proactive at home, by helping out around the house. For example, you could do your chores, or even do extra chores, before your parents tell you to do so. If the sink is full of dishes, do your parents a favor; wash and dry the dishes and maybe even put them away. Even if nobody sees a good deed that you’ve done, you did something responsible and something you should do, so that should make you feel good inside. So, try being Proactive. It will make you and others feel good. 5
Begin With the End In Mind The second habit, ​Begin With The End In Mind​, is when you start a task, you think about what you want to accomplish in the end. You have a plan and set goals. You also work hard to do good.
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You can Begin With The End In Mind in school by, finishing your work. While doing your work, you think about what will happen in the end. If you do your work, the end product would be that your teacher is happy. If you don’t do your work, the product would be that, your teacher will be upset and tell you to do the work for homework; and nobody wants that.
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You can Begin With The End In Mind at home by, again, doing your work. If you want to go play video games, but you know you have homework and chores to get done, you should probably do the work first. While doing the work, you can think about what you want to get, and that can motivate you to get the work done. Whether it’s school or home, this habit, Begin With The End In Mind is very useful to help you persevere and set goals to get what you want.
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Put First Things First This habit, ​Put First Things First​, means to work first and then play. You spend your time on things that are most important. You say no to things you should not do. You make a schedule and follow your plan. You are also neat and organized.
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You can Put First Things First in school by, following your studies before following your friends. That means that you should make sure you’re prepared for each subject before going off with your friends and completely ignoring the more important thing, which is your schoolwork.
You can Put First Things First at home by making sure its math before laugh. That means that you should do your math work before you go off with your friends and have fun. Even though you would rather go hang out with your friends, you used this habit, and did what was right. This habit shows that your responsible and do what has to be done, so afterwards you can have a little bit of fun!
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Think Win-Win Think Win-Win. That means that everyone wins! You and your friend both want what’s best for each other. However, when someone doesn’t agree, you don’t get mad at each other, instead you look for alternatives.
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You can Think Win-Win in school when you have to work together in groups you try to do what’s best for all. For example, if everyone in the group has a different opinion on doing something, you try to compromise. You would take a little bit of everyone’s ideas and create an idea everyone is a part of and agrees on.
You can Think Win-Win at home when playing outside. For example, if there are multiple people who want to play different things try to think of a game everybody will enjoy playing. With everyone’s different ideas coming together, you might even create a new, more enjoyable game! Think Win-Win is important in everyday life. This habit teaches you to be open with others and share your ideas and opinions. This habit also teaches you to accept others’ ideas and work together to create something incredible. 12
Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood The next habit, Seek First To Understand Then To Be Understood, means that you listen before you talk. You listen to other people's’ ideas and try to see things from their perspective. You don’t interrupt and watch people when they are speaking.
You can use this habit in school when working in a group for an important project. If everyone in the group has a different idea or opinion on something, the whole group works together to decide on a better solution. For example, people will agree and disagree on comments, 13
but finally everyone will come to an agreement, or a compromise. Before you make a judgement on what someone says listen to them. You can use this habit at home by listening without interrupting. For example, if your younger sibling comes running to you with a problem don’t interrupt them just listen. You listen while they are talking to you and, in your head, you think of possible solutions. Once they have finished speaking, you can give your opinion or advice to help them out.
Even though sometimes you think your idea, opinion, or strategy is the best solution sometimes it isn’t. This habit is important to keep in mind because, it reminds you to accept others’ ideas, offer your own thoughts, when it’s the appropriate time. But, sometimes you just have to listen.
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Synergize All of the habits named so far have showed you it is best to do the right thing and listen to others. The sixth habit, ​Synergize​, means exactly that, and a little bit more. Synergize​ means that you appreciate others strengths and get along with people, even if they are not your friend and are different then you. You work well in groups and try to find solutions together. You know that by teaming up together you can create something better, then if you were to do the task alone.
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You can use this habit in school when solving math problems as a class. For example, if you’re solving a multiplication problem, but everyone has a different idea or way to solve it, you can talk it out. Everybody would explain their ideas and why they think their thought will work best. Once you have heard everyone’s ideas, you try to compromise and piece together all of the ideas to find the answer and also make each person happy.
You can use this habit at home by, cleaning up with your family. When you have to clean your whole house, but you don’t know where to start, give each person an assigned job to help the cleaning run smoothly. For example, your mom can wash the dishes and your dad can do the laundry, your sister can clean her room, and you can give your dog a bath.
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Once each person finishes their job they can move onto another job. Before you know it, your house will be clean because your whole family worked together. Synergize is important to remember wherever you are, school, home, etc. Remember that it’s okay if you don’t know how to answer a question, or find an answer. That’s the whole reason you’re in the group, to help each other learn, grow and accomplish something.
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Sharpen the Saw The last habit, ​Sharpen The Saw​ means that you take care of yourself by eating healthy, exercising, and getting enough sleep. You spend time with your family and friends. You also learn in lots of ways and in lots of places, not just at school. You find meaningful ways to help others.
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You can use this habit at school by, packing your lunch everyday. By taking the responsibility to pack your lunch you are not only teaching yourself to make a lunch fit for you, you are also learning how to establish healthy habits.
You can use this habit at home by, playing outside. You can actually take better care of yourself if you put down your video games and go play outside. For example, you could play tag with your friends or ride your bike. You could play soccer or create a new game with your friends! Sharpen The Saw​ is very important because it reminds you to take care of you! You can use this habit anywhere and the best part is, is that you can incorporate this habit into your life whenever you want. 19
Summary: Now that you have read about The Seven Habits, you should now understand what they are. To be Proactive, you need to prepare yourself. To Begin With the End in Mind you need to think about what you want to accomplish in the end. To Put First Things First you need to do things in the order they have to be done. To Seek First To Understand, you need to be open to others’ ideas. To Synergize, you need to work with others under any condition. To Sharpen the Saw, you need to take care of yourself. As you can see, The Seven Habits are important and helpful in everyday life and you should use them in many situations. If you remember to use each of these seven habits, it will help you succeed, and also it will make you feel good inside.
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About the Author Lily Fisher lives in Western New York with her mom, dad and younger sister. Lily loves school and every subject she learns about. But, Lily really enjoys writing the best. Lily loves to create books of all sorts, and especially enjoys writing something related to something she learned about in school. This book she wrote, ​The Seven Habits-The Leader in Me,​ shows her understanding of the importance of doing your best at whatever you do and embracing the inner writer within.
Note: All images are from Google Image Search for images that are labeled for reuse.
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