I have a little different take than Covey on this habit. Here it is…

Habit #2: Begin with the End in Mind

Simply put, this is Habit #1 – be proactive – plus deliberately chosen, consistently pursued direction.

Before you get started blazing a trail, look at the big picture and know where you want to go, and why. Then line up your proactive steps to get there from here. Once you clearly identify where you want to go, operational decisions at all levels are clarified and informed by that destination.

This is the opposite of doing what happens to be in front of you, or what someone else wants you to do.

Non-linear destinations like “learn about this technology” or “discover new possibilities” are ok, so long as you’re clear from the beginning that’s the result you want.

I’m convinced that you can reach almost any goal that you are willing to be steadily proactive about, even goals that seem incredibly far away.

“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey is a book of enduring wisdom. Highly effective people I know really do live this way. Welcome to the Seven Habits review mini-series.

Habit #1: Be Proactive

Deliberate action is the basic ingredient of effectiveness. Deliberate action requires a pause between a circumstance happening to you and your reaction to that circumstance. During that pause you must recognize that you are not an option-less victim, you have choices about how to respond. Then choose how you will respond based on the values you believe.

This is awareness in the moment, an internal locus of control, and choice of action based on values not impulses.

The second part involves what Covey calls “circle of concern” and “circle of influence”. Reactive people focus their concern on situations entirely out of their circle of influence. This reminds me of people who talk a lot about the national debt or politics in Washington. If the complaint doesn’t have “and here’s what I’m going to do about it” attached, I think it’s a merely way to avoid action while carrying an illusion of involvement in something important.

Being proactive is focusing your energy and concern on situations you can influence.

The most powerful part of Habit #1 is when you are proactive within your circle of influence, it gets bigger. Doing something about what you can do something about expands your ability and opportunity to influence things previously out of reach.

When I first read Covey’s book I was (happily) self-employed at a one-person company. My circle of influence was pretty much just me, and my immediate family. I was proactive every day in my one-person company and just like Covey promised, my circle of influence expanded. I am now privileged to have some influence on thousands of people including employees, customers, vendors, textile workers far away in India, and even some blog readers.

Proactivity works, no matter who you are or where you start from.

At my college, it was pretty easy to see how they assigned us to first-semester freshman classes. All of us in freshman English Comp had last names that started with A, B, or C. It turned out we in this alphabetically privileged group had most of our first-semester freshman classes together. As a result some of us are friends to this day.

Ms. Janosz was our writing teacher. She taught with passion, and inspired us to read and think and write creatively. Sometimes she’d have us read in front of the class. I guess we all had our turn, but nobody read like Matt did. He was one of our group, a B I think. To say the least, he had a gift for reading aloud. When he read angels sang and emotions soared high and crashed hard. We were a bunch of 18 year olds with little appreciation for art, but we were in awe. He was a read-aloud genius, and I admired him for his rare ability.

One day Matt wasn’t there. Upon asking around I learned he had flunked out of school. The genius I admired got failing grades, he couldn’t do the academic work. To me he was better than all of us. To the school, he wasn’t good enough to stay there. I was shocked.

That day I learned there is more than one kind of genius. I learned that assigning the same success criteria to everyone doesn’t fit the real world. I learned that remarkable ability can coexist with remarkable inability. Maybe it’s always does.

None of us A’s, B’s, and C’s will ever forget that guy. Matt if you’re out there I hope you’re reading on a big stage, and I hope I get to hear you again some day.

When I post here I often credit an advisor, coach, or mentor of mine. If you’re getting the impression that I have a lot of them, you’re right. I connect monthly or more with a business peer group, two business coaches, a financial advisor, a personal coach, a personal counselor, and a personal small group. I didn’t always reach out like this, and it’s taken years to build a network, but I wouldn’t think for a second of going it alone now.

I absolutely could not perform at the level I do without their support and input. I depend on them every week for courage, confidence, insight about myself, and the wisdom of experience. I have many counselors on purpose, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

This idea is what I remember from a talk given by Dr. John Townsend in 2010.

Passion is loving what you do.

Ability is being good at what you do.

Meaning is believing that what you do makes a difference that matters.

The sweet spot is the overlap of all three – doing something you love, you’re good at, and that matters.

A huge range of abilities can be developed, so there’s no need to limit yourself to the abilities you already have.

A huge range of activities are potentially meaningful, so that doesn’t narrow the field much either.

Passion is different, it’s unique to you. So look at what you love first, then look at what ability and meaning you can pair with your passions. Far better to learn a new skill to enable your passion that to spend a life doing something you’re already good at, but don’t care about.

P.S. Having a day job that fits your passion is a wonderful privilege, but it’s not always a realistic possibility. If you can’t do what you love for a living, there may still be good reason to keep your day job. Plenty of passions are brought to life outside of working hours.