BASIC COURSE INFORMATION
As an online course, the writing that we do in English 305 is substantially
different from a face to face course. As such, it is imperative that you
understand the course style from the start. Nearly all of your work in this
course will be posted on the course blog. EACH WEEK YOU WILL HAVE THREE BLOG
ASSIGNMENTS:
1. A BLOG ENTRY,
2. A READING, AND
3. A WRITING ABOUT
THE READING.
Your reading and writing on the blog must be completed by
the Friday (by midnight) of the week in which the reading falls. You have all week each week to complete the reading and writing for that week, but there are no late assignments accepted, so be sure to be disciplined about the
work from the start.
Let me re-state that point; if you do the assigned
work before or during the week it is due, you will receive full credit. If you do the work after the Friday of the week it is assigned, you will get zero credit for that week.
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ReplyDeleteHonestly, a lot of these habits are intertwined. I actually practice a lot of these habits without knowing that I am following common habits. Thus, I cannot say I just need practice on one habit from this list of descriptions. The seventh habit is what ties in all the habits and would probably be the one I have to work on which is balancing all these habits. Each habit is as equally as important and hinder all the rest when they are not being practiced. For example, habit 1 is about learning from your mistakes, habit 2 is completing missions based off your beliefs and personal values, habit 3 is to prioritize your tasks in what is urgent and helps with personal time management. The other habits about just as equally important in order to be able to,"prioritize, organize around priorities, and discipline yourself" that will eventually lead to success. And that all these habits can be sorted through an emotional bank account where positive actions or correction of mistakes and negative actions are managed and monitored. For example, Positive actions help your balance and negative actions are withdrawals from your balance and can throw an individual off balance. Also, having the habit of working on win/win scenarios help difficult situations by compromising and favor both parties. In addition taking care of one's self is also just as important because if you do not take care of yourself then how will you take care of others to build a trustful relationships. And not building trusting relationships will not help the individual nor anyone else. However, in the end I believe that all these habits are vital in order being sane, successful and humanistic.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think all the habits are interrelated. I also envy your ability to practice them. I am so bad at prioritizing and time management. Usually by the second or third week of the quarter I am already behind. If I was better with all seven I would likely be more sane.
DeleteI have to agree with you Jocelyn we all do these habits without really thinking about it. I had not thought about it like that; all these habits are interwined. And yes we must take care of ourselves before takign care of other. I need more practice on all 7 habits.
DeleteI agree too with all of you that we all unintentionally practice these habits and they are interrelated. However I would like to emphasis that most of us need to work in balancing between them. For example, it is good to be proactive but when this causes you to neglect your health, it shifts to be a harmful thing to you.
DeleteI agree with you, too! All of the habits are interdependant, and it is hard to compartmentalize each one of them without drawing from the others.
DeleteOf the seven habits, I need to work on number seven, “Principle of Balanced Self-renewal”. School is tough especially being on the quarter system. I know I abuse myself physically, emotionally, and mentally. Most of the time by the time the quarter is over I just want to be outside in the fresh air and enjoying the time walking my dog or swimming. I barely have time to exercise regularly during the quarter and I use coffee as a food substitute to counter the severe lack of sleep. This is primarily caused by my inability to tell people no. I take on way too much and mentally and physically exhaust myself. My lack of time means less time for friends and family so I rarely get to spend any time with them. I need to get better at taking better care of my health and telling people no when I feel overextended. Planning better and being proactive with school would help out greatly and I know I would feel less stressed and tired. I should also spend more time doing volunteer work. I know I can’t give much in the way of money, but I can give of my time. I know it is important to be active in the community, even if it’s here on campus. Recognizing that I can’t be all things to all people would probably be the best place to start and work on time management so that the other elements will fall into place.
ReplyDeleteI also have to work on the seventh habit of self renewal. I have a hard time balancing out all the different areas of my life and as a result of this my time with my friends, family and even with my dogs has greatly suffered. I have the similar problem in that I spread myself to thin and by the time the quarter ends I am completely exhausted.
DeleteI absolutely understand where you are coming from Amy. I am not originally from Bakersfield thus the only friends I have made are my classmates from the Nursing program. When I was back home I had all my friends who wanted to hangout, watch a movie, go dancing and etc. However, it was a problem because if I turned them down I felt bad or I would go and burn myself out from doing what I have to do and still trying to have fun. Now as I am here all on my own I do not have the distractions of my friends, family or my boyfriend. I miss them dearly but being apart from them helps me focus on all the other things I have to do so in the end they will be proud of me. Because I feel similar to what your describing as spread out thin and dependent on coffee because I feel like I have so much to do. I volunteer at Mercy hospital 5-10hrs a week, I volunteer doing free health screenings 5hrs a week, I work out 2 to 3 times a week, I work part time for 12-20hrs a week and I am a full time student in the nursing program. Life is stressful but honestly like one of the habits of prioritizing to what is urgent has helped and writing it down on my planner and my weekly white board helps me remember what I have to do next because everything should be done at a step at a time.
DeleteI definitely agree with what you have just said above, because I have been going through all that for about six years now to obtain my degree. Of course, working many hours and studying for long time will start the inescapable cycle. It makes me physically exhausted which leads to mentally depleted. It also shrinks the time I may otherwise spend with my family or friends; this will, in turn, diminish my social relations. So, balancing between our physical, mental, spiritual and social needs is crucial to survive and success.
DeleteI think all of these habits are extremely important for everyone to practice. However, as I read through them I realized that the one that I really need to work on the most is the seventh habit of self renewal. I say this because I often find myself having difficulty balancing out all areas of my life. I basically spend all of my time on school and put less focus on all other aspects of my life. This habit of self renewal emphasizes that I must equally focus on the physical, spiritual, mental and social areas in my life. The physical area is perhaps the only area that I really try to focus on. Even if I only have a few minutes late at night to exercise I make sure I dedicate that time for exercise. However, other aspects of my physical life such as getting enough sleep or taking time relax are often neglected. My emotional life perhaps is the one area in my life that suffers the most. Ever since I decided to completely commit to school I have noticed that I haven’t been able to figure out a way to incorporate time for socializing into my schedule. I often feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day for work and school. I hardly ever see my friends and that is one thing that I really need to work on. I need to really work on balancing out all of these areas because as it is stated, “neglecting any one area negatively impacts the rest.”
ReplyDeleteHabits that one might not be used to might and can be hard to incorporate all of a sudden. There are 7 habits that will most likely help in one’s life; and I have to agree that I use some of these but there are some I need to start using more. I most definitely need to start putting first things first. I have a problem doing first things first;; for example, when I clean my house I should start cleaning in one side of the house and finish, and continue to another side of the house; but I do not do that I have a habit to start the kitchen, and next thing I know I am in the living room doing something else. I need to finish what I started; which this is something else I need to work on; begin with the End in mind. I need to be organized and finish what I started; I must not leave it unfinished. These two habits need to be incorporated more in my life so I could be more successful in all the things I do on an everyday basis. These 7 habits can be used for many different things I life; for example, cleaning, homework/school work, at a job, and many other places and different activities one does every day.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, and I know it might sounds bad, but I don't find myself needing to incorporate any of these habits more into my life. I find myself being very goal oriented, self motivated, and have a strong drive to succeed. This is mainly due in part to the people that I surround myself with. I also find myself incorporating many of these habits into my daily work life. My co-workers and I are always attempting to energize one another and teach each other how to correctly interact with customers so, just has habit number 4 describes, both the customer and our employee feels happy when the deal is said and done. These are all wonderful habits, and in my opinion, ones that specifically apply to a workplace setting, although I see the relevance else where.
ReplyDeleteAll of these habits are pretty important for individuals. The one that inspired me though was the one about self renewal. Being able to refresh yourself by engaging in positive behaviors in all four aspects seem to be highly useful. The delicate art of this is quite difficult to pull of successfully. In addition, spending too much time in one of the areas can lead to certain deficits in the others, so one has to watch out for that. I actually try to spend a lot of time socializing and relaxing since I feel that life is meant to be enjoyed. However, sometimes I feel as though this lifestyle tends to be quite detrimental to society's goals. Everyone seems to want to land a stable nine to five and aspire to climb the corporate ladder. The habit of renewing oneself seems to be very helpful. It is of utmost importance to divide one's time correctly, as "sharpening the saw" has a finite time limit.
ReplyDeleteBeing a student,having a family, and running a home I have to practice a lot of these. Naturally, Habit #7, Principles of balanced self-renewal stood out for me. Since starting school in the fall, I have really put all of these dimensions in the back burner. I have been eating shamefully bad, no exercise, and no sleep. I once considered myself very spiritual, but I have not attended church all year. Perhaps the summer, can be time to care for myself and get ready for next school year.
ReplyDeleteI can completely relate to this. While I do not currently have a family nor am I running a household, I feel as though I am putting a lot of things on the back burner. Being able to renew yourself is an important part in life, and something that should be done every so often. I'll follow this with a silly analogy: Don't be a stale loaf of bread, be a fresh one.
DeleteA habit I really need to work on is thinking win-win. I generally tend to be pessimistic, and if I feel wronged sometimes I get revenge by hurting the other person even if it has negative effects on my life. I’m learning a lot about this from going through my divorce right now. At first, my husband and I were doing things to get back at each other, even though it hurt each other and ourselves. After several months of separation, we’re finally realizing that we can get the same result amicably without hurting each other. My break-up is teaching me a lot about mutual respect and compromise, even in a situation where it would be easy to say and do hurtful things.
ReplyDeleteSomething else I could work on is making “emotional deposits.” I had never thought of a relationship in this way before, but it does make sense. The more good things you do, the better your significant other will feel about you when you make a mistake. This is important because I tend to make many mistakes in relationships. I want to be able to build enough trust that a relationship will survive in the midst of problems and mistakes.
All of the seven habits are very important, and I probably do all of them to a certain degree. However, the habit which I need to incorporate more into my life is the seventh one, balancing. It is very important for me as being student, worker, and responsible of a family, to have the sense of balancing. It is important to be proactive, organized, and has the spirit of winning, but it is crucial to have the ability to balance between your needs. Working full time, studying full time, being a household is like you are fighting three battles at the same time in which you will definitely lose unless you balance your movements.. Every quarter, especially toward the end, I get burned out and totally be exhausted and in order for me to overcome this negative feeling I try hard to force myself to take a break. For example, I may take my family in a visit to saint Anthony Monastery where I enjoy the amazing quietness and the thrilling spiritual atmosphere. I always tell my wife that I need to go there to mentally and spiritually recharge myself up. There, as little as few hours of the unspeakable quietness are sufficient to refresh my mind, empower my soul, and energize my body. It is critical to balance between your physical, mental, spiritual and social needs, which in turn improve your ability to accomplish your endless life tasks and school assignments. Finally, as pope Shenouda (III) said that a person with a calm heart and nerves would be able to obtain quietness in thought and action and his thoughts will be balanced and void of any disturbances.
ReplyDeleteThe habit I want to apply more in my life is "Seek First to Understand Then to be Understood". This habit focused around emapathetic listening, which is aimed at fully understanding the person, their feelings and point of view. I think that this habit would be very useful in my life. As the article stated, empathetic listening can prevent misunderstandings, which avoids the hassle of correcting the misunderstanding later once the damage is done. I feel that I am an empathetic person , but not in a habitual sense. I think that that feeling just come up when there is a situation tat evokes it. There are always situations where listening and truly understanding is of utmost importance. For instance, many times in life there are disagreements with classmates, co-workers or your significant other and the disagreement is supposedly "resolved", but you find yourself in that same situation again not too long afterward. I think this is in large part because someone was not truly understanding the other person's feelings and was only focusing on getting their feelings across, that there is only a temporary fix if at all. I can definately relate to this. If I incorporate this habit in my life, I will be better equipped to handle these sort of situationss.
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ReplyDeleteI sincerely believe that all these habits should be incorporated in peoples life’s because they all seem to be beneficial somehow. These seven habits help improve a person’s life for the better when it comes to practicing proactivity, time management, personal relationships and etc. Personally, I think I need to work on habit number seven the most, because it focuses on self-renewal. I think this habit is important because sometimes we get so caught up in things going on that we forget to focus on those four personal dimensions of our nature. I feel like I need to learn better how to balance my physical, spiritual, mental and social/economic nature better. Especially, since sometimes I have stuff going on such as school I forget to focus and put personal time for myself. For example, on my physical nature that I’m trying to work on that right now by attending zumba and trying to eat better but sometimes it gets hard because you don’t have the time to eat healthy and it’s faster to just get something fast. Spiritually I consider myself somewhat religious but I would like to work on that more perhaps do an effort to attend church more than just once in a while. I think mentally I could take more time for myself to perhaps read a book and do something simple that isn’t stressful. For my social and economic nature I think I need to concentration more on finding a way to socialize without spending so much money and balancing it with school as well. By following habit 7 I think I can find a way to apply the four natures in a way that I’m not neglecting them.
ReplyDeleteThe one part of the reading that really caught my attention is Habit 1. One of the quotes include the “proactive approach to a mistake is to acknowledge it instantly, correct it and learn from it.” I really like this because it is implying that mistakes will happen, but the only way you can undo them is to accept it and learn from it. This is an example of proactivity. One of the habits I talked about in my week 7 blog is similar to this. Sometimes when I make mistakes, I know it happened for a reason. It either brought me something better or it made me learn from it. It was also interesting to read about Habit 2. The subject about leadership and management was brought up in one of my classes. There were quite a few differences between a leader and manager. The way it is quoted in the reading under section Habit 2 really sums it up. I agree when Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis stated, “Management is doing things right, and leadership is doing the right things.”
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post, I enjoyed reading it. I agree so much with what you have to say. Mistakes are actually rather important to make. It is the only way we learn in life. If people never made mistakes we would not have any knowledge about how things work and why other things do not. That is something I tried to tell my son. When he gets into trouble, he tries to throw out the "feel bad for me card". He always says "I am such a bad boy". I always make sure to tell him that he is not a bad boy, but that he made a mistake, a wrong decision and so now he has to move on and learn from it. I tell him it is the only way he will learn how to get through life. SO i tell him to think about his actions and to learn from it and to do it differently next time. Thanks for your post!
DeleteAfter reading this, I have realized that I need to work on habit 7, Principals of Balanced Self Renewal. I am great at burning myself out, biting off more than I can chew, and running myself into the ground. Somehow, I always manage to accomplish everything I have taken on, but I am not good at renewing myself after the fact. First, with the physical, I am so busy that I will wait until I get home in the evening to finally eat, whatever is available – healthy or not. Then I need to unwind after the kids have been attended to and put to bed. In the end, with my busy schedule and staying up late, all to wake up very early to do it all over again – I am sleep deprived. My body has trouble getting the proper nutrition and sleep needed. Oh but I am great on exercise because it takes me forever to walk to work with construction and no parking, and to walk to class with being cheap and not having a parking pass. The next, the spiritual, is not where it should be. I never take the time to take a time out and seek out that side. The spiritual side, I believe is one of the most important areas of renewal. The spiritual side helps guide you and shows you the right person to be. With the mental part to renewal, I seem to have that down, how can you not when you are in school? Also, when I am on break from school that is when I fit in all my time with reading. I am always keeping my mind active whether in school or not. Finally, the social part of my life suffers quite a bit. The most socialization I get in is when I am in class or at work – which isn’t much. I am so tired and burnt out by the end of the week or quarter that I do not have it in me to go hang out. Also, when I do have the spare time, I want to hang out with my husband and kids, so I am lacking in the friend department. Balance and self-renewal is very essential to keep a person’s sanity, not working on it can cause a person to break. This is a habit in my life that I need to work on the most and will try my hardest to make it a habit.
ReplyDeleteTaking risk and accepting new challenges is something I really need to work on. I do not like to try thinks that are out of my element. I always say "stick to what you know." Think WinWin is something I really need to incorporate in my daily routine. I always think I am going to fail because that way if I actually do fail it is not a big let down and if I accomplish something then it is a greater reward.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your statement. I also practice, "sticking to what u know." It definitely provides me with safety know that I have practiced it and it has worked as opposed to something I have no clue to how things are going to turn out.
DeleteAs habit #1 states, we must be able proactive and learn from mistakes. In my opinion experiences or mistakes are important because they affect an individual’s character. Also, I agree with habit #3 as it refers to how a relationship should be treated. A relationship on any type that is important to an individual must consist of sincerity, commitment, and respect. One of the most important habits that stood out to me was habit #5 which states that we should “first seek to understand then to be understood”. It is important to listen to others but it can be difficult to always use empathic listening. Most definitely, I need to work on habit #7 because I do not have the best diet and do not exercise on a regular basis.
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ReplyDeleteI know that I personally need to work on win/win. I am very much a people-pleaser and will take a loss on my behalf in order to maintain a good relationship with someone else. I'm always afraid of bargaining, because I don't want to offend them. While I usually don't run in to many situations where I need to find a win/win solution, I know that I need to learn this habit so that, as the reading says, I do not come across as a "doormat".
ReplyDeleteI am studying to be a social worker in the Master of Social Work program at Cal. State Bakersfield. As a social worker, the habit of empathetic listening is paramount to my interaction with a client. The four levels of listening are ignoring, pretending, selective listening, and attentive listening. Attentive listening, listening with empathy, is a valuable habit that many of us do not do. As the article stated, “We often prescribe before making a proper diagnosis when communicating. We should first take the time to deeply understand the problems presented to us.” This habit is very important when dealing with people in the social work field. When someone deals with a social worker, it is probably because they are in need, and I must learn to listen to their need. My job is to listen to them, truly listen, with empathy and non-judgment. We do listen to people, but do we really hear them? I am guilty of selective listening, I do it when I am listening to my husband and when listening to my boss, we all do! Empathic listening is a skill, not just a habit, which improves with practice.
ReplyDeleteHands down, I would definitely need to incorporate the number 3 habit, principles of personal management. For me, time is always an issue. I realize that I am often my own worst enemy but not prioritizing my schedule. The passage talked about making lists, incorporating separate categories by order of importance. The passage offered helpful tools in order to become more successful with time management. However, in order to follow their time management techniques you would need to be organized. There is my problem in a nutshell. Well, okay I like to procrastinate too.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I think there is a couple of them that I can practice more often. The two that I was able to point out right away is the personal management and self-renewal. Personal management, I consider to be a challenge at this time with all the things going on in my life. Balancing school, work, family, children, relationships can be difficult at times. Now taking care of me is as important or even more important than other things going on BUT I do tend to put myself last thinking that life will be some what easier if I was to focus on other things and later focus on myself. I do know its important for me to better manage life and focus on the things that are important and put the things that are not so important for last.
ReplyDeleteI have previously heard of these 7 habits. Currently, I think that I could work on the fifth one; seek first to understand then to be understood. I used to be really good at this but these past few years I find myself to be more argumentative than a problem solver.I know that I should listen but I want to be heard too. I need to work on listening first then displaying my personal opinion that way I will not jump to conclusions.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that I could use improvement on all of these habits in one way or another. There are two habits, in particular that would be of the most help to me right now if I could develop them better. The first is to learn how to better put first things first so that the most important things get done first. This would greatly help in knowing what is the most important in trying to balance homework, 4 children, and housework. It is hard to do this right and try to get it all done so it would definitely help to know what order would be best to get it all done. The second habit that would be good for me is to work on not letting myself get burnt out. Having my two children, two foster children, and twin girls on the way along with all things life to deal with, it is very easy to get burnt out. It takes everything that I have to not let it all get to me. At times, when I do let it get to me, I am not the best person to be around. I get frustrated, cranky, and an altogether not nice person. So, the second habit that I mentioned would be the most important habit for me to establish.
ReplyDeleteI think we can all afford to pick up more good habits. As I was reading through the seven habits there were some that I felt I had a good start at and some that I should really work on improving. I tend to have a lose/win mentality. I don't mind getting the short end of the stick if it means someone else gets something good out of it. Even in situations when I know I'm right, I'm usually the one that sucks up their pride and tries to make peace. I'm the one that usually ends up compromising what I want to make someone else happy. It's not a healthy habit and I should strive to have a win/win mentality. It can keep me from achieving my goals and succeeding in life. I need to not be a "door mat". Another habit I need to work on is time management. My dad always tells me not to worry so much. If there's nothing you can do about something why worry. If there is something you can do about it, then why worry also. Do what you need to do, and don't stress about what you can't control. I spend a lot of time organizing and planning but overwhelm myself with all that I need to do, that I end up getting nothing done. I need to figure out what goes in each quadrant and to focus on putting first things first. I completely agree with habit five. You need to seek to understand before seeking to be understood. It's easy for people to talk about their problems but it's much harder for people to really listen. Most people want to be heard but forget what it's like for other people who also want to be heard and helped out. Emphatic listening is something to try to achieve. I always try to keep in mind, " treat others the way you want to be treated." I think of all the habits, the last one is the hardest. Self renewal is hard especially nowadays. It's definetly hard to be in good physical shape because of all the fast food. I have trouble with time management which means I'm always running errands, driving from work to school and only have time to grab some fast food. After a long day, exercise is the last thing on my mind. It also leaves no time for reading or other mentally renewing activities. Hopefully by working on some of these habits, especially time management, I can help improve myself in each of the aspects of self-renewal. It's definetly a goal worth striving for.
ReplyDeletePersonal management is something I constantly struggle with. Time management specifically has to be my biggest enemy. I've tried making lists, reminders, and using timers. They will work for a day or two, but I ultimately fall back into my old habits. There are so many distractions. I am not good with prioritizing or sticking to my plans.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this article. There are many habits that I feel I need to work on in my life. Managing my time is something I need to work on. It is important to prioritize important things in life. I find it hard to write down a schedule and make quadrants. That would require a lot of time and effort. This requires someone to be very disciplined. Something that I think I do a good job of is keeping my commitments. I try not to brake promises. If I say I will do something I will always do it. I also do a good job of learning from mistakes. I get mad at myself when I make a mistake but I always go and ask the right questions so that I may avoid te same mistakes in the future. I liked this article I am going to work on some of these bad habits of mine.
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