Habits, we all have them good and bad but sometimes we don’t realise how habits could affect us not only now but in the future and define who we are. We all have and develop our own habits ever since we were little. For instance when I was younger my parents taught me good habits such as, drink milk every morning, making new friends, doing your homework first before anything else, making my own bed. Besides, not only my parents teach me habits but I also make my own such as drinking water everyday, watching Netflix every weekends, going out with friends every Friday and even leaving things for last minute.As you can see not all of my habits seem very healthy or good and you may wonder if they aren’t good then why continue them? The problem is that I didn’t realize how important good habits are until I opened the book “ The 7 habits of a Highly Effective Teen”. I really never realized how habits could either help you or not and how they can even define who you are and who you will be in the future.The book starts with kind of a guessing game, which really helped me catch the book fast; it says, “ Who am I? I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden. I push you onward or drag you down to failure.” who is it? It is habit, as I said before your habits can either help you success in life or fail and this is what really shock me and connected me to the book since I had never realized how important it is to correct those bad habits and I already had in mind many of those I wanted to change.The book is divided in 4 parts. The first part start by introducing how habits either make you or break you and for this the author gives you real life anecdotes of teenagers that tell their life as a teenager. While reading this part and reading the anecdotes of the teenagers I started to really connect to the book but I really wasn’t clear of how I was supposed to change or if I had to change since I had clear the bad habits I had in life that were dragging me down. This is why the second part is the one that really made me reflect and learn the most.Part #2 of the book starts with habit #1: Be Proactive. The second I read the tittle I knew I wasn’t only going to be able to connect a lot but I was going to feel guilty since since I knew I didn’t have that habit at all. Then, when I started to read habit 1 it first started to explain the difference between a proactive person and a reactive. Reactive people make choices based on impulse and react abruptly but proactive people are much more calm and think before making saying or making any decisions. When I first read this I felt confused since before I thought that not being proactive ment taking a lot of time to do things, not being able to multitask and leaving thing for later and since I did all of those things I thought I was not proactive. But I was not a reactive person either since I am completely the opposite, when something bad happens or someone insults me for example I don’t react instantly and say what’s in my mind, instead I tend to stay silent and never make any problem.So if I thought that I wasn’t proactive but I wasn’t reactive either then what was I? This is what really got me interested in this habit. As I read on there were scenes and choice depending on the choices you made on the problem of the scene it determined weather you were proactive or reactive. The first scene talked about what would you do if you saw pictures in Facebook of your friend in the movies who said she couldn’t go out that day the choices I made to this problem turned out to be reactive choices. The book first helped me understand who I am and then it give me tools to change my habits. The book says; “You can usually tell the difference between proactive and reactive people by the language they use. Reactive people language usually sounds like this: “That’s me. That’s just the way I am.”…” This part helped me realize how much of a reactive person I am since I am constantly blaming my problems in others, I also have really low eager to do things and I don’t believe in my self (negative mindset).All of the habits and concepts in the book are connected in a way. For instance habit #2: Begin with the end in mind is connected to the last habit, as the book explained; “Habit 1 says you are the driver of your life, not the passenger. Habit 2 says, since you’re the driver, decide where to go and draw a map of how to get there.” You have to be proactive in life make your own choices but also you have to see what are your goals for the future and how you see your self. This concept really made me reflect about my own life and how I want to see myself in the future if I continued not being proactive or having other bad habits and it really surprised me. This is why I will start now to create my own goals to be able to look up to them and achieve them like the anecdote of Jim. Jim in the book he discovered that beginning with the end in mind is a powerful way to help turn your dreams into realities. When he is sad and depressed he pictures him self in the future doing what he want, he calls it’s the dream life. This helps him to reflect on what he was to change to be able to get there, he beings to visualize and work on it so hard that it becomes reality.Habit #3 is “Put First things First” for me this concept is very similar and connected to habit #1 because they both have to do with having initiative and being able to prioritize. Being able to prioritize is a big problem for me and that’s what this habit is all about being able to see what are the important things that need to be done and do them before anything else. There were many anecdotes I was able to connect during this chapter since this has always been an issue for me but at the same time I was able to get hope and tips to be able to achieve it. After all, I believe I was able to take a lot out of the first to part of the book. I believe that this book will be able to finally open my eyes to reality and realize that I have to change if I want to succeed not only now but also in life. Until now the first three habits have been a lot of help to me and even now I am starting my Personal Bank Account, which they talk during the first part where I keep count on, all the good things I do every day that contribute to a good habit. I am egger to continue reading the book and being able to connect and bring into my life the other four habits.
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