THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

 

                                            BY STEPHEN R .COVEEY

 

     The first habit is 1)proactivity. Be proactive. The word proactivity is fairly common in management literature, but you won't find it in the dictionary. It means more than merely taking 2)initiatives, it means that as a human being you take responsibility for your own life.

     Look at the word responsibility, ability to choose your response, response-ability. I suggest effective people are proactive, thatis they take responsibility, their behavior is a product of their own decisions, based on values, rather than being a product of their conditions, based on feelings. For instance, you are planning a picnic with your family. You're excited. You have all the preparations. You've decided² where to go, and then it becomes stormy...killing³ your plan. Proactive people carry weather within them. They realize what their purpose really was, and they creatively have a picnic elsewhere even if it's in their own basement with some special games, and make the best of that situation. The opposite of being proactive is to be reactive. Reactive people would say, "What's the use, we can't do anything," "Oh this is so upsetting after all of our preparations we've made these arrangements." And the whole spirit of 3)negativism will tend to pervade⁴ those people's minds and also the family. That's being reactive.

     Being proactive is really just being true to your human nature. Your basic nature is to act, and not be acted upon. That's true, despite widely accepted theories of 4)determinism used to explain human nature. Determinism says, that you don't really choose anything, that whatyou call choices, are nothing more than automatic responses to outside conditions or stimuli⁵.

     The language of reactive people, are people who are determined⁶ by their environment, or by their conditions, or by their conditioning or their genetic⁷ makeup⁸. "This I can't, that's my nature." "...can't, don't have time." "I have to, I have to." "I must." See the whole spirit is of that language is the transfer of responsibility, I am not responsible, able to choose my response, the spirit is, I am not responsible, psychologically isn't that easier to say than "I'm a flake,"and "I'm irresponsible." The problem is, this is a self-fulfilling 5)prophecy. People who believe they are determined will produce the evidence to support the belief, and they increasingly feel victimized and out of control. They're not in charge of their life or their destiny at all.

When you are proactive, you don't deny that genetics, upbringing and environment make a difference. But you see them as influences only. A proactive person exercises free will, the freedom to choose the response that best applies to your values. In that way you gain control of your circumstances, rather than being controlled by them.

 

积极人生从7个习惯开始

史蒂芬.r.科维（著）

 

   第一个习惯是“积极”。积极向上。“ 积极”这个词在管理文献中十分常见，但在字典里却找不到。它的意思不仅是指主动性，还指作为一个人，你必须为自己的生活负责。

   观看“责任”（respon-sibility）这个词，它的字面意义是“反应选择能力”，是一种选择能力。我之所以说有效率的人都积极向上，那是因为他们都肯担负起责任，他们的行为遵从他们自己的决定，建立在价值观上，而不是客观环境和情绪的产物。例如，你计划和家人去野餐，你很兴奋，做了充分的准备。你决定好了地点，然后却下起了暴雨……你的计划泡汤了。积极的人不会受天气左右--他们明白真正的目的是什么，他们会创造性地在其他的地点进行野餐，哪怕是在自家的地下室里让大家玩一些有趣的游戏，他们会充分利用好当时的环境条件。与积极向上相对立的即是消极。消极的人会说：“哦，有什么用，我们什么也做不了”，“哦，这太令人难过了，我们所有的准备、所有的安排都泡汤了。”这些消极情绪将渗透这些人及其家人的思想。这就是消极的后果。

   积极的确是一种人类天性的反映。你的本性是行动，而不是受影响。真实便是如此，而非为大家所接受的那样，用决定论来诠释性格。决定论认为，其实你并没做出任何选择，我们所谓的选择，其实只是外界条件或刺激的本能反应而已。

   消极人士说的是受到环境、条件、和先天因素所左右的人的语言--“我不行，我就是这样了”、“……不行，我没有时间”、“我没办法、我没办法”、“我得”。这种语言整个地体现出一种不负责任的态度--我不为此负责，我没法选择自己的反应，关键在于：我是不负责任的。要亲口说出“我不行”、“我不负责”并不是件容易事。毛病就出在这是种自发式的预言。相信决定论的人会找出证据来支持这样的信念，他们逐渐相信自己是受害的，是失控的。他们根本无法把握自己的生活和命运。

   如果你有积极的精神，你不会否认生理遗传、成长过程和生活环境造成的影响。但同时你仅仅把它们当作是影响。一个积极向上的人会自愿、自由地通过做最佳选择来实现自我价值。这样你才能逾越环境的束缚，而不是被环境所限制。

 

  1) pro¹ 前缀，表示“在空间或时间上优先”，尤包含“向前进，向前或向外突出”的意思，或用以表示更替的意思

2) initiative  n. 初步，采取主动

3) negativism  n. 否定论，消极论；[心理]（对外来的命令、建议、期望或内在的刺激如饥饿的）反抗癖，反对倾向

4) determinism  n. 决定论（所有事实和发生的事情都是自然法则的实例的理论）；宿命论

5) prophecy  n. 预言；受神的启示所发表的言论或启示

1 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 pervade   

v.弥漫，遍及，充满，渗透，漫延

参考例句：

• Science and technology have come to pervade every aspect of our lives.科学和技术已经渗透到我们生活的每一个方面。
• The smell of sawdust and glue pervaded the factory.工厂里弥漫着锯屑和胶水的气味。

5 stimuli   

n.刺激（物）

参考例句：

• It is necessary to curtail or alter normally coexisting stimuli.必需消除或改变正常时并存的刺激。
• My sweat glands also respond to emotional stimuli.我的汗腺对情绪刺激也能产生反应。

6 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

7 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

8 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？