THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

 

 

   The final habit No. 7 is the habit of self renewal¹. It’s the self maintenance habit. It’s the habit that if you do it right, and do it completely, and do it regularly, you will 1)automatically develop the other six. It's called sharpening the saw. So sharpening the saw is preserving and enhancing the greatest 2)asset you have - you. It’s continual daily self renewal of the four 3)dimensions of your nature: your physical self, your mental self, your spiritual self, and your social emotional self.

  To sharpen the saw means basically to exercise all four dimensions and then organize your lives so that you have time in 4)Quadrant Two to do that. One hour a day, minimum. Well, I believe maintainthese other six habits, to really get good at those six habits, it takes more than that. What does this involve? Physical exercise, the best kind is stretching, and 5)aerobics², and a little muscle toning, kind of a combination of the three. Aerobics is the kind of exercise that deals with the 6)cardio 7)vascular system, the 8)respiratory system, which enlarges the capacity of the body to process oxygen. And that’s the key to energy, oxygen, as well as interest. Stretching should proceed or follow briefly³ the aerobics, muscle toning like calisthenics or weights or things of this nature are also helpful. And if people can 9)cultivate a habit of at least 30 minutes every other day, they can maintain. To really enlarge the capacity of the body to work, they  may have to do just a little more. But as they do even a half an hour, their body becomes more efficient, the heart muscles stronger, and more oxygen is pumped through the body and they have more 10)vitality, more energy inside. So I commend you to make your mind up, if you do not now have a good exercise program, to start one. A little stretching, then go on a vigorous walk or a 11)jog, or a bike or a swim. But a good vigorous walk for say 20 minutes, and then alittle stretching at the end and a few calisthenics, and you’ve got a minimal⁴ physical exercise program. What if you only spent three hours in a week, of a week that’s made up of 168 hours? Is that 12)disproportionate with the only instrument you’ve got? I think it’s better to try to give about an hour, a day, every other day, but at least give a half an hour every other day, or four days a week.

      With regard to spiritual exercise, that involves 13)Habit No. 2. That’s where you renew your commitment to your well-developed value system. You do it in a way that is 14)congruent with your own philosophy. It’s done differently. Some people read important literature, even sacred literature, other people meditate⁵, pray, think deeply about key fundamental issues, this kind of we could call spiritual activity is providing leadership, Habit Two. Then the mental planning and doing and staying with that leadership is 15)Habit Three. So you 16)visualize and plan your roles and goals for that week, and then review it for each day to make sure that your life is in harmony with your mission and your 17)overall long term roles and goals. That's the mental habit, the mental creation Habit Two and Three. The spiritual creation is Habit Two, the mental creation is part of Habit Two cause you're still planning and thinking. But it's also having the mental toughness to stay with it in Habit Three when perhaps there are 18)distractions and temptations that would lead you to 19)capitulate and to give in to lesser⁶ important items, items of low 20)priority. The social emotional sharpening the saw embrace Habit Four, Five and Six, so that you say to yourself, “I'm gonna approach this relationship with a win/win attitude. I'm going to seek first to understand, then I also want to be understood. But I will not seek to be understood until the other feels like I understand, and then I am going to get into creative problem solving with that person, synergize to see if we can come up with better solutions than what originally we propose to each other, come up with a better psychological agreement.”

Those are the four basic dimensions of the human personality, that basically express and develop all of the other habits, if it's well done in a balance and regular way, it will do exactly that.

 

积极人生从7个习惯开始

 

　 最后是第七个习惯：自我提升。这是一个自理式习惯。这个习惯一旦你做得正确，做得彻底，做得有规律性，其他六个习惯就会自动地得到发扬。这被称为“磨锯”。所谓磨锯就是保存并完善你最宝贵的资产--你自己。是每日不断地对你的天性的四方面进行自我提升：体格上、心智上、精神上、以及社交情感上。

　 磨锯基本上就是指磨练这四个方面，然后安排好生活，使你有时间做象限二的事。每天最少用一个小时。我相信要想坚持其余的六个习惯，要真正做好其余六个习惯，花的时间还要多些。要做些什么呢？体格运动，最好是有伸展性的、有氧运动的、以及可以练一点肌肉的，将三者结合一起来做。有氧运动是指帮助心血管和呼吸系统获得氧气、增强身体机能的运动。那是保持精力、氧气和兴趣的关键。在有氧运动后来些简单的伸展运动，以柔软体操举重等自然运动对肌肉进行锻炼也是很有好处的。如果人们每隔一天用至少30分钟的时间来培养这一习惯，他们就能比只勉强做一点点能让身体得到更好地增强工作能力。如果他们用半小时来锻炼，身体会工作得更好，心脏肌肉也更强壮，压进身体里的氧气越多，也就越有活力，内在的精力越充沛。因此我建议你下定决心，如果现在你还没有一个好的运动计划，就制订一个。做些伸展运动，然后好好走一走、跑一跑，骑骑车、游游泳。譬如进行一个20分钟左右的快走，最后再做伸展运动和柔软体操，你就完成了一个最小量的运动计划。那么如果你一周只在这上边花3个小时，而一周总共是有168个小时呢!那会否与你唯一的锻炼方式不成比例？我想最好是每天或每隔一天用一个钟头来做运动，至少每周四天或者隔天要有半小时的时间。

　 提到精神锻炼那要涉及到第二个习惯。也就是说，精神运动通过这个习惯让你继续确立已形成的良好的价值观体系。你所做的是按照一种符合于自己观念的方式，做出的效果就不一样了。一些人阅读名著甚至神学作品，还有些人冥想、祷告，深思事物的根本，这种我们称之为的精神活动的运动为第二个习惯提供了领导力。然后用大脑来计划、行动、并保持领导力即成了第三个习惯，因此你就能看到和计划那周的角色与目标，每天进行温习，保证你的生活与职责和总方向、总目标是一致的。那是智力上的习惯，智力创造出了第二和第三个习惯。精神创造是第二个习惯，智力创造是第二个习惯的部分内容，因为你还是在做计划、在思考。但智力上要保持在第三个习惯还有一定的困难，因为也许会有些分散精力的、诱人的事物使你慢慢地妥协、转到没那么重要或紧急的事物上去。磨砺社交情感包括了第四、五、六个习惯，于是你对自己说：“我要以双赢的态度去赢来好感，我要首先寻求去理解他人，然后再让自己被他人所理解。但在我还没有理解好他人之前，我不刻意追求让自己被他人理解。然后我要与那人一起讨论解决问题，看看能否共同协作出比一开始我们相互提议出的更好的方法，做出更贴近心意的协调。”

　 以上是人类性格中的四个基本方面，但也基本表达并阐明了其他所有的习惯，如果这个习惯做得好，并做得有规律，它的效果就会如上述般理想。

 

1) automatically   adv. 自动地  

2) asset  n. 资产 

3) dimension   n. 范围，面积，维

4) Quadrant Two“象限二”在此指“重要但不紧急的事情”；Stephen Covey建议在自我生活规划时把事情归为四个象限。象限一、三、四分别是“紧急而且重要”、“紧急但不重要”、“不紧急也不重要”。详细请看《疯狂英语》28期。

5) aerobics   n. 有氧运动    

6) cadio   a. 心脏的  

7) vascular   a. 血管的

8) respiratory   a. 呼吸的   

9) cultivate   v. 培养，耕作

10) vitality   n. 生命力，活力 

11) jog   n. 慢跑

12) disproportionate   a. 不成比例的 

13) 习惯二是“Begin with an end in mind”，即“在思想上以终为始”。   14) congruent [kgrunt] a. 适合的

15) 习惯三 是“Put first things first”，即“分清事情的轻重缓急”。   16) visualize   v. 形象化

17) overall a. 全部的，全面的

18) distraction   n. 分心的事物    19) capitulate  v. 认输，让步

20) priority   n. 优先权

1 renewal   

adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来

参考例句：

• Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。

2 aerobics   

n.健身操，健美操，韵律操

参考例句：

• Doing aerobics is a good way to improve one's health.做有氧健身操是改善健康状况的一个好方法。
• Aren't you going to the aerobics class this morning?今天上午你不是去上有氧运动课吗？

3 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

4 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

5 meditate   

v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想

参考例句：

• It is important to meditate on the meaning of life.思考人生的意义很重要。
• I was meditating,and reached a higher state of consciousness.我在冥想，并进入了一个更高的意识境界。

6 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。