Here are the 7 Habits according to Mr. Covey, with my own comments about each habit as they relate to career development:

• Be Proactive: Let’s face it; sitting on your butt doing nothing will get you no where. To be successful in your career, you have to be proactive in determining what you want to achieve and then figuring out the game plan of how you’re going to get there.
• Begin with the End in Mind: If you want to eventually become a, say, Vice President of Marketing then the first thing you need to do is find out what knowledge, skills, and experience are needed. Once you have that information you can compare it to your current knowledge, skills, and experience and determine the gaps. Once you know the gaps you can figure out how to gain the knowledge, skills, and experience you still need in order to be qualified for the position. So always begin with the end in mind and determine the steps you then need to take to get there.
• Put First Things First: Every day, make a quick list of the most important things you need to accomplish at work. I like to call this my “blue chip” list because these are the items that I prioritize with the highest need. This will force you to focus on completing the most important actions first and you’ll start to realize that some things are so trivial, they can be put aside or maybe even forgotten for good.
• Think Win/Win: I’ve always found it amazing that when I took the approach of thinking in terms of win/win, a better or more creative solution was usually found. As Stephen Covey states in his book, “Win/Win is a belief in the Third Alternative. It’s not your way or my way; it’s a better way, a higher way.”
• Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood: This habit is especially important for managers. Before a manager responds to a situation in their department, they must first seek to understand all angles of the situation. Once that has occurred, they can determine the best possible solution – but that can take place only after they’ve taken the time to understand the situation.
• Synergize: You’ve probably heard that old saying that “the sum is greater than the parts”. When I think of Mr. Covey’s “synergy” habit that saying is always the first thing that comes to mind. In business, it’s important to choose teams that are diverse and who will work well together. Different backgrounds and experiences breed different and often very creative ideas when people work together – and difference and creativity is what’s often needed in today’s competitive world.
• Sharpen the Saw: I love the last habit and the example Mr. Covey uses in his book about the person who’s been trying to saw down a tree for five hours and getting no where. Another person asks why he doesn’t stop sawing and sharpen his saw and then go back to sawing. The response is that he doesn’t have time to stop and sharpen his saw because he’s too busy sawing. The same thing applies to our careers. If you want to move into higher positions or into a different position entirely, then it’s important you take the time to improve your knowledge and skills in the areas necessary.

If you haven’t already read the book or haven’t read it in a few years, I highly recommend you read it again and think about how you can apply the topics to improve your own career. The advice is right on target!

~ Lisa Quast

A study published in the journal Circulation tells about how researchers followed approximately 100,000 women over eight years, looking at how long they lived and how many heart attacks they suffered.

And guess what? “Optimists had a 16% lower risk of having heart attacks,” stated the lead author, Dr. Hilary Tindle of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

The article, written by Dr. Ranit Mishori, goes on to tell about another study in 2004 in Holland. Researchers looked at nearly 1,000 elderly Dutch people and “found a connection between optimism and a lower risk of death from heart disease.” And interestingly, “the reverse seems to hold true, too. Pessimists – who were followed in a 2000 Mayo Clinic study that looked at more than 800 patients over 30 years – ran a 19% higher risk of early death than optimists.”

Why is it important to be an optimist? According to Dr. Mishori:

• They have healthier immune systems
• They are better able to cope with pain
• They recover faster from surgeries with a reduced likelihood of re-hospitalization
• They have “a superior ability to handle the emotional upheaval of life-threatening illnesses like cancer”

So are you an optimist or pessimist? Now is a good time to look at how your attitude might just be affecting your health and the overall quality of your life. By consciously choosing to be positive about the future and about things going on around you, you could start to feel better mentally and physically as well!

~ Lisa Quast

Source: Article, “Why Optimism is Powerful Medicine”, by Dr. Ranit Mishori

http://www.parade.com/health/2009/11/15-optimism-powerful-medicine.html

or

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100249301

Winifred is a woman like most of us, a woman who spent a lot of time at her job working long hours, raising a family, and not eating healthy foods.  According to an article in the HeraldNet by David Chircop, by the age of 47, “the 5-foot-5-inch-tall woman was dangerously obese, weighing 235 pounds – a body mass index of about 40.  A body mass index of 25 is considered overweight; obesity starts at 30.”

Lack of exercise, poor eating habits, and drinking and smoking too much finally caused a turning point in Winifred’s life and she “remembers feeling as though she was dying.”  So Winifred decided she was going to do something to change her life for the better.

She began by asking her daughter to take a walk with her.  “I couldn’t walk but a block that first time,” Winifred said.  But she kept at it every morning, walking a little bit more every day until she could walk three miles, five days a week.

She also tried out many other forms of exercise to find out what she liked, including aerobics, bike riding, and weight lifting.  Winifred ended up enjoying weight lifting (free weights) so much that she joined a gym and got herself a personal trainer.

At the age of 60, Winifred began lifting weights competitively – and setting state, national, and world records.  “At 68, Pristell set world records for her age in bench press, 176.2 pounds, and in dead lift, 270 pounds…, according to World Association of Bench Pressers & Deadlifters.”

How was it possible for Winifred to so drastically change her life?

• Her incredibly positive attitude:  “She has no limitations.  Mentally, physically, she just has a spirit about her, an attitude that she can do anything.”
• Her perseverance:  Three days every week she is up at 5:30am and goes to the gym to lift weights.  She has integrated exercise and healthy eating habits into her normal routine of life.
• Her belief in herself:  Even though she has arthritis in her hands, feet, and back, Winifred believes she can overcome her challenges.  “We are all dealing with something.  If you let whatever you’re dealing with control your life, you have no quality of life.”

We can all learn wonderful lessons by looking around us for amazing women like Winifred.  Winifred was facing difficult challenges (obesity, poor exercise and eating habits, arthritis) but she didn’t let that stop her from realizing her dreams.  With a positive attitude, perseverance, and by believing in herself, she is achieving more than even she thought was possible.  So can you!

~ Lisa Quast

Source:  http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090202/NEWS01/702029896

As Stephen R. Covey once said, “Most people struggle with life balance simply because they haven’t paid the price to decide what is really important to them.” I believe a key to finding a balance in life is mapping out your priorities and creating a strategy you can refer to when life starts asking too much of “you” in too many places at the same time. With your plan in your hands you’ll be able to craft and keep a balance that is both natural-feeling and “doable”.

Here are my tips to help you find better balance:

• Clearly define your career and personal aspirations
• Think about what matters most to you
• Prioritize your goals and objectives
• Schedule your work time as well as your personal time
• Learn to say, “No” more often
• Ask others for help
• Slow down and stop multi-tasking
• Don’t strive for perfection, strive for a job well done
• Take breaks often
• Don’t sweat the small stuff: In fact, go purchase the book by that title, written by Richard Carlson, ISBN 978-0786881857 and read one chapter each night before you go to bed – keep the book on your nightstand until you’re done reading it.
• Smile more
• Get more sleep each night
• Exercise often
• Eat less fast-food
• Schedule 30-minutes every day for “me” time

Pace yourself by practicing good work/life balance habits that will let you live your life to the fullest.

~ Lisa Quast

According to a recent article by Dr. Ranit Mishori, most adults should get seven to nine hours of sleep every night. Dr. Mishori also cautions that research now shows “lack of sleep has been linked to obesity, cancer, heart disease, and low immune response.” Uh oh. That’s when I decided it was time I gave myself a sleep make-over. Do you need a sleep make-over also?

Here are some important reasons to take a hard look at your sleep habits. The article by Dr. Mishori highlights several key findings about the connection of sleep habits and health:

• Catching a cold: “A recent study in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine showed that if you sleep less than seven hours a night, you have a three times higher risk of getting a cold than if you sleep more than eight hours.”
• Heart health: “The Journal of the American Medical Association recently published a study showing that people in their 30s and 40s who get less sleep are more likely to develop plaque in the arteries of their hearts early in life.”
• Obesity: “In an article published in Sleep, the team concluded that every lost hour of sleep is associated with a discrete increase in BMI (body mass index, the formula that calculates how overweight you are based on your weight and height).”

As I analyzed my sleep habits, I found that during the work week I wasn’t getting enough sleep but that I had been trying to make up for it on the weekends. However, this was throwing off my internal body clock because I was used to going to bed later and getting up much earlier during the week. Step one of my sleep make-over became trying to adjust my sleep habits during the week by attempting to go to bed an hour earlier each night.

Once that became a habit, I went to step two, which was trying to adjust my weekend sleep habits to be more in sync with what time I went to bed and got up during the week. Happily, these changes have helped me increase my energy levels during the day and I’ve also noticed that it’s decreased how often I get sick. All from a little change of getting more sleep every night. Amazing! Try it for yourself and see if it also works.

~ Lisa Quast

Source: http://www.parade.com/health/2009/06/healing-power-of-sleep.html

• Always take the stairs:  Skip taking the elevator and walk up and down using the stairs. As one girlfriend told us, “I’ll climb up the stairs, walk across the building and back down the stairs on the other side, just to go to a meeting on the same floor I’m on. It gives me a few extra minutes of exercise and allows me to clear my mind before heading into my next meeting.”
• Park further away:  Forget circling the parking lot for a space up front. Try purposely parking a ways away to increase the distance you’ll walk to and from your vehicle each day.
• Go for a walk during lunch:  Before you eat lunch, try going for a walk. Walk alone to clear your thoughts and relax or grab a friend for some animated discussion while you walk. One girlfriend noted, “I always drink a glass of water before I go for my lunchtime walk. It not only keeps me hydrated but it also seems to lower my appetite because I’m never as hungry after my walk.”
• Exercise or stretch while on conference calls:  A friend suggested this and I’ve actually started trying this. When you’re on a conference call (and no one can see you) try a few exercises by your desk such as leg lifts, arm stretches, squats, etc. Just be sure to put your phone on mute so no one hears any heavy breathing on the line! It’s actually amazing how this can decrease stress and make you feel more energized in the middle of the day or when feeling sluggish by late afternoon.
• Decrease your television time:  Instead of television, go for a walk around the block with your husband or a friend and chat while you walk. Or, take your kids to the park instead of everyone sitting in front of the TV.

What are your favorite tricks/tips to stay in shape with a busy life? Please share them in the comments section of this blog and help other women.

~ Lisa Quast

Harvard Medical School, Harvard Law School, and Ohio University teamed up to conduct research on the correlation between illness and bankruptcy. When their 2001 report showed that half filed due to illness rather than financial profligacy, and that 68% of those who filed had health insurance, I wondered how many of us cultivate good health as a key component of our strategy for future decades and accordingly pay as much attention to building long term optimization of our bodies as we do our 401K’s? Recently the study reported 62.1% of all bankruptcies in 2007 were medical. Think you’re immune? The study additionally reported the mean age was 44.9 years, 60.3% had attended college, and 66.4% were home owners. More than 75% had health insurance yet were overwhelmed by medical debt.

While we all want to be healthy because we’ll feel better being so, when viewed in an economic light it is compelling to prioritize our health. Just as you wouldn’t pour inferior fuel into the gas tank of a car and think it will serve you well for years to come, what you put into your body can directly impact how much you’ll enjoy (or not) being in it later and what percentage of your finances you’ll need to spend on it. 

As professionals we often go to great lengths to excel in our fields, sometimes working late (dinner being whatever is in the vending machine) and gulping down caffeine to keep going. We prioritize our job performance – yet how can we also prioritize our health, given that we’ll still be living in our bodies long after we have left the jobs we are in?

Nourishing food and beverage choices are one way of showing yourself respect. If you purchased an expensive race horse you wouldn’t give him/her a bucket of fries and a diet cola. Of course you wouldn’t, because you revere the horse and desire good performance from your investment. Don’t you deserve this same level of regard for your “lap through life”?  You approach the projects of your career strategically – with a comprehensive and long term vision in mind you develop a methodical plan to purposefully deliver your intended results. Isn’t your biggest and most important project really yourself? 

In your eating choices, consistency counts more than occasional volume because your cells are continually replacing themselves and they build with what nutrients are available at the time each new cell is constructed. If you’d like some health tips, such as suggestions for easy substitutions to increase your nutrition, click here. By being strategic in how you care for your body over several decades you set yourself up for the best chance of enjoying good physical, mental, emotional, and financial health in your later years.

Byline:   This article was contributed by Amy Mosher, creator of Live Life Well Info

At the age of 27, Katherine purchased a sandwich shop but didn’t want to miss out on motherhood when she went back to work.  Her goal was to create a business that would work with all the demands placed on a working mother.  She created the Healthy Habits sandwich bar in Melbourne, Australia and within a few years she had four shops as well as another child (raising them as a single parent).  The sandwich shops were doing well and she believed she was onto a winning idea of franchising them. 

In less than 10 years, Katherine has the fastest-growing sandwich franchise in Australia with the goal of achieving 40 shops by the end of the year.  How did she do it?

• She says she didn’t start out trying to tailor the Healthy Habits franchise around women but realized it “fits in with where women really are, with their healthy attitude. It is almost about the future – their health and that of their children.”
• She understands the extra demands placed on mothers who work.  “There are far more expectations on women in business. They still need to be mum, wife, social organiser, but I am a mum and I also run a household as well as being a business woman, so I understood what was needed.”  She works with her employees and the franchisees to help ensure work/life balance.
• She realized that women are very food focused and also very customer focused and worked to capitalize on that.  Not surprisingly, “the majority of her franchise partners are women.”

I believe a key ingredient to Katherine’s success has been her ability to see a healthy food need, understand how women play a part in the healthy nutrition of their families, and understand the need for women to find fulfilling business work that also allows them to achieve work/life balance.  She was able to successfully pull all of this together to create a franchise business that not only appeals to women as consumers, but appeals to them as business owners (franchise partners).  Way to go Katherine!  We can all learn from and be inspired by your success.

~ Lisa Quast

Source:  The Sydney Morning Herald article retrieved October 19, 2008 from:
http://business.smh.com.au/business/mums-get-the-balance-right-20080815-3wcr.html

I’m often asked why I mentor so many women and how I can find the time to do so with such a busy work schedule.  I’ve always enjoyed mentoring women because of they joy I feel in being able to help other women succeed in their careers.  It’s really an amazing feeling that I highly recommend!  I find the time in my schedule because while I work to be successful in my own career, I want to know I have helped others be successful along the way.

Mentoring is such a great way to pass along the wisdom you’ve already learned.  As the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)  stated, “Mentoring relationships allow wisdom to get passed down in the organization and create a platform for more experienced people to help younger employees manage their careers, navigate organizational politics and be successful” (7 Jobs of a Mentor, August 2008). The CCL article provides some good advice to consider before you jump into a mentoring relationship.  Here’s a summary of the seven kinds of things that mentors do:

1. Develop and manage the mentoring relationship
2. Sponsor the mentee
3. Guide and counsel
4. Protect
5. Teach
6. Model
7. Motivate and inspire

Mentoring other women and helping them achieve their personal and professional aspirations can be a very rewarding experience.  Look around you…who do you see that has incredible potential but could maybe use a little help?  Go speak to her and offer her your services as a mentor.  Reach down the career ladder and help another woman move up a few rungs.  It’s well worth the time and effort!

~ Lisa Quast

Source:  CCL Information retrieved September 22, 2008 from –   http://www.ccl.org/leadership/enewsletter/2008/AUGjobs.aspx

For anyone not familiar with Joan, in 1984 (when she was 26 years old) she ran in the first women’s Olympic marathon, and earned a stunning victory.  After she won the gold medal her mother asked her if she was finally going to quit running (because she was getting married soon after). Joan’s response was, “No. There are other goals out there.”

Joan kept on setting and achieving her goals and at the age of 50 decided she wanted to break the 2 hour 50 minute mark for running a marathon. And guess what? She did it, coming in at 2 hours 49 minutes and 8 seconds.

As Joan looked back over her life she thought about things she would have loved to have known at the beginning of her career.  Here’s a summary of her advice to her younger self:

• Let passion drive you
• Be ready to change direction
• Surround yourself with people who let you do your own thing
• There’s more to life than Olympic gold
• Sharing your passion with your kids is pretty cool
• Apply laserlike focus to whatever you do
• Passing the torch will make you happy
• Life is a marathon

Excellent advice from a wise woman and, advice we could all afford to follow.  To read the entire article about Joan online, just click here.

~ Lisa Quast