Foundations of Health Promotion and Wellness Management

Burkett1

Brendon Burkett

Professor DiRosa

28 February 2016

Writing Assignment 4

Covey believes that everyone should be principle-centered for many different reasons. The Principle-Centered paradigm is defined in our seven habits book as, “The Character Ethic is based on the fundamental idea that there are principles that govern human effectiveness- natural laws in the human dimension that are just as real, just as unchanging and unarguably “there” as laws such as gravity are in the physical dimension” (Covey, Stephen R, 35). These principles stated previously by covey represent many different things such as fairness, integrity, honesty, human dignity, service, quality and any concept that fits under the idea of character ethic and human effectiveness. Therefore some of the reasons covey believes everyone should be principle-centered because all the principles promote healthier environments for people to live in. In other words the benefit to using Principle-Centered mind sets is that they focus on all aspects of the principles stated rather than just focusing in on one.

Out of the six styles of interaction the first style win/win stuck out to me the most and it doesn’t just represent one person I am close to but my entire group of friends. Win/win is a, “frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interaction.”(CPD TRAINING). So if you take this social interaction of win/win and put it in a hypothetical situation an example would be something such as friend A and friend B understand that in any obstacle that presents them they will both outcome in a mutual reward or they resort to a mutual agreement that positively benefits them. The reason I chose this social interaction and why I chose my group of friends because in the example given previously has occurred in many situations I could instantly think of with my group of friends and I.

In the Seven Habits book describes listening into five levels. The last two levels are attentive listening and empathic listening. The main difference between the two are that empathic listening is more in depth than attentive listening. Attentive listening is paying attention, and focusing energy on the words that are being said. Attentive listening would be known as the fourth level which brings us to the fifth level of listening empathic. This type of listening involves the intent to really, deeply, specifically understand someone when they have a conversation with you. In one phrase empathic listening is “seek first to understand” (Covey, Stephen R, 240). It is said that most people generally speaking do not practice the fifth level, empathic listening while having conversations with others. There are many ways to improve on being an empathic listener. Some of the big steps are that when you are in a conversation take note of emotional identification, compassion, feeling and insight. Also prior to the conversation think of the basic principle of empathic listening which is seek first to understand and not seek first to be understood.

Synergy is defined as, “the essence of principle-centered leadership. It catalyzes, unifies, and unleashes the greatest powers within people.” (Covey, Stephen R, 262). To me I like to see when people come together and create synergy with each other to accomplish a tough goal or task. Many of my own personal experiences with synergy happen in my workplaces. For example in the summer when I work with my stand partner on the beach it is important we have created a good synergy between each other in order to optimize the process of saving someone’s life. Synergy is something my stand partner and I take very seriously because every second counts when we start the process of rescuing someone whether it’s from cardiac arrest or someone in a rip current. Another experience I have with synergy in my workplace is my other summer job of billboard installments. In short I change the pictures on billboards on the Atlantic City Expressway. The experience with synergy happens with my team and I up on the board working at our optimal strength to change the billboards vinyl in the shortest amount of time. The synergy I have with my team didn’t come over night keep in mind. Synergy happens when you unleash all your potential and it takes a lot of time and experience at something to reach your full potential.

In conclusion after reading the book “The 7 Healthy Habits of Highly Effective People” has inspired me to change not just one specific habit but multiple habits that would be relevant to certain aspects of the book. To be more specific there are a lot of situations in my life were I can always progress to be better or optimize certain situations for them to work out in my favor. And after reading the book I am more inclined to peruse changing these habits to increase my wellness. An example of a habit I would like to change deals with empathic listening. I want to be able to fully understand someone when they talk to me in order to open up new bridges in conversations. The reason I chose this example is because a lot of my job on the beach as a Life Guard deals with talking to beach patrons therefore to get to know the people on the beach I guard I hope to seek first to understand rather to seek first to be understood.

Works Cited

"CPD TRAINING." : Six Paradigms of Human Interaction. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2016. <

Covey, Stephen R. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Place of Publication Not Identified: n.p., n.d. Print.