I am sure most of you have probably heard of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I had the honor and privilege to meet the late Dr. Covey who signed his book "Principled Centered Leadership" for me back in the day. I also had the honor and privilege to facilitate the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People course at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) while being employed there. 

Those principles have remained with me until this very day and those same principle I believe could help transform America into a highly effective nation and I believe it is up to each of us as citizen to make it happen. We are more divided politically than I've ever seen in my lifetime. The divisive rhetoric is at all time highs.

I'd like to challenge anyone who read this (whether you are American or not) to embrace these principles in your daily life. If you do, I honestly believe that, you will benefit greatly and those around you will as well. As we get better as individual people, we will make better families, communities, cities, states, and ultimately our nation will be stronger as a result. 

Let's focus on just the private victory:

PRIVATE VICTORY

1. Be Proactive. You are responsible for your own life not the government; (response-able) you have the ability to respond to whatever happens to you. Henry David Thoreau said "I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of a person to elevate their life by conscious endeavor." Napoleon Hill said, "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it would achieve. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. So, I'd like to encourage you to take a snapshot of your life and decide from this day forward to do some things differently. Dr. Kings dream speech says it all. 

2. Begin With the End in Mind. This is about personal leadership. Are you leading yourself well. We find it easy to take shots at political leaders but I ask you AND the political leaders; are you leading yourself well. Are you leading with principles or feelings? These are trying times here at home and around the globe. We need leaders who have confidence, courage, and solid decision making. That leader should be you. IF each of us lead ourselves well we could eradicate many of the challenges we face in our society. 

3. Put First Things First. Goethe said, Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. How we manage our time is vital to our effectiveness as a people and nation. Focus on the important and not urgent things. Urgent things are seldom important and important things are seldom urgent. Where you decide to focus will determine where you go. With this current environment I am not sure any of us know where to focus because of how much is going on. 

I will follow this up with 3 more habits which will be about the Public Victory. I hope you will tune in...