Introduction

Good day to all. Let us continue sharing Chapter Two of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I often see people who are already several decades old but still not very mature. How can one discern whether a person is mature? It depends on the habits within them. A person's maturity is closely related to their habits. That is to say, if a person possesses certain basic habits, it indicates that they are a fundamentally mature individual. Then, as they continue to explore and acquire more habits, it signifies that they are becoming even more mature. By continuously learning and changing their habits, a person becomes truly exceptional. Therefore, the process of maturing is, in essence, the process of cultivating habits. Of course, there are other aspects to maturity, such as physiological and psychological aspects, which I leave to your own interpretation.

After we are born, we must go through the process of growing from a child to an adult. No one is born and immediately says, I'll buy a plane ticket and fly to Canada! Babies are born delicate and weak. How could they suddenly grow up to be so big? Unless they were born as Ne Zha, or some kind of demon. So, life needs to grow little by little. Let's use the growth process of children as an example. Initially, children rely on their parents for survival. It is difficult for children without parents to survive. That's why I object to children discerning good and evil with their parents. In fact, children are not qualified to do so at all.

The process of moving from being dependent on others to being able to do things independently is called the first stage of maturity. That is, the transition from dependence to independence. For example, when children are born, their parents feed them milk. Later, when they grow a little older, they can help run errands. Does that not make the child a little more independent? Yes, because they can help their parents with small tasks. Later, the child goes to university, finds a job, and can earn a salary to support themselves. They become an independent person, completing the transformation from dependence to independence. However, becoming an independent person only means that one can complete tasks on their own. The second stage of maturity is from independence to interdependence, meaning being able to work with others to build a team and engage in effective collaboration. Through these two stages, a person becomes increasingly mature.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

How many good habits are discussed in this book? There are seven in total. First: Be Proactive, Second: Begin with the End in Mind, Third: Put First Things First. With these three good habits, you can become an independent person. Then, with Think Win-Win, Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood, and Synergize, you can become someone who can collaborate with others. We will discuss one good habit in each chapter. These good habits together reveal a pattern: starting from dependence to independence, then from independence to interdependence, and finally the seventh habit: Sharpen the Saw, which encompasses everything.

Some people may say, How come these things are so similar to what we've learned in the past? Do you all feel that way? In fact, we have all learned these things before. How could we not have? After all, I learned from them and am now teaching you. We can see that they drew a people-growth model in the book. Now ask yourself, which stage are you currently in? There may be quite a few people who only grow in age, but nothing else. Even more frustrating, they not only don't grow in anything else, but they even regress. Isn't that upsetting? So, these seven habits are very important for our growth. If these seven habits can be established, then you will definitely be a highly effective person.

I am working very hard on one thing. I really hope you all understand me. What I am striving for is to constantly hope that our brothers and sisters will grow. If your current stage of life growth is like an infant, I will push you to be proactive. If you have the habit of being proactive, I will push you to begin with the end in mind. If you have the habit of beginning with the end in mind, I will push you to put first things first. After this, you can become a very effective person in your personal sphere, completing the growth from dependence to independence, no longer needing someone to lead you, and being able to complete tasks on your own and handle things independently. Next, I can push you to establish the habit of thinking win-win, and then learn to seek first to understand, then to be understood, and to synergize, so that you can handle deeper relationships and problems between people.

Didn't I just give a small example? When I was a small school leader, managing a small team, I needed to know the needs of others. If you only care about yourself and do not seek first to understand, how can you build an effective team? It's impossible. Moreover, we must also push people forward. Anyone who can make it to a small official position in the workplace probably has the three good habits of being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, and putting first things first. In fact, there are many people in the independence stage. Then, when you start to become a small official and manage a team, you need to learn the habits of thinking win-win, seeking first to understand, then to be understood, and synergizing. At the same time, we must constantly strengthen our learning of these six habits and constantly renew ourselves. We will become more and more capable and competent.

This book talks about habits and a model of personal maturity. Do you understand now? There are seven good habits, which together establish a constantly renewing model from dependence to independence, and from independence to interdependence. The model we have established allows us to easily remember a person's success in both their personal and public spheres. A good individual becomes a good leader. That's the relationship. Isn't this book well-written? Let's give the author a round of applause. And if you're willing to give me a round of applause, I can also bask in the glory. Actually, Stephen Covey wrote it well. Gradually learning and acquiring good habits allows a person to enter a spiral of upward growth and become an effective individual.

Becoming Highly Effective Has Abundant Rewards

Some people say that I'm just full and have nothing better to do, and I just like to do this. But what am I doing? I am doing something that makes people grow. That's not just being full and having nothing to do. These seven habits can help everyone grow. Then, slowly, everyone will become effective individuals. Wouldn't you say that I am one who gains people like fish? To gain people means that people are willing to follow me. Why are they willing to follow me? Because they can grow by following me, they can gain effectiveness! We haven't learned relevant concepts in the past so many years, and we don't know how to become a highly effective person. So, what did our schools do? They did nothing. They didn't teach what they should have taught. So, education needs to be reformed!

What we are doing is a very meaningful thing: turning a person from someone who is unhappy every day into someone who is occasionally unhappy, and then turning them into someone who is happy every day; turning a lazy person into a hardworking person; turning a foolish person into an intelligent person; turning a person with no value into a person with great value. Would you say that the reward for doing this is high? The reward is very high!

So, you should know that highly effective people can radiate the fragrance of Jesus Christ from within. Therefore, effectiveness must have a reward: you will definitely receive a reward in finance, you will definitely receive a reward in health, you will definitely receive a reward in interpersonal relationships, you will definitely receive a reward in many unimaginable things, and in the future, you will definitely become like me, one who gains people like fish. Think about it. Aren't highly effective people the essence of humanity? Because you will enter an environment of continuous growth, which is extraordinary!

So, in this process, the most crucial thing to enable people to grow is that you must have the resources. Everyone knows that resources are good. It is fatal to have no resources. Among all resources, the most important is human resources. In our previous work, it was called the Personnel Department, translated into English as Personnel. To put it bluntly, this Personnel is about整ren的、整事的 (dealing with people in a harsh way), which sounds quite upsetting. However, with the continuous advancement of social sciences and natural sciences, mental work has become more and more important, because people cannot do as much work as tractors even if they work like animals. So, people gradually realized: No, I should value the wisdom of people's minds and improve the people I recruit!

Singapore, this small land, has no resources, but it has a unique resource, which is human resources. This is because Singapore did one thing right in the early days, which is to build up the people, and everyone must be educated. Human resources are the most important resources in Singapore. Therefore, the rise of any country is inseparable from education and human resources. Resources are roughly divided into three types, including financial resources, which is having money; material resources, which is having houses, cars, and being able to rent them out. But these two cannot compare to the last one, which is human resources.

Think about it, what can a tractor do? A tractor can plow the land. But can a tractor program? No, programming still requires people. How can people program? People need to learn and be educated. Some people will say, Money is also very important. People can't do without money! But money does not generate money on its own. Money just rusts when left there. But if someone manages this money, someone manages these tractors, someone manages these houses, someone manages these equipment, someone manages these factories, these resources can be put to good use. That is to say, through human resources, we can combine all other resources together! So, you must know that making people is getting people like fish, which is infinitely good!

In the future, I hope that our brothers and sisters can all stand in leadership positions, take on leadership positions in enterprises, and become managers. I have a nephew who is in his thirties. You say he has no achievements, but he has made some achievements. He has been doing decoration for some years and has made some achievements. Then I gave him an idea. I said, You have to learn to manage people. In the process of growth, from dependence to independence, what people need to learn is probably managing things. For example, in terms of decoration, he knows all the procedures and methods, but after it gets bigger, he still has to learn to manage people. He may be able to explain the decoration clearly, but he may not be able to manage the decoration workers well. Some workers may work for you, but they may not work well, which would be troublesome.

So, to manage affairs and people, that is corporate management. To manage affairs, manage people, and also manage money, that person is a management talent. Therefore, the Human Resources Department and the Finance Department are very important to a company. So, what do managing people and managing affairs rely on? Being able to manage affairs well relies on success in the personal domain; when you achieve success in the public domain, you can manage people well. Also, remember, if you cannot manage affairs, it is difficult to manage people. For example, if you say: Work hard! others will ask: Boss, how do we do it? You cannot say: I don't know. That makes management very troublesome.

Because I can manage affairs, I can manage, and I manage very meticulously. Technicians often argue with me until they are red in the face. Why is this? Because technicians are very insistent on their technical views, but I have my own logic in technology. So, generally, after I have researched and explored, I say: This matter should be done this way. The technicians will say: Boss, I disagree, I cannot do it! I often encounter this situation. It does not matter, we just argue. Because I can manage affairs, I can explain it to him clearly, so that eventually he admits: Ah! Boss, your idea is indeed better.

For example: we want to develop a software, but we ourselves understand nothing, relying entirely on the people below to write blindly. After it is written, several million are invested, and in the end, the returned code is all gibberish. Is this not annoying? But this kind of situation will not occur with me. You can try it with me; I manage things very meticulously. Some people will say: How are your eyes so sharp? You can see the problem at a glance! You must know what I do; I manage these people. If I cannot see the problems, will I not just be at the mercy of others' deception?

Dealing with Bad Habits, Continuous Growth

Speaking of this, I have elaborated on the stages from dependency to independence, and from independence to interdependence. Is it clearer than the author's explanation? Among our brothers and sisters, there is a uniquely good environment. Because you have resources! You have a large group of experts! I have trained a large group of people to do these things. Should you not make good use of your resources? But some people are just foolish; they are vastly different from their pastors, but just because their pastors have a small flaw, they begin to discern good and evil with their junior pastors and look down on them. What do you have to look down on? Everyone has flaws, but if we can inherit the good from others, will we not become wise?

So, you all know, right? No matter how bad that person is, I must learn the good things from them; no matter where exactly that thing is good, I must first learn it. I hope everyone can understand my good intentions; I build little by little, solving problems one by one. You are my best testimony, and when I come before God, you are also my best letters of recommendation.

When I come before God, I can say to God: God, look, so-and-so has grown so much. He used to be worth one thousand dollars, now he is worth ten thousand! God, look! This person used to be worth ten thousand, now he is worth fifty thousand! This is like catching men as catching fish; I have many such stories. Many brothers and sisters type in the group saying: Yes! I can definitely be your letter of recommendation. Yes, you have really grown a lot. Pat yourself on the chest and ask yourself; you have indeed grown a lot. Of course, we still have many problems to deal with, but growth is a real thing. We are continuously growing as we deal with our bad habits. Thank God, you are all my letters of recommendation!

There was a patient with depression who was very distressed. I ministered to him some years ago. At that time, our church was still very small; I read every email that came, and every WeChat message that came. Now I do not have that energy; now there are more people, and I cannot manage it all myself. After my ministry, his depression was cured, and then I continued to train him, helping him find a job, from not being able to pass the probationary period to being able to pass it. After the probationary period passed, I said: If you continue to do this job, how much will your salary be in five years? He said: Seven thousand.

You may think that seven thousand is quite a lot, but the cost of living is high in Shenzhen; a person making seven thousand dollars a month probably really does not know how to live. I said: Let's not do it! Come here for training! After the training, he went out to find a job. During the pandemic, he attended an interview, not even a face-to-face interview, just an online interview. What happened? They offered him a salary of over twenty thousand. You say: Is there such a good thing? Ah, we must believe that there is no limit to human growth!

I watched him grow up. His pastor often shared his growth with me, and I also care about him. But now I do not have that energy. I really wish I could share my inner thoughts with everyone, and also want to give everyone a phone call, chat about everyday life, and say some heartfelt words, but one phone call definitely cannot be hung up after three minutes; there is really not enough time. I am telling his story to let everyone know that the market's biggest shortage is talent.

When I was doing corporate management, my subordinates' annual salary was 500,000 RMB. But even with 500,000 RMB, I still could not recruit people! It is actually very difficult for bosses to find capable people; it is very hard to find suitable people. So, do not think that the boss is blind to have found you; there are many people who are worse than you, and he should thank God for finding you. Everyone must understand that no matter what, you must deal with the bad habits in yourselves; no matter what, you must establish good habits in yourselves, because this world, this market, and our God will definitely give you extremely rich rewards.

Once, I helped a company recruit, and one interviewee was no good, and then another was no good. Ah! I was so annoyed! All were extras, all were nonsense, none could really do the work. Can everyone understand? The company does not care about money. You must know for sure in your heart that there are many vacancies in this market waiting for you to fill, with very high salaries. If you work in Shenzhen and earn a salary of three thousand or four thousand, then you need to transform yourself, and ask yourself: Can my salary become seven thousand or eight thousand?

If you earn a salary of seven thousand or eight thousand, you must also ask yourself: Can I deal with my problems, develop a good habit, and then become a highly effective person? Can I change my salary from seven thousand or eight thousand to twenty thousand, from twenty thousand to fifty thousand! Change it, just keep changing it! I have helped many companies train many people, and our brothers and sisters have also been trained in this way. After training, when people are adjusted, they reach a state where the company does not discern good and evil, they bury themselves in hard work, have a good attitude, understand the boss's heart, and wholeheartedly create value all day long. You say, in this market, how difficult is it to find someone like you?

If you are a housewife, is there no room for growth? Used to take three hours, five hours to do a housework, dawdling to finish, now, can train yourself, half an hour to do all the housework? That is not growth? If half an hour is not up, then an hour can be done? Used to take an hour to finish the housework, now half an hour can be done? The rice used to cook even the dog is not willing to eat, now the rice cooked people are rushing to eat. The emperor ate your cooking, want to invite you into the palace to be a royal chef, then you are not amazing? So you said how much space you have to grow? The space to grow up is too much! Do not think that you are a housewife, you think you have no space to grow. Can not stop taking a small bench, in the doorway to talk nonsense? We should grow growth.

You say I am paralyzed, how to grow? That does not matter, physically disabled, but we are mentally healthy, can you learn a skill? The entire computer, learn programming, at home in fact, are a bit of work, can not? Can! Learn to give people to do web pages, in this market are old and more need. Or you can learn me, learning to train people, helping people grow. In fact, no matter what the reason, there is no way to stop us from growing. Just now I saw a sister typing, thought of her testimony. When she came, hey! That poor ah, but it is said that at present in the financial old good, I do not know to what extent. We do create people this line, the return is extremely rich ah!

From now on, do only one thing, is to make our inside completely transformed, all that makes us tangled, makes us waste time, makes us make things happen, makes us confused, makes us talk nonsense ...... are one by one to deal with it, and then do a person who is difficult to grow! Put their value from a thousand change five thousand, five thousand change two thousand, two thousand change five thousand, listen to very good? But some people just say: Oh, how is this thing? Want to not we are sitting in the middle of the, help me write a letter of recommendation, this Sunday to talk well, let them well to transform transformation, and constantly move forward, to become a high-performance people, this market is too lacking you!

Summary

The above is my explanation of the second chapter, in the middle of which I have talked about many of my own experiences. I hope that after listening to everyone, they will transform themselves well: mothers become effective mothers, and children become effective children. Financial matters are very small matters, after people grow, it is difficult not to prosper! Someone in the group asked me: How can people in their seventies grow? In fact, people in their seventies can also grow, for example: start practicing singing, make it better and better, and constantly improve!

People have a lot of room to grow, the joy of growth far outweighs eating a good meal, the return and satisfaction of growth far outweighs anything else. People are created by God, and all things created by God have one characteristic: it is uncomfortable not to grow, so now we must begin to enter into growth! Let us all begin to look forward within, looking forward to a better self! May God bless you!