As I sat on a Caribbean Airlines flight bound for New York a few days ago admiring the sunset, it was so beautiful and I could not restrain myself from taking a picture. After putting away my phone my mind drifted to the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Steven Covey. He may have died since 2012 but his teaching is still relevant today. All of the habits are important but my two favorites are habit number 1 -BE PROACTIVE

Proactivity – means more than merely taking initiatives. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen.

“Response-ability”– the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behaviour. Their behaviour is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling.

We are, by nature, proactive. If our lives are a function of conditioning and conditions it is because we have by conscious decision or by default, chosen to empower those things to control us. In making such a choice, we become reactive. Reactive people are often affected by their physical environment. If the weather is good, they feel good. And if it isn’t, it affects their attitude and their performance. Proactive people can carry their own weather with them. Whether it rains or shines makes no difference to them. They are value driven; and if their value is to produce good quality work, it isn’t a function of whether the weather is conducive to it or not.

Habit number 2 –BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND.
To Begin with the End in Mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. To know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now. And so that the steps you take are always in the right direction. It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap – it is possible to be busy – very busy – without being very effective.

“Begin with the End in Mind” is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things. It determines whether or not you are able to create a successful enterprise. Most business failures begin in the first creation.with problems such as undercapitalization, misunderstanding of the market, or lack of a business plan.

The unique human capacities of self-awareness, imagination, and conscience enable us to examine first creations. And to make it possible for us to take charge of our own first creation,..to write our own script.
Habit 2 is based on principles of personal leadership, which means that leadership is the first creation. Leadership is not management. Management is the second creation. But leadership has to come first. Management is a bottom-line focus: How can I best accomplish certain things? Leadership deals with the top line: What are the things I want to accomplish?
That is a question we all ask ourselves many times.

A few days ago I agreed to meet with five young ladies I met during my Beyond the runway school tour.
They are smart, determined, talented and beautiful young ladies I admire.
They ask me that day at their schools if I could meet with them after CXC was completed and I agreed without hesitation. They messaged me during the exam period and called minutes after the last exam.

I was so impressed with the determination I agreed to meet them the next day and they were early for that meeting and they scored points just by that gesture.
The reason I mentioned these two habits is because some of the things we discussed were centered on my two favorite habits .
Moweisa, Sashamani, Fonda, Darnisha and Kikilla are anxious for me to be a mentor and I looking forward to learning more about their future plans during their summer internship with Makin’ Style.

It made my day when I received this message from one of the parents “Thank you for taking time out to see and speak to the girls yesterday. The minds of teenagers are so fickle that we the adults don’t know or understand what they are going through sometimes. So it is input like five or 10 minutes that you dedicate helps prevent suicide,/teenage pregnancy/drug abuse etc.
From a Mother and a woman I appreciate all that you have done so far for these young ladies …it’s because you CARE….CARE is more valuable than Cash. THANK YOU “

“A mission statement is not something you write overnight… But fundamentally, your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life”. Stephen Covey

Let’s ask ourselves, what is our mission statement?