A few weeks ago, I was scheduled to travel from the Los Angeles area to San Francisco.  I chose to travel on Southwest; it’s fairly easy and there’s no luggage fee.  I set a reminder on Outlook, so that I could get my boarding pass 24 hours before flight time.

All goes well; my boarding number is A38.  Great.

Now, the return flight:  same thing; I set a reminder to get my boarding pass for the return flight, 24 hours before flight time.  Boarding number:  A38!

What are the odds of getting the same boarding number, same airline, 3 days apart? 

What is the universe trying to tell me?

Author: Andrea Edwards

Andrea Edwards is a Senior Consultant and Director of Client Results for FranklinCovey’s Western Region. She is passionate about helping clients achieve their wildly important goals.

Thursday morning, June 14^th.  I arrive at Denver Airport at 4:30AM.  Catch my flight to MSP.  All is well.  Connect to Duluth.  While waiting at the gate, the agent announces that the plane’s bathroom is not working, so “if you have to go, or think you’ll have to go, please use the facilities directly across the hall.”  I knew that was a Facebook moment.  Pretty funny and made me remember that I was in Middle America now.  This plane is REALLY tiny; maybe holds 40 people.  We board, leaving behind any carry on, except for my purse and my computer.  We’ve boarded, and the flight attendant tells us that aside from the bathroom not working, there is a nasty storm arriving and we have to hurry to get out before the airport closes due to weather.  Hurry!  Hurry!  We all board, and then we wait.  There’s one more passenger.  A young man, a paraplegic, who is flying home to Duluth, having competed in an athletic event.  OK…we’re ready to go.  Prepare to leave the gate.  Oh, wait, someone really has to go to the bathroom.  And, then the power of suggestion takes over and several people have to go.  OK.  We won’t leave the gate quite yet; the flight attendant allows folks to get off the plane, use the bathroom at the gate and then re-board.  Finally, we’re ready.

 Yes, you guessed it:  when we finally pull away from the gate, the storm has settled in and now we cannot depart.  So, we wait about 30 minutes on the runway and then we leave.  Bumpy doesn’t even begin to describe it.  Good thing it was only a 28 minute flight.  Arrive Duluth about 20 minutes delayed.

 As I deplane, I pick up my compute bag and head straight for the ladies’ room.  This airport must be 50 years old!  And, the ladies room?  Well, let’s just say that none of the mid-century modern amenities are there:  brown paper towels, stacked on the wet counter, trashed Formica and…well, you get the picture. 

OK, I think.  It’ll get better.  I get my luggage (because remember, I’m now being forced to check my luggage) from the carousel.  Go outside to get a cab to get to the hotel.  The cabbie has lived a life; you only have to look at his face to know that.  I get in.  Beautiful little community.  Very green and lush.  And, yes, it’s raining pretty hard.  As we’re driving to the hotel, I notice that this car has large flood lights on either side of the front windows; much like a police car.  I ask the cabbie about it; yes ,he says, this used to be a police car.  ‘I bought it for a song when I started driving a cab.’  He tells me that this storm will probably spawn some tornadoes and to be sure to find out where the tornado shelters are at the hotel.  Really, what an adventure.

We finally get to the hotel.  I have about 90 minutes before my keynote, only I can’t get out of the car!  Because it’s a police car, the back doors can only be opened from the outside.  Who  knew?  I finally disembark and head into the Baker’s Island Inn Resort.  Resort?  Really? I head to the restaurant.  Very sweet family atmosphere.  Still raining very hard. The first of the automated calls from Delta come in to my voice mail, to tell me that my outbound flight later that day has been delayed.  Then, the second call comes in. 

 My routing was Duluth to Minneapolis St. Paul to LAX.  I finish lunch, loving the thunder and lightning, and beginning to wonder what the rest of the day holds for me.  While I teach, I get two more calls from Delta, the last one saying my flight from Duluth to MSP has been delayed 3.5 hours, which means I won’t make my connecting flight.

Working with the FC travel agent (who was wonderfully patient), we rebook me on the last flight from MSP to LAX on Thursday night.  One more call from Delta was the tipping point.  I wasn’t going to make the connection….wait, being very resourceful, I realize I could drive from Superior/Duluth to MSP and catch that last flight.

The hotel calls a cab.  The van arrives, windows wide open.  Now, remember, it’s been raining and it’s still quite humid.  A sweet young woman gets out of the cab and tells me that the air conditioning in the van isn’t working and we’ll just have to have the windows open.  OK…I just want to get to Duluth airport to being the 2.5 hour drive to MSP.  Lots of construction in Superior, so what normally would be a 25 drive became a 45 minute drive.

Finally, I get to the Hertz counter in Duluth.  I get a car, and begin the drive.  There’s construction on the one highway to get me to MSP.  The rain is gone, so it’s beautifully clear and still light out, even at 6:30PM.  Driving, singing, thinking if I’m going to make the flight….driving, car dancing, thinking if I’m going to make this flight.  Finally, I’m in the Twin Cities vicinity and don’t see one sign indicating that I’m near the airport.  Not one.  Although I’m using the Hertz Never Lost GPS, I’m still not certain that I’m driving in the right direction.  Drive through Minneapolis, and now getting into St. Paul.  Finally, a tiny tiny tiny green sign telling me to get off the highway to get to the airport.  GPS is telling me to continue on the 35E.  I decide, in an instant, to follow the GPS instructions.  Eventually, I get to the airport.  I only have 45 minutes to departure time.  Yikes!  Hurry!

Finally, arrive at the airport and I don’t see one sign for Rental Car Return.  Somehow (I still don’t know how), I get into the Rental Car Return area for Terminal 2 (I needed to be at Terminal 1).  Round and round I drive through the Rental car area, not seeing one human being to tell me where to drop this car off.  Only 35 minutes now to departure time.  Ultimately, I see a person from Alamo and ask him where the Hertz return area.  Just as he’s about to tell me, his colleague drives up in a van and says “Follow me.”  So, I follow him.

What a mistake!

Mr. LeadFoot drives out of the terminal area.  I follow him and end up in Terminal 1.  Good for me.  28 minutes to departure.  As I am gathering my belongings, the Hertz rep tells me that his computer isn’t working and I’ll have to go inside to return the car.  Yikes!  Now picture this:  me, my two red rolling bags behind me, moving as fast as I can….I finally get to the counter, where I encounter a VERY long line of people waiting to rent a car.  I walk up to the counter to confirm that this is the correct line.  The young man tells me it is, and since I’m Hertz Gold Club, I could just stand there and he would take care of me as soon as he was done with his client.  25 minutes to go.  I decide that I’m not going to make the flight, so I get on the phone with Delta.  I’m on hold…

Finally, this young man is able to take care of my return.  Just one problem:  the car is from a franchise, the young man behind the counter is new, and he’s not sure how to process my return.  He calls on a colleague, who is busy flirting with a client.  I’m still on hold with Delta.  If I can’t cancel/rebook my flight, my ticket becomes invalid and I’ll have to purchase a one way ticket home.  Can you feel my stress level?

The Hertz agents told me that they could not issue me a receipt, since the rental was with a franchise.  When will I see a receipt?  ‘Oh, gee, I don’t know…it could be a few weeks.’  What?  How do I submit my expenses?, I think to myself.  12 minutes to boarding and I knew I wasn’t going to make the flight.

Just as I’m done with Hertz, the Delta agent comes on the phone.  She kindly re books me, tells me that there’s no charge since the situation was Delta’s fault (that’s refreshing, wouldn’t you say?).  OK.  Now, I need to find a hotel for the night.

As I get on the tram at MSP to get to the main terminal, I look up at the Departures board.  Yes, the flight I thought I’d just missed, has been delayed by 30 minutes.  For a nano second, I considered trying to get there.  Then, reality:  I just didn’t have it in me to hustle through the airport, with my luggage…

I get to the ‘on airport grounds hotel’ board at luggage.  Standing there is a woman, about my age, who is struggling with her belongings and making her reservation.  I strike up a conversation with her, and learn she’s gotten a great deal at the close Holiday Inn.  So, I call them, make a reservation and head outdoors to wait for the shuttle.  It’s now 10PM.  I haven’t eaten a thing since lunch at the hotel (which feels like a life time ago).  I’m cranky, hungry, and still have to wait to get home until the morning.

Anita (I soon learned this woman’s name) was happy to have someone to talk to.  It went like this:  ‘So what’s your name mine’s Anita where are you from I’m from Portland and trying to get to Detroit for a family emergency I have a husband and no kids and we run a business together I’m really enjoying talking to you do you want to grab a bite when we get to the hotel I wonder how much longer before the shuttle gets here….

Just like that.  No punctuation.  No anticipation of an answer to any of her questions.  And, NO, I didn’t want to share a meal with her…or anyone else for that matter.  I just wanted to get home, Antie Em. J.

At the hotel, I got the next to the last room.  Shuttle pick up at 4AM.  Yes, 4AM.  That wasn’t so bad.  The day before it was 3AM…

Friday, June 15 dawns.  Everything, I mean, everything worked out just fine and I get back to LAX by 9:15AM local time.  Feels like I’ve lived an eternity in the past 36 hours.

Ah, the joys of travel..

Author: Andrea Edwards

Andrea Edwards is a Senior Consultant and Director of Client Results for FranklinCovey’s Western Region. She is passionate about helping clients achieve their wildly important goals.

I’m going to share some insights, experiences and adventures; because I think they are just too good not to share.

I left home on Monday, June 11, driving to LAX to get the first flight, from LAX to Calgary.  I was very deliberate about packing light, thinking it would be easier to carry on than check in (and also more fiscally responsible).  However, what I didn’t take into account is that the airlines are flying smaller and smaller planes.  So, what was once considered ‘carry on’ luggage will no longer fit in the overhead compartments, and must be checked in (cha ching).  So, for the Calgary leg of the journey, I got away with it and carried my luggage all the way to the gate.  It was at the gate that I was nabbed (my carry on was 2” larger than permitted); they tagged my suitcase and sent it off to the bowels of the plane. 

As I got on the plane, the flight attendants were greeting all at the bottom of the gate.  I wore my newest, favorite style statement (my black straw fedora).  One of the flight attendants was most appreciative of my look, and complimented me.  Then, she put her hand up, and said “Wait.”  She said it with such authority that I obeyed.  She went into the washroom, brought out a tissue, and whispered to me, “You have a booger hanging out of your left nostril.”  What? Really?  First, sheer embarrassment, then grateful for her….what an auspicious way to start this trip, wouldn’t you say?

Arrive Calgary, Monday June 11^th.  All is well.  Nice hotel (I’d been there before).  Great meeting rooms.  Really good food.  VERY expensive (a little above average sleeping rooms are $399 (US) a night!).  And, I’m always astounded just how late it stays light (because it’s so far north).  I had dinner outdoors, and read without any ambient light, until 9PM!

Tuesday was my really anxious day.  Working with a Vancouver based client, delivering two webinars in one day.  One at 8:30AM (ending at 10AM), and the other at 3:30PM (ending at 5PM).  New technology for me; thankfully a topic I’ve taught many times.  Well, technology was my friend that day.  It all worked well, with one exception. In preparation for this webinar, I contacted the hotel and reserved/ rented their ‘executive boardroom’ which was nothing more than a meeting room, within the business center, with a small table, and internet access.  Just as I’m beginning my morning webinar, a family comes into the business center:  mom, dad, a six year old boy and his 3 year old younger brother.  About 15 minutes into my webinar, the younger boy decides he doesn’t want to be there anymore and begins to wail!  Loudly!  The doors to the boardroom didn’t close all the way; it was quite the challenge.  Mom didn’t pay attention to the screaming little boy.  Eventually they left, although none too soon.

Fast forward to Edmonton.  Arrive at the hotel at about 11PM. I had confirmed reservations.  At check in, the clerk tells me there are no rooms and they’d be happy to make a reservation for me at another hotel.  What?  I have a confirmed, guaranteed reservation with a reservation number.  ‘Yes, Mrs. Edwards, we know that.  However, several large parties that were to check out today decided to stay and I’m afraid we don’t have any rooms left.’  I relied heavily on my Franklin Covey teachings, and worked to maintain my calm.  ‘Sorry, that’s not acceptable,’ I say and ask this very nervous clerk to find me a room.  Round and round we went for what seemed an eternity until finally he said, ‘Yes, we have a room!’  ‘Good.’  ‘It’s a meeting room, and we’ll roll in a cot for you.’ Really?  ‘No, that’s not acceptable.’  ‘Sorry, Mrs. Edwards, that’s the best we can do.  There are rooms at other hotels; we’d arrange for transportation for your class tomorrow and everything.’  ‘No, that’s not acceptable.’  Now, it’s getting late and I’m really starting to get cranky, tired, irritable and generally unpleasant.   ‘Could you please let me talk to your manager?’ ‘Certainly,’ said the anxious clerk.  He goes into the sales office, and a few minutes later comes out, without his manger.  ‘ My manager has offered to give up his sleeping room so that you may have it.’  Come again?  Your manager has a room reserved for himself and you were going to send me to another hotel instead?  Finally, I get into my room at about 12:30.

 Class the next day was fine, and I head off to the airport for the most complicated portion of this trip.  I’m flying to Denver this evening, connecting the next day at 6AM through Minneapolis St. Paul to Duluth MN.  I am teaching in a very small town, Superior WI, and Duluth is the closest airport.

 Stay tuned for Part 2….

 Author: Andrea Edwards

Andrea Edwards is a Senior Consultant and Director of Client Results for FranklinCovey’s Western Region. She is passionate about helping clients achieve their wildly important goals.

This summer I have felt a lot like a beginning gymnast on the balance beam. One moment struggling, one moment soaring like Gabby Douglas in London. I’m at a difficult age, between childhood and adulthood, and working hard to create a grown-up, adult life. As I struggle with my budding professional career, I’ve discovered why one cliche is true: We get caught up in the day-to-day motions of our busy, hectic lives and don’t take the time to recharge our batteries.

 Reading Dr. Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has opened my eyes to one principle I have not respected enough in my life: Sharpen the Saw. For me, sharpening the saw means keeping myself refreshed, so that I have the energy and capacity to thoughtfully exercise the other six habits.

As I’ve read The 7 habits and challenged myself to examine my own behavior, I find that I use routine answers and routine behaviors to absolve myself of the responsibility to examine myself and my approach to life and work. Sharpening the Saw doesn’t mean just being thoughtful about the work you do – it means taking the time to take care of yourself – and your own productive capacity – so that you can have sustainable, productive success.

From skills development and training to family time and vacation, Sharpening the Saw can have a different focus for everyone, but the core meaning is the same: You must respect yourself in order to make the most of your abilities.

Dr. Covey discusses the four components of everyone’s productive capacity: body, mind, spirit and heart. Three of these four components made immediate sense to me: body, mind, and spirit. However, heart stood out as a component that I needed to understand a little better. I’m great at taking the time I need to rest, recover and recreate – but I’m not so good at developing meaningful and high quality relationships. Relationships should be symbiotic. You should receive enjoyment, stimulus, and interaction in return for your time and vice versa. Looking at it through that viewpoint, the heart aspect really spoke to me as something lacking in my relationships with family and friends.

For me, as I enter my junior year in college, I have an important resolution: Take the time to develop and nurture my relationships with friends and loved ones. I realize that I must give as much as I hope to receive in order to continue to grow as a productive adult.

Life is, after all, about balance. Habit 7 really stresses this. Whether it is physical activity or hanging out with a good friend, finding ways to balance yourself with strong foundations in mind, body, heart and spirit will help you find your way on the balance beam.

Winfield Jackson is a Junior at Oklahoma State University where he studies Entrepreneurship. He works as a content developer for OpenSesame, elearning marketplace.

Each week, my OpenSesame colleagues and I read and discuss a chapter of the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. As the youngest content development intern at OpenSesame, I had a hard time relating to the various habits in the book- until I read Habit 6: Synergize.

A lot of people, myself included, think that they can do everything on their own; that they don’t need anyone else’s opinions, thoughts, ideas, or input. The selfish philosophies of “my way is the only way” and “it’s my way or the highway” are ones of confusion and destruction. When people decide that they alone know what’s best at all times, they not only leave little room for improvement, they also push others out of their life.

In moving through defensive to respectful and then synergistic communication, people experience change in their wisdom and power. Covey explains how defensive behavior- a result of low cooperation and trust, is not effective behavior as it only creates a win/lose or lose/win situation. Although respectful behavior leads to compromise, the cooperation and trust is still not high enough to be very effective. Synergy, as explained by Covey, is the idea that “two heads are better than one”. It embodies high levels of trust and cooperation and results in a win/win situation.

I am an active member of Franklin High School’s Mock Trial and Parliamentary Debate Team. In the beginning, I was quite controlling over how my team and I prepared for our competition. I had a constant “ME” attitude and always reasoned my selfishness with the philosophy, “If I don’t do it, it won’t be done right”. However, as time went on my synergistic behavior increased. During the fall demonstration, the opposing team objected to all of the questions I asked. Since I did not respond effectively, my team lost major points in our presentation and preparedness category. I soon realized that had I asked the judge for a moment and called on my team for help, we would have scored points for teamwork and maybe even won the objection, even in our difficult situation. Luckily, the competition had various rounds against different high school teams and we had the chance to redeem ourselves. The second time around, we put our heads together and ended up winning the round, which allowed us to advance to a higher rank in the competition!

In my life, I now understand why it is important to question the reasons behind my decisions or actions to better navigate the greater, more beneficial outcome. Often I find myself feeling anxious thinking about the many tasks I must complete throughout the day. When I ask my family and friends for advice or for help, I discover new and better ways to finish everything that needs to get done in a timely manner. It’s as if speaking to others and combining our two, three, four, or five heads allows us to discuss all of the possibilities from our different perspectives. This helps me determine the best way to execute the tasks.

In retrospect, my growth as an individual improved as I converted my untrusting and uncooperative behaviors to trusting and cooperative behaviors and actions. I appreciate the fact that I can discuss my future plans with my family and friends. If I couldn’t and I had no one to compare insights with, my head would probably explode with frustration, confusion and distraught. I’ve come to realize that when I work with a team, the finished product is far more abundant than what I could have ever done on my own. The team has the ability to bounce ideas off of each other and brainstorm multiple concepts. In addition, the team has the opportunity to accomplish maximum capabilities.

Alexis Phillips is a content developer at OpenSesame, the world’s leading marketplace for eLearning.

The 5th Habit of Highly Effective People struck home for me because it is something that my mother has taught me from a young age… but not something I’ve always been great at executing.

I come from a family of highly opinionated people. In most situations, everyone takes their own opinion as absolute truth and has no interest in the opinions of others. To this day, I often find myself wracking my brain provide an answer to a question or problem that the person I’m speaking to hasn’t yet fully articulated. I have a desire to interject with my advice, my corrections, my opinions.

 A few months ago on one of my first days working at OpenSesame, I answered my first office call. I was so excited to finally speak with a potential seller that when they answered the phone I almost forgot to introduce myself. Rather than ask them if they had any questions about OpenSesame or how we work, I immediately went right into who we are, our goals, and our mission statement – with gusto. I was almost 5 minutes into the call before I found out that this person was not a possible partner for us.

 As Dr. Covey writes in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Communication is the most important skill in life.” We speak or otherwise relay our message, take in what other people have to say, and formulate a response. Dr. Covey posits, however, that “most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” As Dr. Covey describes, sometimes we are so focused on getting our message across that we completely forget that the person we are attempting to communicate with is speaking from their own frame of reference.

 My first sales call with OpenSesame could have benefited from a knowledge of empathetic listening (alas, our office had only read through Habit 2 by that point). In that moment I needed to be discerning and aware. I needed to hear and understand the client’s needs and concerns. I needed to hear that a potential business relationship had little chance of succeeding. Our business development manager always tells us in training that it is good to get the client talking about what they do and what they offer first. After reading about this habit I now see how correct he is. Allowing people to talk about themselves makes them comfortable communicating with you. It gives you accurate information to work with, and it builds what Dr. Covey would call the “emotional bank account” between the two of you.

 Fortunately, although my first call was not perfect, I quickly learned that the most important skill in communication was listening first. Now I start off every call by introducing myself, and then asking the person on the phone who they are and what they know about OpenSesame rather than tell them about OpenSesame.

 James Lavery is a student at Whitman College and a Content Development Specialist at OpenSesame, the world’s largest eLearning marketplace.

It is hard to practice Win-Win behavior when you feel like you’re living in scarcity. When I dropped out of college to take a gap year, it was hard to think of anyone but myself. Each day I sat in various coffee shops frantically typing out cover letters to jobs I wouldn’t get, and each night I’d find temporary solace on a friend’s couch.

My friend was a recent graduate of the same college I had left. She had staggering amounts of debt and was also unemployed – a tremendously stressful situation. In the evenings, we’d sit together at her kitchen table drinking instant coffee and complaining. “I can’t believe they won’t hire me! This economy is awful!” We were caught up in our Lose/Win situation, the victims of circumstances beyond our control. Or so I thought…

Things really started to change after my first job interview. When I got the email in my inbox scheduling an interview with a local company for an administrative assistant position, I was ecstatic. That night at my friend’s table, we discussed the ways in which the position would change my current situation – putting me in contact with powerful people, bolstering my resume, acting as a springboard for other opportunities.

These dreams of a steady income played on repeat in my brain as I sat across from my interviewer the next day. When she asked me why I wanted the position, I rattled off my desires with aplomb: “Working for your company is a great opportunity for me to build some business connections while developing some new business skills. Of course, that steady paycheck is a big plus, as well as the flexible hours.” My interviewer waited patiently while I finished rambling, and then followed up by asking, “What do you have to offer us?” I was rendered speechless, stuttering to come up with an answer. What did I have to offer them? I was the one in desperate need of work!

It was in that moment that I realized, in the most painfully embarrassing way possible, I had been going about the interview process in a way that emphasized my personal win, and minimized that of the company. I knew that, moving forward, the only way to be truly effective in my job search was to think Win/Win. I needed to prove my value to them before I would be able to reap the benefits of gainful employment.

Needless to say, I didn’t get a call back. However, for my next interview, I did my research. I took a close look at the company – their job posting, their website, their company blog – and came up with a list of things I knew I could do to improve their current strategies from day one. I was confident this interview would be different from my last one. I walked in, sat down, and began a discussion about my abilities and how they would provide value to the company.

While I didn’t realize it then, I was implementing Dr. Stephen Covey’s 4th Habit of The 7 Habits Highly Effective  People. I wasn’t being a doormat – the company was agreeing to pay me a reasonable wage and provide me with valuable business experience. But, at the same time, I wasn’t focused solely on myself. I was thinking about how we could both benefit from a business relationship. I was thinking Win/Win.

By the end of the interview, my future boss was ecstatic. I had articulated potential solutions to problems she knew existed, and ones she didn’t knew she had. She called me the next week to offer me the job. Thinking Win/Win helped me shift my personal paradigm to one of abundance, and start my career in an economy of scarcity.

Sarah Eadie is a content creation and online marketing specialist at OpenSesame, the world’s elearning marketplace. She studies Chinese language and literature at Portland State University.

4DX Book

Focus is a natural principle. The sun’s  scattered rays are too weak to start a fire, but  once you focus them with a magnifying glass  they will bring paper to flame in seconds. The  same is true of human beings—once their  collective energy is focused on a challenge, t  here is little they can’t accomplish

-The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey and Jim Huling

Since its introduction in the spring of 2012, The 4 Disciplines of Execution has garnered critical acclaim from business leaders around the globe. This book is full of memorable gems and real business insight that can help any company achieve superb results—regardless of the goal.

FranklinCovey is happy to announce that 4DX, a #1 National Bestseller, is now available to you for a limited time at 45% OFF the retail value when purchased from 800ceoread.com.

Simply use the following promotional code at checkout: 4DIS2012.

It will only take you the first few pages of reading 4DX to realize you have come across something capable of profoundly changing the way you set out to manage your busy schedule every single day. “Discipline 1: Focus on the Wildly Important” teaches us that trying to push too many goals at once will usually result in a mediocre job on all of them. As you approach your seemingly never-ending list of things to do, 4DX teaches that you can still maintain all of your goals as important, but right now, you have only one or two wildly important goals that are owed your finest diligence and efforts. In 4DX, this is called managing the whirlwind of your day-to-day job.

Many people who have read 4DX have come to the same conclusion: Before they learned to manage the whirlwind, their minds were like a giant cloud with a lot of great ideas and worthy goals, but no real structure. Now, after implementing the book’s teachings, their minds operate like a clean flow chart with strategic intent and clearly defined finish lines—and all that is from just one Discipline!

We strongly suggest that you take the time to read the free chapter available online while you are waiting for your discounted copy of The 4 Disciplines of Execution to arrive. In addition to introducing you to The 4 Disciplines, the book also gives you a structured, comprehensive approach to installing 4DX in your team and organization.

Happy reading and good luck!

From the multimillion-copy best-selling author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People—hailed as the #1 Most Influential Business Book of the Twentieth Century—The 3rd Alternative introduces a breakthrough approach to resolving conflict and creative problem solving. Dr. Stephen R. Covey brings his formidable insights to our toughest personal, organizational, and social challenges.

 World-class training for The 3rd Alternative is exclusively available through FranklinCovey LiveClicks webinar workshops. Available as open-enrollment workshops or as exclusive training for teams and organizations, you will be taught live by a certified instructor who will help you truly learn how to live the 3rd Alternative. Our client certification option allows you to bring The 3rd Alternative content to your organization by becoming certified to teach through the FranklinCovey LiveClicks platform. The 3rd Alternative webinar workshops series includes five webinars that can be taken as a series, or you can find the session that best fits your needs. Titles include:

 The 3rd Alternative Conflict Resolution

In this webinar, you will learn to:

• Defuse conflict almost instantly.
• Strengthen relationships—even when threatened by deep differences.
• Discover four paradigms that lead to win-win results in any conflict situation.

Learn More

The 3rd Alternative Decision Making

In this webinar, you will learn to:

• Practice four steps for making robust decisions.
• Capitalize on divergent thinking to reduce uncertainty.
• Use empathy as the unexpected key to decision making.

Learn More

The 3rd Alternative Innovation

In this webinar, you will learn to:

• Apply the revolutionary discipline and creative power of 3rd Alternative teams.
• Find the “edge zones” –the hot spots of innovative thinking.
• Practice rapid prototyping and countertyping to leverage the rich thinking of your team.

Learn More

The 3rd Alternative Negotiation

In this webinar, you will learn to:

• Get past the “zero-sum” negotiation mindset to the “abundance” mindset that produces countless rich solutions.
• Distinguish the four steps of haggling from the four steps of synergizing for deals that delight everyone.

Learn More

The 3rd Alternative Problem Solving

In this webinar, you will learn to:

• Get to deep and thorough understanding of the root as well as the symptoms of the problem.
• Discover how empathic relationship building is key to problem solving.

Learn More

You might ask, “Ready for what?”  Well, I’m actively embracing the webinar approach to teaching our great content.  I’ve been teaching using webinar technology for a few years.  At first, I did it reluctantly.  I was so bought-up in to the ‘I must be in the room with my students’ that it was hard for me to wrap my head around how effective webinars really could be.

What a surprise when I realized that, indeed, it could be effective.  So, as I’ve gotten more comfortable with the technology, more adept at understanding how my students want/need to learn, and have more confidence in my ability to deal with any betrayal that technology wants to throw my way…

Recently, I had among the most rewarding experiences ever, and even more so within a webinar.  I taught a webinar version of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for Associates.  The webinar is taught in three 90-minute sessions. At the middle of the second 90-minute session, one of the participants asked if she could talk with me when the day’s teach was over.  At the end of the third session, she patiently waited, and when all the ‘thank you’s’ were said, she asked “Are we alone?  Is the last person off the phone?”  I told her I thought so, but couldn’t guarantee it.  She asked if I could call her. I did just that.

She began by telling me that she did not come to this webinar very willingly.  “My boss made me take it.”  Well, I thought, this is going to be an interesting conversation, isn’t it?  We chatted a little more, my caller telling me that by the middle of the first session she was feeling less like a hostage and more like a ‘curious George.’  At the end of the second session, she realized that this could, indeed, be transformational – if she would let it be.

It was the third session, she said, that really spoke to her.  The closing video was about Leaving a Legacy, and there’s a quote:  “I have cancer, but cancer doesn’t have me.”  She told me that the day before the webinar, her doctor called to tell her that her ovarian cancer was back and she had little time. How do you react to something like this?

She told me that she felt there was divine destiny in the entire day:  her boss insisting that she go, her reluctant willingness to be open to it and the power of the material (what a legacy Dr. Covey leaves us).  I truly felt this magical moment, laced with sadness, unbridled power and privileged to be a messenger.

So, webinars can indeed be as transformational as we let them be.

Author: Andrea Edwards

Andrea Edwards is a Senior Consultant and Director of Client Results for FranklinCovey’s Western Region. She is passionate about helping clients achieve their wildly important goals.

To be completely honest, I have always been a bit of a skeptic about the actual results of the millions of  self-help books that exist. For years I always shrugged them off, not realizing the real potential they could have in my specific circumstances. However, as I continue to read Dr. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I’m shocked by its universal relevance. I am starting to understand why so many millions of people have applied these habits to their lives.

 As I look forward to starting my senior year at Gonzaga University this fall, I can’t help but reflect on my organizational habits over the past 3 years. As far back as high school, I can distinctly remember certain times when I felt completely overwhelmed with work and extracurricular activities. I felt as if I was drowning in tasks that needed to get done and could barely get a second to collect my thoughts. As a result, my performance in school and other activities were not as good as they could have been. I was unable to prioritize my schedule and manage my time properly. I was inefficient, and had trouble getting things done.

 The 3rd habit of highly effective people stresses the importance of putting first things first. Dr. Covey begins the chapter by distinguishing between two very important terms: urgency and importance. Covey explains how many people (including myself) often mistake these two words when they prioritize their schedules. To fully comprehend these concepts, you need to first understand Covey’s 2nd habit. More specifically, you must define what is important to you in order to determine which tasks are worthwhile and which are not when choosing how to spend your time. 

Dr. Covey provides an important four quadrant matrix which compares the ideas of urgency and importance, and how the two should impact the way you choose to spend your time. We learn that important tasks are things that must be done to complete your mission, to achieve your life goals. On the contrary, urgent tasks are those which are not necessarily important, but must be attended to because of a deadline. Covey explains that, unfortunately, many people get caught up with urgent tasks and are unable to focus on the important tasks that bring us closer to our goals.

 In my own life, I often find myself caught up doing things that seem to need immediate attention but are ultimately keeping me from getting to important tasks. After reading this chapter, I now know that I need to change this. Prioritizing your schedule according to important tasks not only helps you get closer to achieving your goals but also makes you a more efficient person.

 As I continue to read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I look forward to seeing how this book alone will continue to disprove my original hypothesis on self-help books. The universal applicability of these habits have already proven to be immensely useful in my own personal life. I have already noticed improvements in efficiency in many aspects of my life varying from my internship, school, and even coordinating things with my friends and family. As I continue to read through this book, I look forward to more of the immediate results the application of these helpful habits have already brought to my life. 

FranklinCovey recently added their courses to OpenSesame, global elearning marketplace, where Chase Wanamaker is a business development  intern. He is going to be a senior or Gonzaga University where he studies Business and is double-concentrating in Finance and Marketing.

Everyone has a great story about the first time they read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. As a first-time summer intern thrilled to enjoy my summer away from school, I admit I had not been taking this required reading assignment very seriously. At times I have found it challenging to draw parallels from my life to Dr. Stephen R. Covey’s insights – until I got to Habit 2. 

 I have been a competitive swimmer most of my life, culminating in my current role as a collegiate swimmer for Johns Hopkins University. My club swim coach when I was around 13 years old introduced me to visualization: One day, instead of practice he brought all of us into a yoga studio, where we were all instantly skeptical. He played a tape with a man’s voice asking us all to lay down and imagine ourselves in a race, “moving at ludicrous speeds”.  At the time, I thought it was much more important to put in the physical work to achieve my goals, and I did not think listening to a heavily accented Australian man softly cueing me through visualization exercises was an efficient use of my time.

 With time, however, my coach persuaded me to give it a try. Visualization rapidly became a huge part of my swimming career. I take time out of my day to think through upcoming races, which gives me insights into what I need to do to make my success real. Come race day I have already experienced the race hundreds of times – and all I need to do is execute what I have already experienced.

 Before reading The 7 Habits, I had yet to effectively transition my visualization practices to my life outside of the pool. But Dr. Covey’s exhortation to Begin With the End in Mind has helped me draw connections between my competitive career and my burgeoning professional career.  Applying visualization practice is more than possible – it is vital to attaining what I deem success in my personal life.

 Dr. Covey ends his explanation of Habit 2 with the concept of personal mission statement – encouraging readers to create a statement that governs the way you will and do live your life. Like many, I’m sure, I have heard this idea before and thought it was a good idea, but never actually taken the time to sit down and write my own. I was inspired by this experience to create my personal mission statement should be:

 Never stop learning. Do not make excuses. Turn weaknesses into strengths. Listen first, then speak. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Do not be afraid to ask for help. Do what you can for those in need. Concentrate on the present. Embrace mistakes and learn from them. Don’t spend time doing anything you won’t be proud of later.

 As I continue to read through The 7 Habits, I pose the following challenge to myself: whenever the book suggests I take time to do something like write down my personal mission statement, my center or any other activity, I will ignore my impulse to think briefly about it for a minute and move on, and rather actually take the time to do the actions it asks me to do. I believe if I am able to follow through with this, my experience with this book will be much more rewarding. As I transition from college to my adult and professional life, I appreciate the encouragement to begin to visualize the end that I will keep in mind. 

 FranklinCovey recently added their courses to OpenSesame, global elearning marketplace where Nick Gipe is a content developer. Nick is a sophomore at Johns Hopkins University where he is studying applied mathematics and is a member of the men’s varsity swim team.

 There are a lot of habits that people understand are good but rarely do. “Put first things first!” “Sharpen the saw!” “Be proactive!” We hear this advice, and we want to make a change, but we find it hard to start. For example, what exactly are “first things” to put first? Which “saw” should I sharpen to most effectively do my job?

 These are the questions I ask myself as I read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Those questions are really hard to answer, but as I evaluate the successful people I know, what differentiates them is their ability to be proactive – Habit 1 in Stephen R. Covey’s essential series of recommendations for changing your life. Proactivity is the key to the door of success.  

 In mainland China where I was born, there are significantly fewer opportunities to create change. People are pushed by the rapidly developing society while at the same time being restricted by culture. You find hard-working people everywhere, but very few of them are following paths that they’ve chosen for themselves. In such a society, being proactive is limited to the circumstances people can control within a dictated path. In that case, “be proactive” sounds more like “study longer hours to get a better grade” or “do everything you can to make your boss like you”. Even when people are hardworking and diligent, only very few people achieve the quality of life they imagine. One can’t help but wonder:

 In cases where the odds appear to be against you, is it meaningful to continue to be proactive?

 The answer is yes. Especially in restricted societies, a deep commitment to proactivity is the only way to achieve meaningful change.

 It’s not easy to keep focusing inside yourself when the outside circumstances are limiting and difficult. But deciding to focus on what you can do to change your life is incredibly empowering.  makes a difference. No matter what the situation is, holding a positive attitude, learning something new and acting on these insights will lead you to a whole new level.

The people who effectively lead change within themselves are equipped to survive and thrive in hard situations. Instead of complaining and blaming others, proactive people hold fast to their values and do the right thing in a smart way. Even in China, although there is relatively limited space for individuals to pursue what they want, a small portion of people succeed as a result of being “super proactive”.

 As I read The 7 Habits, I challenge myself to look deeply at what I can improve, and I set new goals for myself: To resist the cultural pressure to follow a predetermined path and instead make a different choice – to set a path for myself. To remember that there are always factors I can control, even if it’s only my reaction to the pressures I face. 

Whatever the environment is, a proactive person is more likely to succeed than a reactive person. This habit number one – ‘be proactive’ – has the potential to not only change individuals, but to change societies. I hope I will lead the way in my society with my new motto: Things will get better when more people stop complaining and start solving the problems.

 FranklinCovey recently added their courses to OpenSesame, global elearning marketplace, where Sunny Zhang is a marketing intern. She is an experienced event planner and nonprofit organization manager.

As an intern at OpenSesame, my peers and I recently started reading the The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as a group. Book in hand, I started the path to becoming a compassionate, efficient and – most of all – effective career woman.

 The beginning of my journey was not as smooth as I’d hoped. Dr. Stephen R. Covey explains that many individuals live in a state of dependence, where they feel and take no responsibility for the events of their lives. As a young professional, this resonated with me. Since I was born I’ve been dependent on my family financially and emotionally. Every personal success I achieved felt like it partly came from my family supporting me: paying for my school, consoling me when I didn’t get the part, or praising me when I got a good grade.

Being in a state of dependence had its perks, but I know it is not a sustainable option. All of my role models, including my parents, had a time in their life when they made the change from dependence to independence. It may not have been seamless or pretty, but at some point they moved out of their parents’ house, got a job, and started taking care of themselves. When Covey explained that the state beyond dependence is independence, I had an “aha” moment.

 From Independence to Interdependence

 However, in the next passage of the book, Covey explains that after achieving independence, enlightened individuals move into a state of interdependence. This gave me pause. Moving from dependence to independence to interdependence seems regressive. Isn’t the independent individual, who takes no help from anyone, the epitome of success?

 I found my misunderstanding lay in the distinction between dependence and interdependence. While dependence refers to relying on others to take care of us, interdependence refers to the cooperation for a greater goal. And because there are limits on how productive we can be as individuals, but virtually no limit on how productive we can be when we strategically collaborate with others, being “highly effective” requires interdependence.

It took me awhile to understand this difference, but I soon realized many of my biggest successes in life came from collaborative efforts. Take, for example, my last year of rowing as a senior in high school. I had spent all winter training, hoping to be the fastest and fittest. I spent a lot of time that season thinking about how I could be faster as a rower, but all that individual energy wasn’t helping my boat win races. A crew, like any group endeavor, relies on teammates working together, not for personal success. When I stopped focusing on how I could be stronger or faster, and started thinking about how I could row better to complement my teammates, we started going faster. Eventually, we were rowing fast enough to win 2nd in the region.

 The Next Step for Young Leaders

 As college students make the transition from high school to college to adult life, there’s inevitable urge to rebel, to make a point of becoming independent and throwing off the limitations of childhood. But it is important to remember that paying our own rent, buying our own food, and working diligently at a chosen career path is not the apex of being effective. In order to become truly effective we must use our independence and the stability it grants us as a platform on upon which to build interdependent, highly effective relationships. Only when we work in collaboration with others can we achieve our full potential.

 FranklinCovey recently added some InSights On Demand online learning courses to OpenSesame, global elearning marketplace, where guest blogger Micaela Deitch works as a Business Development intern. She is a rising sophomore at Georgetown University and interested in learning about online education.  

While on the surface this comment makes logical sense and rings true to everything we have always been taught. Beware! Things are changing. Books are by no means the only source of credible information anymore. Relevant and proven learning fragments can also be accessed online. And RSS feeds are just one learning strategy you can engage to make that information come to you.

So, in answer to this tweet we simply state, it depends. Read more…

Authors: Matt Murdoch and Treion Muller

Click here to follow Matt and Treion on Twitter.

Learn more about their book The Learning eXPLOSION at: http://thelearningexplosion.blogspot.com

A good place to start would be with LinkedIn. Get as many people as you can, preferably people who you have worked with, to recommend you, and write a positive review. Then join some relevant groups, and enquire about jobs, and look for job postings. Read more…

Authors: Matt Murdoch and Treion Muller

Click here to follow Matt and Treion on Twitter.

Learn more about their book The Learning eXPLOSION at: http://thelearningexplosion.blogspot.com

This Goldilocks Principle is how people are choosing to learn. With the Learning Explosion taking place all around us we too are faced with an endless array of learning choices. If we want to learn about ferrofluid, we can Google it, view a informative video on YouTube, read a book on it, or attend a live or virtual classroom. Like Goldilocks we can find information that is just right for our specific needs. If we don’t need the entire history of ferrofluid we don’t have to have it force fed to us in a hour long classroom. Read more…

Authors: Matt Murdoch and Treion Muller

Click here to follow Matt and Treion on Twitter.

Learn more about their book The Learning eXPLOSION at: http://thelearningexplosion.blogspot.com

Authors: Matt Murdoch and Treion Muller

Click here to follow Matt and Treion on Twitter.

Learn more about their book The Learning eXPLOSION at: http://thelearningexplosion.blogspot.com

When you are trying to communicate to another person, or group of people — whether it’s in a corporate training situation or in advertising — consider these three key elements to get your point across.

1. Market: You need to know to whom you are speaking.  Who are they? What are their interests? What is their background? What are their problems you can solve? Learn as much about them as possible before you even begin to develop your training workshop. You don’t want to get 80% of the way through development and realize you’ve missed the key needs of your learners. Read more…

Authors: Matt Murdoch and Treion Muller

Click here to follow Matt and Treion on Twitter.

Learn more about their book The Learning eXPLOSION at: http://thelearningexplosion.blogspot.com

In a very real sense, this is one way learning is being delivered. Consider Twitter for instance. 140 characters. What can you do with that? (By the way this paragraph was 140 characters!) Read more…

Authors: Matt Murdoch and Treion Muller

Click here to follow Matt and Treion on Twitter.

Learn more about their book The Learning eXPLOSION at: http://thelearningexplosion.blogspot.com

Click here to follow Matt and Treion on Twitter.

Learn more about their book The Learning eXPLOSION at: http://thelearningexplosion.blogspot.com

Yes, I hate to admit it, but I am one of those people who cannot go an hour without pulling out my phone to do something…whether it’s checking email, checking in to a location app, updating my social media status, or surfing the web. I even tried going a day without having my phone with me. I felt like a smoker who is trying to go cold turkey. It was really hard. Read more…

Authors: Matt Murdoch and Treion Muller

Click here to follow Matt and Treion on Twitter.

Learn more about their book The Learning eXPLOSION at: http://thelearningexplosion.blogspot.com

Authors: Matt Murdoch and Treion Muller

Click here to follow Matt and Treion on Twitter.

Learn more about their book The Learning eXPLOSION at: http://thelearningexplosion.blogspot.com

We can guarantee you’ve said it at least once in your life. Maybe it was said after a complicated project was completed. After a difficult conversation with your boss. After a thorny relationship had ended.

You might say that the most important thing is that you learned something. However, we believe you should go one step further: You need to share that new knowledge with others.

Sharing your experiences allows other people to learn. It’s also how you fortify your knowledge. Life is like a great learning laboratory filled with beakers and vials of ongoing experiments to test your knowledge and to improve your acumen. Read more…

Authors: Matt Murdoch and Treion Muller

Click here to follow Matt and Treion on Twitter.

Learn more about their book The Learning eXPLOSION at: http://thelearningexplosion.blogspot.com

Authors: Matt Murdoch and Treion Muller

Click here to follow Matt and Treion on Twitter.

Learn more about their book The Learning eXPLOSION at: http://thelearningexplosion.blogspot.com