FranklinCovey Blog | Helping People

Managing Fear and Insecurity

Friday, June 26th, 2009 | From the Desk of Stephen R. Covey | No Comments

Much of our world is gripped with a sense of fear and insecurity–fear of losing jobs, homes, or our future. In such a state of insecurity and vulnerability, it is easy to see why people might resign to being in survival mode and looking out only for themselves, at home, at work or in the community. In this environment people tend to respond by being more and more independent. The mindset becomes: “I’m going to focus on ‘me and mine.’

Certainly, independence is vital; however, the problem is that we live in an interdependent reality. Our most important work, the problems we hope to solve or the opportunities we hope to realize require working and collaborating with other people in a high-trust, synergistic way-whether at home or at work. Having an interdependent mindset, skills and tools are vital, especially now as we work through challenges unlike anything most of us have ever seen in our life time.

The principles found in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People are all about helping people learn how to understand and build interdependence. The more we really understand and practice the habits, the more we will build the core skills and character necessary to successfully respond to the many challenges that will inevitably come our way. As a result, we will be able to manage our fears and insecurities, and take charge of our lives-which, in turn, can reduce our fears and insecurities.

Are you focusing on practicing interdependence? What differences have you seen in your life?

Click here to learn more about my summer webinar series on job security and career development.

Author: Stephen R. Covey

Tags: 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, Author Stephen, Career Development, Challenges, Core Skills, Fears, Focus, Habits Of Highly Effective People, Helping People, Insecurities, Insecurity, Interdependence, Job Career, Job Development, Job Security, Life Time, Mindset, Sense Of Fear, Stephen R Covey, Survival Mode, Tools, Vulnerability

Five tips to reduce your stress: TIP #2

Monday, May 4th, 2009 | FranklinCovey News | 1 Comment

Have some of your colleagues been laid off recently? Are you being asked to pull up the slack and do more with less?

You’re not alone.

I mean, there are still other people in your organization, right?

Tip#2: Embrace Others

Odds are, when you’re working fast and furious, there is probably someone, somewhere in your organization that may have some downtime, or they’re worried about not being aligned with strategic projects. Find them. Grab them. Capitalize on their skills. And have them chip in. People are generally happier when they’re engaged and contributing. Sure, quality might slip a bit and it might take longer for you to get that project done. But there is a huge feeling of relief when you delegate a task to someone and you go back to your office and are able to tackle something else. And there is an even better feeling when they come back to you and the project is finished and better than if you did it yourself. › Continue reading

Tags: 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, Abundance, Colleagues, Control, Downtime, Embrace, Franklincovey, Habits Of Highly Effective People, Helping Other People, Helping People, Murdoch, Odds, Organization, Principle, Reduce Stress, Slack, Stephen Covey, Stress Tip, What This Means