Day 15 Of 30 Day Proactive Test

Day Fifteen

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9:36 AM

At the beginning of Chapter 3 of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, the reader is asked to take a moment and write down a short answer to the following two questions. These answers will be important as I begin work on Habit 3, or so says Covey.

Question 1: What one thing could you do (you aren't doing now) that if you did on a regular basis would make a tremendous positive difference in your personal life?

It would make a tremendous positive difference in my personal life if I could find a nice organization to do volunteer work with on a regular basis.

Question 2: What one thing in your business or professional life would bring similar results?

It would make a tremendous positive difference in my business or professional life if I could find a freelance job working from home.

We'll come back to these answers later, but first let us put Habit 3 in perspective. Habit 3 is put first things first.

Also, I do not want to forget the Chapter 2 exercises for more blog material, and I think there is one more Habit 1 exercise that I have not done yet.


Recap

The first habit is be proactive, the second is begin with the end in mind, and the third is put first things first.

Habit 3 is the personal fruit, the practical fulfillment of Habits 1 and 2.

Habit 1 says, "You are the creator. You are in charge." It is based on the four human endowments of imagination, conscience, independent will, and, particularly, self-awareness. It empowers you to say, "That is an unhealthy program I have been given from my childhood, from my social mirror. I do not like that ineffective script. I can change."

Habit 2 is the first or mental creation. It is based on imagination - the ability to envision, to see the potential, to create with our minds what we cannot at present see with our eyes; and conscience---the ability to detect our own uniqueness and the personal, moral and ethical guidelines within which we can most happily fulfill it. It is the deep contact with our basic paradigms and values and the vision of what we can become.

Habit 3 then is the second creation, the physical creation. It is the fulfillment, the actualization, the natural emergence of Habits 1 and 2. It is the exercise of independent will toward becoming principle-centered. It is the day-in, day-out, moment-by-moment doing it.

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Day 14 of The Thirty Day Proactive Test

Day One-Four

9:00 PM

I got another blessing from my Don today. Well let me tell you, that Don's blessing did not go to waste. Right away I got in touch with the Atlantic City neighborhood and ordered the construction crew to get started on the renovation of the library. It should only take about seven or eight days though. However, my units were gobbling up all my cash so, first, I had to send them out on a mission to attack The Imperial States Building so I could free up some money for my little home improvement project.

It is a delicate balance with The Boss. He likes us to keep our properties looking good. Otherwise, it reflects poorly on him. However, we cannot make our estates look too good. We cannot outshine The Boss or attract unwanted attention, because that reflects poorly on him as well. So once you get to a certain level, it is always a good idea to get a Don's blessing first before you do any renovations.

A blessing is especially important in the expansion of our libraries, because, among other things, this is where our proficiency tests are held. Well, not in the library itself. Most often our shooting ranges are in soundproof basements built under the library. This makes sense once you know that our units must pass a series of written tests as well as prove proficiency in the martial arts, with and without weapons, as well as various other types of "Black Arts" and "Dirty Tricks" they are required to learn, oftentimes, the "hard way," if they want to be promoted.

The report just came in. I am pleased to announce our attack on The Imperial States Building was a success with minimal loss of life. I got a new Harley out of the deal. I only lost 59 snipers, but I took out 30 of their Black Widows and 34 of their Assassins. Plus, I gained respect and power and that is what this game is all about, my friends.

Still kind of fighting off this staph infection. I spent most of the day sleeping. I just started having my morning coffee now in the 9 'O clock hour this evening, and I was able to take care of a little monkey business. Hopefully enough to keep The Don happy. He is an understanding guy, magnanimous, as far as bosses go. However, you do not want to push him too far, because when he snaps, he can turn into a real hard-ass.

Anyway, since I got such a late start on the day, I feel like there is not a whole lot to report on the Thirty Day Proactive Test. Except that I went to the Buddhist chat room. It is not good. They still have fifteen days to get their house in order or else there will be a mini-purge. Two or three agitators will have to take dirt naps if these people cannot clean their own house, but once they are taken out, I am sure the chill effect will get everybody in line.

I did not get a chance to read any of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People today. However, I should not be too hard on myself I guess. Despite not feeling so well, I got up and put a little work in for The Don. I made my daily blog entry which is a part of The Thirty Day Proactive Test. Furthermore, it is worth noting that I did not behave reactively when my outside stimulus was not very pleasant with these Buddhists. I feel I responded proactively to that stimulus, because I went right to that gap between stimulus and response, where the freedom to choose how I respond to outside stimuli is located, and I chose to get outside of that situation and view things from an objective point of view and respond to those raving lunatics with a calm head.

Day Thirteen of The Thirty Day Proactve Test

Change

Now it is starting to get hard. I am beginning to see that a whole self-transformation thing is going to have to occur if I am going to complete this Thirty Day Proactive Test without just being a total liar to myself and the readers of this blog. On Day 1, I wrote to everyone that my life was shit and that I wanted to change.

However, right now, I am still kind of sleepy because my body is fighting off this infection. I did finally finish reading the second chapter in Covey's book. I also took a closer look at the exercises from Chapters 1 and 2. To aid me in this change, I plan to try these exercises , posting my findings on this blog. I must rest now.

5:22 PM

So here is the other exercise from Chapter 1. It will be divided into three parts. Here is part one, "Identify an experience you might encounter in the near future where, based on past experience, you would probably behave reactively."

Well I am not going to have to use my imagination or visualization skills too much to look in the near future for this part of the exercise because I am already in the middle of an experience where, based on past experience, I would probably behave reactively.

Not only am I sick with this staph infection but I am also a disabled gentleman with a pressure-sore on my right glut, which means, for all intents and purposes, I am pretty much bed-ridden until this ass-sore heals. I find myself in this position a lot. As a matter of fact, more and more so the older I get. They say our skin gets thinner the older we get. So I am not able to stay up as long and be a wild man like I used to be able to do.

Which brings us to the second part of this exercise, "Review the situation in the context of your Circle of Influence. How could you respond proactively?" Well, instead of playing the roles of the consummate victim of a capricious and uncaring universe or the brave and stoic perpetual martyr, I could respond proactively by doing what I am doing right now: reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, taking The Thirty Day Proactive Test and planning things out so that in the future I do not end up in this position in the first place.

This brings us to the last part of the exercise, "Take several moments and create the experience vividly in your mind, picturing yourself responding proactively. Remind yourself of the gap between stimulus and response." I pretty much am already doing all that. So I do not have to take several moments and create the experience vividly in my mind. I am living it, in real time.

However, I do not recall what the gap between stimulus and response is. So it is time to hit the books and go back to Chapter 1.

 8:09 PM: The Gap Between Stimulus and Response

Now I cannot control everything that is going on around me or even my own health and body to a certain extent, but I am a self-aware being who can look as an observer at my very involvement. I can decide within myself how all of this will affect me. Between what happens to me, or the stimulus, and my response to it, is my freedom or power to choose that response.

Day 12

Monday

12:00 PM

I am tired. My body is fighting off a staph infection. I only read one page of Covey's book so far today. I am too lethargic to focus on reading. I am hoping this coffee might give me a little boost. If so, I am going to try to read one more page.

I think I will take a nap.

12:49 PM

I ended up reading one more page of 7 Habits. Then I took a little nap.If I ever start to feel more energetic today, there is an exercise in chapter 1 that I want to try. There is a visualization exercise in Chapter 2 that I would like to try as well.

However, I am thinking the most proactive thing i can do today is to take it easy and get some rest and let my body work its healing magic.

Until tomorrow...

Catholic Mass: April 10, 2016

Day 10

The 30 Day Proactive Test

Hey now

Day 10

So the most proactive thing I have done in these last ten days would obviously be all the work I have been putting into my blog.

I always meant to. I had this blog for years but was never that serious about it. Mostly, I just used it as a storage device for all of my little projects.

This is pretty much what I went to school for. I have an MA in Communications. So I figured sometime in the not so distant future, if I could just start putting in a little bit of work every day, it might be possible to get a halfway decent blog up and running, but I kept putting it off.

So coming across this 30 Day Proactive Test was fortuitous in several ways. As a writer, I am always looking for new ideas. Being somewhat of a Gonzo journalist, I thought it would be an excellent idea for a story to chronicle my rise to power as I go through The 30 Day Proactive Test as espoused by Stephen R. Covey in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. And, I figured it would also be a good opportunity for growth and self-improvement. Also, this seemed like a good chance to get The Rant up and running again but in a magazine/blog-style format this incarnation. The Rant started out as radio talk show. It went on for five years and was moderately successful and then I had a change in vision and wanted to somehow morph what I was doing on the radio into a more internet-based, magazine/blog-style, online publication.

12:59 PM 

It has been a very lazy day. I have just been sleeping all day. I think I will smoke some pot, drink some water, listen to Snap Judgement on NPR and try to read at least a page or two of 7 Habits. Then I shall come back and do a bit more writing.


1:50 PM

Hello

I know I mentioned earlier there was little to no change in my Circle of Influence. However, as I have had time throughout the day to think it over, I am becoming aware of a change.

The change is somewhat ineffable ergo hard to describe at the moment. So I shall not try. However, I am sure I will come up with something, once I have had time to mull it over.

A Circle of Influence encompasses those concerns that we can do something about. They are concerns that we have some control over

Happy Friday

Friday Night At The Movies

with Charles Lamson

My Gun, My Horse, Your Widow
Click to see vintage spaghetti western classic.

U-Krane

Day 8

Click if you hate life.

The musical stylings of Slipknot

The Greatest Reptoid Of All Time

Godzilla

Day 8 Of The 30 Day Proactive Test

Day Eight

Click if you like Hank III.

Hank 3 and banjo guy

9:35 AM

I am drinking coffee, listening to NPR and trying to plan out what types of proactive things I am going to do on this eighth day of The 30 Day Proactive Test. For now, I am going to drink some more coffee and read some more of Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I discovered some exercises at the end of Chapter 1 that I have not done yet. So I thought that might make fun blog material.

10:12 AM

I was reading about affirmations in Covey's book. I came across this part that I thought my blog readers might find interesting, if you are into writing affirmations. I am paraphrasing but this can be found on page 133 of 7 Habits. 

There are five basic ingredients in a good affirmation: it is personal, it is positive, it is present tense, it is visual and it is emotional. For example, we might write something like this: "It is deeply satisfying (emotional) to me (personal) that I respond (present tense) with wisdom, love, firmness and self-control (positive) when my children misbehave.

Then visualize it. Spend a few minutes each day to think about ways in which your children might misbehave. Visualize this in rich detail. Feel the texture of the chair you might be sitting on, the floor under your feet, the sweater you have on, see the dress your daughter is wearing, the expression on her face. The more clearly and vividly the detail can be imagined, the more deeply it will be experienced.

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Diamond Dave comin' atcha!

Day 7 Of 30 Day Proactive Test

I Am Depressed

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Those were good times.

It is Day 7

I am bummed out. I am coming down from a manic high. So I am going to drink coffee and read 7 Habits until I meet with my apartment manager at 10:00 AM.

11:35 AM

My meeting with the manager went well. 

So I find I am starting to flounder a bit on this 30 Day Proactive Test. It all started as somewhat of a lark. I was going through some shit and I figured a good self-help book might be in order. So I started reading Covey's book. It just so happens that during this time, I was hanging out in a Buddhist chat room with two other dudes. We were bitching about something or another and so I sarcastically proposed that we all take part in this 30 day Proactive Test that I had just read about for the very first time.

So it turns out I was just spewing bullshit for seven days. I have no idea what a Proactivity Test is. So I had to hit the books and go back to Chapter 1.

Proactivity Defined

Proactivity means more than taking initiative. It means we are responsible for our own lives. Highly proactive people do not blame circumstances, conditions or conditioning for their behavior.

We are by nature proactive. If we are controlled by conditioning and conditions it is because we have by conscious decision or by default, chosen to give power to those things.

In making such a choice, we become reactive.

Proactivity - The 30 Day Test

Test the principal of proactivity for thirty days. Keep small commitments you have made. Be a light, a model and part of the solution.

I also discovered some exercises at the end of Chapter 1 that I overlooked before. So that should provide some blog-fodder for the next couple days or so.

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It is a beautiful day on planet Earth.