Today's Challenges

We all have our fair share of different challenges: finances, family, career, etc. Each age presents its unique set of challenges and in "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", Stephen Covey presents eight challenges that we confront today:

1) Fear and Insecurity
This challenge is even more prominent right now with the current financial crisis. Many people are afraid they will lose their jobs, and some in fact have. Evidently, this is a plausible concern; yet, excessive fear and insecurity leaves us feeling chained and unwilling to take risks or take advantage of new opportunities.

2) "I want it now"
We live in this sort of instant gratification mode where we want the big house, the nice car, the great job, and the most loving husband/wife/children all now. The 'buy now, pay later' approach is more and more common and although that implies buying an item, I see a direct link between that and our relationships. We're not willing to invest in our relationships, to work hard at them, and to be patient with those whom we love most. We want it all, and we want it all to be perfect, now.

3) Blame and 'Victimism'
Some of us have mastered the art of saying "if only my boss wasn't so bad ... and if only I had more money ... and if only my husband or wife weren't so difficult ... if only this and if only that". We constantly blame the people or the circumstances around us and forget that ultimately, we have the ability to change our attitude, our perspective, and our behaviour. We forget the power that we have in our decisions.

4) Hopelessness
The fruits of blame and victimism are hopelessness. When we continue to blame the circumstances and people around us, we quickly succumb to hopelessness, which leads us to an even worse condition. We become prey to what Stephen Covey calls, the "survival response of popular culture", which is: 'just lower your expectations of life to the point that you aren't disappointed by anyone or anything'.

5) Lack of Life Balance
Cell phones, blackberries, emails and other forms of technology that are supposed to make our lives easier, are just placing more demands on us that sometimes cause increased stress and exhaustion. These demands, which may seem urgent, but in many cases, are not important, dictate our lives and take over our priorities and ability to achieve balance and serenity in our lives.

6) 'What's in it for me?'
We're brought up to think that life is a race, a competition and we should look out for ourselves first and foremost. We may try to show happiness when we see others achieve, yet internally, we may feel that we have less chances of achieving since someone else has. Nevertheless, the power of teamwork and the 'we' as opposed to the 'me' where we can work together cooperatively for the sake of the greater good can be much more rewarding.

7) The Hunger to be Understood
We all long to be understood, valued, respected, to have our voices heard and to ultimately have some sort of influence. Seemingly, we can achieve this need by communication, so we expect to speak and be listened to; yet, when others speak, we may not take the time to listen to them deeply and sincerely. We may not have the patience to suspend our agendas only temporarily and not prepare for our response while the other person is still speaking.

8) Conflict and Differences
Different opinions, values, and motivations can naturally be the cause for conflict sometimes. We sometimes try to resolve conflict by thinking 'win-win' in which case a compromise has been struck. Yet, Stephen covey speaks of an interesting concept called "creative cooperation" in which both parties seek to develop solutions that would take them to a better place than where they started off.

For tips on how to overcome these challenges, see future articles.