What Is A Habit?

According to Steven Covey, here is the definition of a habit:

A habit is the intersection of knowledge, skill and desire.
Knowledge is the what to do and why.
Skill is the how to do.
Desire is the motivation, the want to do.
Happiness is the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually.

Assuming this is a solid working definition, keep in mind that if things aren't changing that you want them to change, you can seperate each of these elements out and focus on them.

Example: You want to have a better relationship with an employee. You may have the motivation to do so, but not the knowledge of what needs to be done or the skills of good clear communication. By narrowing down to having a skill need, you can now find a mentor or other resource to assist you to learn more about the skills of people management.

Many times I know what I want to accomplish but don't always have the motivation to change, because things are working OK the way they are. By separating out and assessing your knowledge, skill, and desire on any given topic or project, you can quickly improve in many circumstances.

Comments

[Rick Cooper, The PDA Pro]

Congrats and sympathies. And, welcome back. Habits are a great topic. I find that people often struggle with using a PDA because they haven't formed a habit of using it. They think, "Oh, I'll use it later." But, later never comes. Instead, it's necessary to use it immediately and use it all the time. A PDA is a great tool for sales pros and most who have them could make better use of them. But, as you mentioned, they must be motivated in order to make it happen!