Good evening follow toast masters, and friend. Welcome to today’s Sunnynook ToastMaster Club Night.

My name is Eric and today it’s my honour to spend sometime with you to go through few advices that had completed reform my life.

Some of these contents actually came from a book that I read couples years ago. It’s called “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” By Stephen Convey. Some of you may heard about this book, some of you may not. This book was first published in 1989 and sold more than 40 million copies worldwide since its first publication.

Today I will spend sometime with you to share top three habits that changes my life and way of working, and I hope that could be useful for you.

Be Proactive

So the one that impact me the most is called Be Proactive.

Be Proactive may mean different things to you, you may think to create or control a situation rather than just responding to it after it has happened.

But actually from the book, Be Proactive is about taking responsibility for your life.

Proactive people recognise they are response-able. They don’t simple blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behaviours. They know they can choose their behaviour.

Proactive people focus their efforts on their Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about: health, children, or problems at work.

On the other side, reactive people are often affected by their physical environment. They find external resources to blame for their behaviour. If the weather is good, then they feel good. If it isn’t, it affects their attitude and performance, and they will blame the weather.

Reactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Concern™—things over which they have little or no control: the national debt, terrorism, or the weather. Gaining an awareness of the areas in which we expend our energies is a giant step in becoming proactive.

Why does this so mean so important to me? Well The mindset of ‘Be proactive’ helps me to understand I am the owner of my life, I am able to control my life. Instead of keep complaining all the things that is far away, I can actually live in the present, and control my life.

Put First Things First

The second one I learned is about ‘Put First Things First’.

First things are these things you find of most worth, and you will desperately fight for with your life!

If you put first things first, you are organising and managing time and events based on your will. Also you will get exponentially satisfied once you complete the ‘first things’. It’s also a good way to build self-confidence, and help you on top of things.

This advice is so practical that actually happens day in and day out. It deals with may of the questions around time management.

It’s not only about time management, but also life management as well, your purpose, values, roles and priorities. What are the first things for you?

Sharpen the Saw

The last advice I learned is ‘Sharpen the Saw’.

Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have, yes that’s about you. It means you’d better invest into yourself: physically, socially, emotionally and mentally.

As you keep renewing yourself in these areas, you create growth and change in your life.

It will also help you to increase your capability to produce and handle challenges around you. Without renew, the body may become weak, the mind mechanical, the emotions raw, the mental insensitive. That’s definite not a pretty picture.

End

Okay that were all the 3 tips that I want to share with you today. Hope you can get something out like me.

Remember, the best time to plan tomorrow is today!