The 8th Bad Habit of Highly Defective People

(with all due respect for Mr. Steven Covey)

Wondering why the slap in your face, hope-you-feel-like-a-rotten-egg title above? Because, YOU are the defective person being addressed!

Doesn’t it just annoy you? I mean how long a list of “miss-goody-two-shoes” qualities can the word “effective” categorize? You and me work our behinds off to get A grades in the college examination (ok, maybe not, but lets assume so) and we’re still not “effective” human beings?
The seven habits are full of such profound words of wisdom that to the common man is actually a load of nonsensical gibberish. Let me lay it out for you…..
1) Get up with a peaceful mind : Nevermind, that there are ten gazillion cars hooting their horns off, a herd of cows mooing to the dairy and a handful of pesky siblings who seem to have descended from the “uncivilized” civilization.
2) Put First Things First : From the only logical perspective, I see that the first thing on the agenda would be “set the sibling rascal straight”. Gosh…just swiped the “peace” away!
3) Allocate time to improve your Productive Capability- NOW we know why family planning is still not as successful as we hope! All the wrong habits!
4) Think Win/Win, “Winning” is “beating” :…..Just when I decide to adopt the non-violent strategy to my problems! .….now I’m getting really confused!
5) Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood : Yes, I am beginning to understand that you think I am a spoilt brat, that I am devoid of sympathy and that I have the brain the size of a pea. Now I seek to be understood. My problems are the very same ones that I’ve just understood. Does that make any sense?
6) Synergize : What is synergy? Simply defined, it means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." Are they trying to tell us that frog-eyed, frizzy-haired, pimple-struck teenagers like me are actually pretty? The world does not work that way honey!
7) Sharpen the Saw : Don’t worry, no ones talking yet of “sharpen the saw, then try slicing your head off”! This is supposed to be about physical, mental, spiritual and emotional renewal! RENEWAL?They've gotta be kidding right? Nope. That’s why we told you it’s all a vicious cycle!

And finally, the 8th bad habit of highly defective people :
This one kind of sums up all the 7 Bad Habits. It is simply,
8) BE YOURSELF : This is translated as live your life uniquely, setting your own standards for yourself and not by a book of rules!

And thus I conclude by saying that while we HIGHLY DEFECTIVE PEOPLE might be teetering on the edge of insanity, I take pride in believing that we are not as vain as to think that we’re little pieces of machinery who run effective lives following the 7 Habits.