7 1/2 Lifelong Learning Habits

Of the 7 1/2 Lifelong Learning Habits, I find Habit 1, "Begin with the end in mind," to be the easiest for me because I seem to have the "big-picture" mentality. I don't know if the idea of living according to the result is something I was born with or if it's a value I learned from my parents or a combination of both. I do know that even at a young age I remember thinking, "If I do that, this will be the result." I also remember sitting down as a child to hear my grandpa's stories about war and life and music, knowing that along with being interesting, they were helpful. I could learn from his mistakes. The big picture. What a vantage!

You'd think I'd have Habit 3, "View problems as challenges," down if Habit 1 is the easiest for me. After all, if I've got the big picture in mind, I should know problems aren't going to be around forever. Well, I didn't perfect Habit 1; I just said it's the easiest. Sometimes I allow problems to skew the view I started out with: "I can't see the end now!" When that happens, I don't always see problems as learning opportunities until later and I am stopped dead in my tracks. Paralyzed. This is especially so when I am rigidly stuck to a plan to get me from point A to point B. Plans change and I must remember this from the outset.