On Monday this week we discussed how to incorporate the Habit of Being Proactive in your daily life. Now it is Saturday and time for a review.

For those of you who may not have read Stephen Covey’s landmark book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, here is a brief synopsis of the first habit: (from Wikipedia)

The Seven Habits

The chapters are dedicated to each of the habits, which are represented by the following imperatives:

1. Be Proactive. Here, Covey emphasizes the original sense of the term “reactive” as coined by Victor Frankl. You can either be proactive or reactive when it comes to how you respond to certain things. When you are reactive, you blame other people and circumstances for obstacles or problems. Being proactive means taking responsibility for everything in life. Initiative and taking action will then follow.
   Covey also shows how man is different from other animals in that he has self-consciousness. He has the ability to detach himself and observe his own self; think about his thoughts. He goes on to say how this attribute enables him: It gives him the power not to be affected by his circumstances. Covey talks about stimulus and response. Between stimulus and response, we have the power of free will to choose our response.

Some of the activities to help you implement this Habit were described. Please leave a comment and let us know how you were able to implement this new Habit into your daily life.

As part of my quest to overcome my own ADD difficulties through lifestyle changes, rather than medication, I offer the following tips. (Please note, I am not a doctor! Discuss any changes with a physician before beginning. These tips are based on my own, unscientific experiences and research)

• Positive Human Contact Face-to-face interaction is very good for everyone, in terms of slowing down our mental processes in order to communicate with another person. Your brain is able to think at a rate of 500+ words per minute, but we tend to speak at 100-200 words per minute. Taking the time to listen and interpret what others are saying is healthy brain excercise.
• Spend less time with electronics Recent research indicates that not all ADD/ADHD symptoms fall into the genetic neurological, dysfunctional or disabled categories. Often children diagnosed as ADHD have experienced too much information in sound and picture images (via TV and video games) coming at them too rapidly for them to process. They are overloading their senses and are unable to understand what these images represent at this speed. As a result the left side of the brain is unable to fully integrate what the right side of the brain is experiencing.
• Get enough sleep Getting enough sleep means going to bed and sleeping until you wake up on your own.
  

  A study of 866 children between the ages of 2 through 13 found that youngsters who frequently snore or have sleep disorders are almost twice as likely to suffer from ADHD than those who sleep well.

  “Inattention and hyperactivity among general pediatric patients are associated with increased daytime sleepiness and – especially in young boys – snoring and other symptoms of SDB (Sleep Disordered Breathing),” wrote Dr. Ronald Chervin, a University of Michigan neurologist and sleep researcher. “If sleepiness and SDB do influence daytime behavior, the current results suggest a major public health impact.”"

• Eat a balanced diet While somewhat unscientific, there is anecdotal evidence that diet can be a major factor in your ADD expression. Reduce sugar intake, as well as refined carbohydrates while increasing protein consumption. Be careful of foods that are frequently associated with allergies, such as milk, eggs, and wheat.
• Regular excercise Being active is good for your body and your mind, whether you have ADD or not. Aerobic exercise increases levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. These neurotransmitters provide emotional stability, the ability to focus, mental alertness and calmness. Conversely, a deficiency in neurotransmitters can cause depression, mood swings, irritability, anxiety, attention problems, stress and sleep problems.
• Prayer or meditation There is evidence that meditation can be a powerful tool in controlling the symptoms of ADD:
  

  Meditation can help improve symptoms in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), an international psychiatry conference heard this week.

  The Australian study in 48 children diagnosed with ADHD found Sahaja yoga meditation led to an average 35% reduction in symptom severity over six weeks, and enabled many to reduce their medication.

A while back I posted that I was upgrading my smartphone and considering some options. The time has come like many gadget aficionados (’geek’ after all is no longer in vogue) I have invested far too much time in my selection.I chose the Blackberry Pearl 8130, a sexy little number with snappy performance. Unfortunately, after a week of use, I realized that it wasn’t for me. The ‘crack’ in Blackberry just didn’t grab hold of my PDA needs so I went looking for an alternative. Mistake #1.

Many video reviews later and I am still not sure which one to use. (I do recommend PhoneArena.com in case you need to see specs, etc.) Now I’m thinking about this process way too much and it’s beginning to stress me out.

Here’s the spiritual twist- gadget owning the gadgeteer. It bothers me that it bothers me which smartphone I use. I’ve adjusted my aim- instead of finding the ideal smartphone I just want to put the whole process to bed and be done with it.

My suggestions if you are like me and find that your gadgets are owning you:

• Go on a gadget fast. Read “Unplugging the Noise” for some ideas on products and the media. A once per month fast is a good idea for so many reasons.
• Put things in perspective…on paper. Write down the pros and cons of a gadget that you’re thinking of purchasing. Do you really need it? Will it really improve the quality of your life? If we’re honest the answer will almost always be, “probably not”.
• Know the fine print. If Sprint has fine print about returning a phone, read it carefully. You don’t want to become a wasteful buyer of goods. Like the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, the desire for more can take over the best of us.
• Stay old fashioned. No matter how cool the iPhone is, there is still no substitute for pen and paper.
• Maintain quiet time each day. Steadying buying habits (and gadgeteering) with down time, alone, is valuable and keeps things in balance.

Off to work on an article…win old fashioned pen and paper. I’ll keep my phone on standbye.

I am not a big consumer of television programming. Neither is Tina Su, and here is why:

Here are some effects of TV watching based on my experience:

• Mental Clutter - Most things on TV are useless and uninspiring. We are drawn to them to satisfy our curiosity and fear of being alone without things to do. It almost gives us a sense of temporary purpose and a great way to kill time. Most simply becomes unnecessary noise that clutters my mind and inner space.
• Mentally Draining - I feel tired and drained. Literally, after staring at the screen passively, my head is numb and I feel sleepy. This is because our brains are actively working to process the highly visual and auditory information, even though we are sitting there passively receiving the information.
• Highly Addictive - I want to watch more. After watching the show we’ve planned to watch, what do we do afterwards? The natural tendency is to click around and see what else is on. It’s not unusual to set out wanting to watch one show and ending up watching several more hours of unplanned TV ‘action’.
• Time Consuming - Due to its addictive qualities, it has the tendency to suck your time. You are not able to do other things more empowering or beneficial.
• Feeling Crappy - I never feel good about myself after I finally pry my eyes from the TV set. With the exception of some documentaries and shows, most shows don’t leave you empowered or inspired.
• Procrastination - You get drawn in. You get distracted and delay your tasks. You encourage yourself to procrastinate. I noticed this tendency in myself, as I am procrastinating to complete this blog post.
• Kills Imagination - I remember reading a study several years ago on child development and imagination. They concluded that reading tends to stimulate imagination, and extensive TV watching suppresses imagination. When we are watching TV, we are passively receiving and processing visual information, and little imagination is required. Whereas when reading, you are actively reading words and then converting them into visual information or meaning.
• Bad Posture - It’s easy to slide down into couch when we relax. When we are absorbed by a riveting show, we tend to disregard any physical sensation and rest in the same position. This can’t possibly be conducive for our physical health. On my flight home from my holiday, I could barely sit up because of pain in my lower back.
• Guilt - Naturally, we feel guilty when we haven’t accomplished what we’ve set out to do. Once you realize that you are no further ahead than you were when you started, your conscience jumps on you.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Grab a book instead.

If you can’t think of anything to read, check out these suggestions.