Covering the final chapter of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. How much time do we spend chipping away during a season without thinking back to sharpen the tools? Think smarter, not harder.

Effective communication start with listening. Learn about empathic listening from Habit 5 and how synergy puts it all together with Habit 6.

Covering Habit 3 ("First Things First") and Habit 4 ("Win/Win") we start talking about going from a plan in place to the physical steps taken to be successful.

Perspective is powerful. And as it relates to our actions it often starts with our perspective - paradigm - on the situation. Often the most skilled athletes are the most proactive. This could include getting up additional shots, asking questions to those with more experience, or identifying other ways to learn (e.g. film or social media). It could be inferred that those same athletes considered most proactive have a higher level of confidence in the agency of their future outcomes, not bound to any pre-determined outcome.

The first chapter titled 'Inside-Out' infers true change takes place from self-reflection of our own character as opposed to surface adjustments to our personalities to assuage judgment from others. Character Ethics is a principled approach to self-improvement and interpersonal effectiveness; while Personality Ethics are seen as manipulative actions to achieve short-term objectives. To immediately pull basketball into the conversation, an expected issue for any coach throughout a season is playing time.