Stephen R. Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Eff People pdf

Using Your Whole Brain
Our self-awareness empowers us to examine our own thoughts. This is particularly 
helpful in creating a personal mission statement because the two unique human 
endowments that enable us to practice Habit 2 -- imagination and conscience -- are 
primarily functions of the right side of the brain. Understanding how to tap into that 
right brain capacity greatly increases our first-creation ability.
A great deal of research has been conducted for decades on what has come to be called 
brain dominance theory. The findings basically indicated that each hemisphere of the 
brain -- left and right -- tends to specialize in and preside over different functions, process 
different kinds of information, and deal with different kinds of problems.
Essentially, the left hemisphere is the more logical/verbal one and the right hemisphere 
the more intuitive, creative one. The left deals with words, the right with pictures; the left 
with parts and specifics, the right with wholes and the relationship between the parts. 
The left deals with analysis, which means to break apart; the right with synthesis, which 
means to put together. The left deals with sequential thinking; the right with 
simultaneous and holistic thinking. The left is time bound; the right is time free.
Although people use both sides of the brain, one side or the other generally tends to be 
dominant in each individual. Of course, the ideal would be to cultivate and develop the 
ability to have good crossover between both sides of the brain so that a person could first 
sense what the situation called for and then use the appropriate tool to deal with it. But 
people tend to stay in the "comfort zone" of their dominant hemisphere and process every 
situation according to either a right- or left-brain preference.
In the words of Abraham Maslow, "He that is good with a hammer tends to think 
everything is a nail." This is another factor that affects the "young lady/old lady" 
perception difference. Right-brain and left-brain people tend to look at things in different 
ways.
We live in a primarily left-brain-dominant world, where words and measurement and 
logic are enthroned, and the more creative, intuitive, sensing, artistic aspect of our nature 
is often subordinated. Many of us find it more difficult to tap into our right-brain 
capacity.
Admittedly this description is oversimplified and new studies will undoubtedly throw 
more light on brain functioning. But the point here is that we are capable of performing 
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many different kinds of thought processes and we barely tap our potential. As we 
become aware of its different capacities, we can consciously use our minds to meet 
specific needs in more effective ways.