The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

USING YOUR WHOLE BRAIN

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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 indicate
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 many different kinds of thought
processes and we barely tap our potential. As we become aware of its

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different capacities, we can consciously use our minds to meet specific
needs in more effective ways.