A reflection on realignment, resilience, and what The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People can teach us about living from the inside out.
Welcome to this corner of the internet—where we don’t hustle harder, we go deeper.
This is not a summary of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
This is a conversation. A reckoning. A return to self.
I’m reading this book again—not for the first time, but in an entirely new season. And instead of just underlining my favorite passages, I’m teaching through them. Why?
Because:
“We remember about 90% of what we teach to others…
but only 5% of what we hear in a lecture.”
— National Training Laboratories, Learning Pyramid
That one statistic flipped a switch for me. It reminded me that reflection, when shared, becomes transformation. So whether you’ve read the book or not, this space is for you.
You don’t need to be “in a book club” to be in this conversation.
You just need to be a human being, navigating the messy, beautiful, often overwhelming terrain of life… and willing to consider that maybe, just maybe, it starts within.
The Quote That Chased Me Through Every Chapter
“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”
— Albert Einstein
Every time I’ve picked up this book, that quote has stopped me cold. But this time, it hit different.
Because I’ve lived that truth. I’ve hustled through seasons of unraveling, trying to hold it all together with performance, strategy, and effort—only to find the foundation quietly crumbling beneath me.
I had to break before I could rebuild.
And the first shift? It wasn’t external.
It was me.
So let me ask you:
Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads where the only thing that could change… was you?
My “Knives-Down” Season
On the outside, my life looked golden.
I had two babies in 14 months.
I’d bounced back physically.
I had the clients, the house, the family business rebuilt past pre-COVID levels.
I had a fully booked calendar, a supportive partner, a thriving brand.
But I was unraveling.
As the external pieces clicked into place, the whispers of misalignment turned into screams. I kept pushing. Kept perfecting. Kept producing.
Until everything broke.
I call it my knives-down season—that sacred pause when I put everything down. The business. The pressure. The polished image. The pace.
It wasn’t failure.
It was a reckoning.
And it was the only way back to the truth:
You cannot build a sustainable life from the outside in.
You have to go inward first.
The “Shoulds” That Nearly Broke Me
So much of what cracked me came from the invisible weight of “should.”
I was living under the pressure of:
-Who I should be for my partner
-Who I should be for my mom (as her daughter, business partner, confidant)
-Who I should be as a “wellness” mom
-Who I should be in my post-baby body
-Who I should be as a creative and entrepreneur
-Who I should be financially—to keep it all afloat
And maybe you’ve felt it, too.
All those shoulds?
They stack up.
They silence your inner knowing.
Until you don’t even recognize the woman in the mirror unless she’s performing.
Why This Work Matters
The 7 Habits aren’t just about productivity—they’re about identity.
It’s not about organizing your calendar.
It’s about re-rooting your life around what actually matters:
-Your values
-Your mindset
-Your self-talk
-Your emotional regulation
-Your integrity
Because if your foundation is fractured, no amount of hustle will hold.
But if your foundation is rooted in alignment?
You can build something that’s not just “successful,” but sacred.
A Personal Truth, A Universal Question
There’s a parable from the book that stuck with me:
A farmer discovers his goose is laying golden eggs. One a day. But he gets impatient. He wants more, faster. So he kills the goose to get all the eggs at once—only to find nothing inside.
He loses both the goose and the eggs.
And I realized: I was the goose.
I was producing golden eggs—beautiful things, helpful things—but neglecting myself in the process. Trying to run faster, create more, hold it all together.
Until I broke.
So now I ask myself—and invite you to ask with me:
✨ Where in your life are you operating from performance… instead of alignment?
✨ Where are you chasing golden eggs while ignoring the needs of the goose?
Not to fix it all today.
But just to notice.
To pause.
To reflect.
What’s Coming Next
In the next post, we’re diving into the idea of character-first living—and how resistance isn’t a sign you’re failing.
It’s just physics.
So if you’ve ever found yourself pulled back into old patterns, doubting whether you’re doing the work right, or just exhausted by trying to “get it all together”...
This series is for you.
Not to add more pressure.
But to help you come home to yourself.
One reflection, one habit, one quiet shift at a time.
You're doing such a great job—
Lex
📍Want more?
Listen to the Podcast Episode accompanying this Blog Post 🎙️HERE
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