Carrie Cabral, Author at Shortform Books

Lucy Kalanithi’s Epilogue: Completing Paul’s Manuscript and Legacy

Lucy Kalanithi is an American physician. She was Paul Kalanithi’s wife, and completed and published his book, When Breath Becomes Air after his death. In Dr. Paul Kalanithi’s touching memoir about life and death in the face of a cancer diagnosis, he details the harrowing journey of treatment, starting a family, his marriage, and learning to live life on different terms. Paul met his wife, Lucy Kalanithi at Stanford. The couple later married and moved to California together. Throughout When Breath Becomes Air, Lucy Kalanithi is a central figure. Lucy is initially angry about Paul’s diagnosis, but both later admit

Dr. Paul Kalanithi: How He Found Meaning in His Last Days

When Breath Becomes Air recounts the life of Dr. Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon, after he is diagnosed with lung cancer during his last year of residency. With elegant and beautiful prose befitting a novelist more than a doctor, Paul guides readers through his life before and after his diagnosis, a life marked by a search for understanding life, death, and meaning.

Covey’s Time Management Matrix—Focus on What Matters

Take a moment to think about your life and your goals. What are some things that you could do — but aren’t doing — that would significantly benefit your life and get your closer to achieving your goals? This is an important task, and one that you’re neglecting. This is where Stephen Covey’s time management matrix and the four quadrants come in. Quadrants organize tasks according to urgency and importance. Covey’s matrix allows you to prioritize what matters.

Stephen Covey’s 4 Quadrants: The Secret to Productivity

The Secrets to Effective Time Management in Sales

The 4 Quadrants of the 7 Habits help us manage our time and be proactive. But what are the Quadrants 1, 2, 3, and 4? How can they help us be more proactive and manage time efficiently? When attempting to prioritize time, we can turn to Stephen Covey’s 4 Quadrants. The 7 Habits Quadrants separate tasks by categorizing their levels of urgency and importance. See how you can be proactive with your time be managing it according to your values, according to Stephen Covey’s Quadrants.

Personal Mission Statements (7 Habits)—The Ultimate Guide

As life constantly changes, how do you keep your focus on your values and goals? How do you make sure every small action you make is moving you closer to your destination? You can create a personal mission statement. A 7 Habits mission statement is a document you create that identifies the big picture — the life you want to lead, the character traits you want to embody, the impact you want to have on those around you. This document serves as a reminder of your ultimate goals and helps you ensure each short-term pursuit and daily action is in

Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Analysis—Make Better Decisions

In order to make lasting change in your life, you need to make changes that foster that growth while also eliminating the factors that are limiting growth. Synergy is especially effective at minimizing the negative forces that push back against positive growth. The Force Field Analysis is an analogy to explain the factors influencing social situations. It was developed by sociologist Kurt Lewin and states there’s an equilibrium between the driving forces and restraining forces of a situation. In order to achieve an effective action, you should strive to find balance. How can Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Analysis help you

Stephen Covey’s Quadrant 2—Be Insanely Productive

But what is Quadrant 2? How do you use it? And how can you use Quadrant 2 to boost productivity? Quadrant 2 is the area of Stephen Covey’s time management matrix that includes tasks that are important, but not urgent. As Covey explains in The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, Quadrant 2 is the most important quadrant and to be productive, you need to spend most of your time in Quadrant 2. Working toward Quadrant 2 is an ongoing process that will be a consistent part of the 7 habits. Learn how to identify Quadrant 2 tasks to be

Emotional Bank Account—6 Examples for Stronger Relationships

So much of our personal growth and effect habits depend on our interactions with others. But how can we foster these relationships? And how can they help us grow and achieve our goals? That’s where Stephen Covey’s concept of an Emotional Bank Account comes in. An Emotional Bank Account is a system of emotional deposits and withdrawals that helps build relationships. You have an emotional bank account in every relationship that’s unique. And by making deposits, or acts of kindness and love, you strengthen it. Acts of cruelty or betrayal are withdrawals, and weaken the relationship. You want to ensure

Character Ethic vs. Personality Ethic—Change the Way You Think

There are two approaches to self-improvement: Character Ethic vs. Personality Ethic. When we think about self-improvement, we know it has to be built from the inside out. You must first know who we are, and understand our own perspectives and our character, in order to understand how we can change.

Social Mirror Theory: How Others View You Matters

Do you want to reflect back a clear, positive image that emphasizes a person’s potential, or a distorted one based on assumptions, stereotypes, and misunderstandings? This reflection is what we refer to as social mirror theory. Social mirror theory is the theory that people’s relationships with others create a social mirror that reflects images of themselves back to them and affects their paradigms. This is essentially the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy. Learn how social mirror theory works and why others’ opinions of you matter.