If you seek self-improvement, or you have a sense that you achieve more with your life, then there is no better resource than Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In it, you will find the secrets to success. But, the spine of the book is not simply instructing you how to live your best life, it also demonstrates how you can make everyone around you better.
Back to Basics
Covey’s magic is found in the basics. He gives us 7 habits, but the thrust of the book is the core principles and how he explains them. For instance, he demonstrates how the “Character ethic” includes “integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and the Golden Rule. Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography is representative of that literature. It is, basically, the story of one man’s effort to integrate certain principles and habits deep within his nature.”
In discussing each of the habits, Covey shows time and again how the twin pillars of success, hard work, and self-disciple, promote habits. As he argues, “We need a new level, a deeper level of thinking…This new level of thinking is what The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is about. It’s a principle-centered, character-based, inside-out approach to personal and interpersonal effectiveness.” And it starts with examining yourself.
Habit 1 – Be Proactive
Humans are self-aware and because of that we have the ability to be proactive. We also have freedom to control our actions and responses to things, people, and circumstances. This gives us great power – it gives us agency over our own lives.
People have the power to be proactive, and therefore make prudent decisions to navigate the course of their lives. Reactive people, on the other hand, respond to their environment.
“Our basic nature is to act, not be acted upon.” This has tremendous power to create opportunities once we realize and unleash it. The question we all face is simple: “Act or be acted upon.”
Habit 2 – Begin with the End in Mind
“To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.”
He continues, “It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busyness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it’s leaning against the wrong wall. It is possible to be busy – very busy – without being very effective.”
“’Begin with the end in mind’ is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation, to all things.” Create a goal in your mind and then find a way to make it reality. In other words, create a mission statement and then take the necessary steps to make it a reality.
Habit 3 – Put First Things First
Reacting with urgency to important and non-important life responsibilities is no way to live. The aim is prioritizing life, so you are not in “urgency” mode very often.
The goal is spending most of your time working on things that matter most. Ideally, you are working on important, non-urgent responsibilities. By putting first things first, you reduce chaos in your life so you can make logical decisions.
Habit 4 – Think Win/ Win
There are five basic results = win/ win, win/ lose, lose/ win, lose/ lose, and win. Of these you need to get to win/ win a bunch. The others are inevitable from time to time , but win/ win should be a habit.
“Win/ Win is not a personality technique. It’s a total paradigm of human interaction. It comes from a character of integrity, maturity, and the abundance mentality. It grows out of high-trust relationships. It is embodied in agreements that effectively clarify and manage expectations as well as accomplishments. It thrives in supportive systems.”
Habit 5 – Seek First to Understand, Then To Be Understood
“We have such a tendency to rush in, to fix things up with good advice. But we often fail to take the time to diagnose, to really, deeply understand the problem first.”
Covey goes on, “If I were to summarize in one sentence the single most important principle I have learned in the field of interpersonal relations, it would be this: seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Often this means is that it is important to diagnose before you can prescribe.
Habit 6 – Synergize
Synergy conceptualizes the whole as greater than the sum of its parts. It means bringing everything together to value differences so people can bring their different strengths together and apply different skills. When people, companies, family, teams, or any organization synergizes it can overcome individual weaknesses.
Synergizing is very natural. The conception of a child, fertilizing of plants, and all the interconnected parts of the natural world show how it’s done. We can take from the earth’s example and learn how teamwork operates in our lives.
The way to view synergy is to understand it as a Win/ Win proposition. It’s a way of operating that employs all the other habits to make it work.
Habit 7 – Sharpen the Saw
Don’t let your saw go dull or you’ll end up working harder to cut down the trees. This is Covey’s way of communicating that everyone must continue learning and growing. In order to do that, physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental renewal are the big four areas we need to nurture.
A Great Gift
7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a great gift to the world because Covey shows readers how to do the things we know we should. All the ideas he presents were once self-evident to each of us, but the concepts become lost. He shows us how to find them.
“By centering our lives on correct principles and creating a balanced focus between doing and increasing our ability to do, we become empowered in the task of creating effective, useful, and powerful lives…for ourselves, and for our posterity.”
Great men and women have always employed the power of self-agency and healthy habits. Convey simply observed the great thinkers, leaders, inventors, and heroes of yesteryear and scripted 7 long established truths.
If you are interested in watching a review of 7 Habits, you will find it in our 6 books you must read video. You might also like our How to Win Friends and Influence People or Jordan Peterson’s Beyond Order.
