The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Book Review: By Gerald Marx 4/2019, /Seek Staffing, Stevens Point Wi.
Book Title: The 7 habits of highly effective People
Author: Stephen R. Covey
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Edition: 1st Edition
Year: 1989
Pages: 358 text, index, appendix A & B
Key Words: Human Conditions, Habits, Principles, Personality, Relationship,
Values, Family, Communication, Effectiveness
The book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” is divided into four parts. It was
created in the problems and conditions of the 90’s when America and its citizens
need higher productivity in business. Autor is of the opinion that habits developed
as a result of repeated actions and at certain levels of commitment.
Habits pass through the maturity continuum to become a permanent part of your life.
Human Habits takes place based on your knowledge learned ( the why and what to
do),skills acquired (how to) and motivation ( want to).
Part-one Paradigms And Principles
The book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” begins with the dif erences
between paradigm and principles. After 25 yr, Of working and interacting with
successful people Stephen Covey that they all showed a need for a need of personal
ef ectiveness and healthy relationships with others, co-workers, family and spiritual
self and interactions, in doing so emphasizing that correct principals should become
of an internal guide to interpersonal relationships in turn building happiness and
success throughout life and within your personal and professional ethic, Habit of
humans are related to instinct and learned responses, Some are a product of
circumstance, how we were raised or how we observed are family react to life and
circumstances. Unlike humans animals run on pure instinct, But God the Almighty,
created humans with the ability to choose how we react, we are a blank slate with
infinite choices which leads to the evolution of the human paradigm shift in are
character and personal ethics. That using the 7 Habits as a life compass, and
realizing that the they are nothing new Mr. Covey points this out from all his years of
study of the principles of our founding father which they based their lives of of and
founded our country from.
We all must first learn and test each of the habits against the realities of live, and
teach them to others as we do so we relearn new ways of acting and reacting and turn
from are learned responses and make a paradigm shift, you must get away from you
old ways of thinking and reacting in situations.
But we are only human and we may fall back cause as humans just like electricity we
like to follow the path of least resistance, looking for the quick fixes but these only fix
for a short time and were back to crisis mode to just look for another quick fix ( a band
aid of sort ) not to solve the problem long term once again.
Real change must come from within yourself, and the fundamental way to change
yourself is though a paradigm shift.
Part-two Private Victory
Habit 1: Be Proactive,
Be yourself , “self awareness” this is a unique ability in humans to stand apart from
the animal world, it helps us examine and see our self paradigm to ef ect are self
attitudes and behaviours. We have first understand ourself before we can understand
others and see how they see themselves and their world, Because change start from
with in, and highly ef ective people make decisions to improve their lives though the
things they can influence, rather than reacting simply to external force.
Being proactive means using your power of choice between stimulus ( what you get
from the world) and your response to that stimulus.
Mr. Covey shows us there's a space between stimulus and response and in that space
allows us to use our power, are choice on how to respond to that situation.
Within that space is where we focus
on our“circle of control” We focus on what we can control and stop wasting are time
and resources on the the things we can't control.
Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind,
Know what you want to accomplish in your mind have a clear mental picture of your
final outcome, habit 2 is your imagination on the idea. Now there are going to be form
of said idea there your mental creation or (idea) and the physical creation is formed.
If your not clear on the mental creation of where you want to be you will end up at the
mercy of the stimulus you receive from the world and others, you must always keep
your personal end in mind as you move forward in your life and professional life with
a higher level of clarity and confidence.
To become a highly ef ective person Mr. Covey conveys to importance of sitting down
and write a personal mission statement, such a statement should answer the question
“who do you want to be and what do what to accomplish” in your life and
professional life.
Habit 3: Put first things first,
Know basically what is most important, in your personal or professional goal
depending on what your working on a life change or a professional project.
It's all about prioritization, if you follow steps one & two you'll have the values to
know clearly know what's first and foremost and what's not.
Time management is life management always put your life priorities first you must
first filter your prioritize though your life goal filter.
The Time Quadrant :
It's all about planning your time where the important tasks in life (Family, Yourself)
are first and the non urgent tasks are addressed in there time that way you will
rarely have urgent tasks that pop up and stress you out.
Also taking 20 mins a day every day and having your spiritual meditation, and also
setting up a weekly schedule ahead of time will give you a better overview of your
week as you start of your week so you have no surprises with the important things in
life that need attention.
As you plan your week follow a formula the categorizes your tasks in an order of
importance as urgent to non urgent and important to not important, as shown in the
diagram on the this page, below.
The first three Habits outlined in section one and two, fall into the paradigms of dependence
category on The 7 Habits diagram as shown here below
Part - Three Public Victory
Habit 4: Think Win / Win
Now by the time you've made it to this level of the 7 Habits the Win/Win is a character
based on your approach to human interactions.
You must first have , Integrity to( stick to you feelings and or decision) second, you must
have the Maturity to( produce and express your ideas and feelings on the subject) and third
you must be have, Mental Abundance to an awareness of the other person's point of view
on the subject, so you can come to a mutual ending where both parties feel they have won
in the deal. And to achieve this you must have a well built “Emotional Bank Account” with
that person it where you have many trust deposits in that account so that person, knows
they can trust you always in your presents and, if your not in there presents, they know
your not changing on them. This is a must in human interaction in any aspect of life there
are six Paradigms of human Interaction, 1. Win / Win , 2. Win/Lose 3. Lose/ Win 4.
Lose/Lose, 5. Win 6. Win/ Win or No deal. These are all alternatives to negotiation seen in
the chart below.
Habit 5: Seek first to understand , then to be Understood,
You must first listen to the person to understand there foundation of there point and there
feelings within that idea. There are four levels to listening 1. Ignoring, 2. Pretending to listen,
3.Attentive Listening 4. Empathic listening , but now most of us stop at the third level of
Attentive listening and this level incomasses A. Evaluating , you first judge then agree or not,
B. Probing you ask questions from you own frame of mind C. Advising based on your own
frame of mind, D. interpreting, from your own frame of mind.
Now you must change your ways of thinking and become an Empathic listener, you remove
your frame of mind as much as you can , because to move to the Win/Win solution to the
problem the other person must feel you understand them.
Habit 6: Synergize,
You are always stronger if you work as a team, to accomplish your end in mind. To synergize
is to value the whole team and it will function and be more productive and the team will be
greater than one sum of its whole part.
So to synergy is the practice of a group functioning as one to “FLOW” and achieving the best
possible results.
Part-4 Renewal
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw .
Yourself, the only habit is a the habit of self preservation and self improvement, you must
always take care of yourself, keep moving forward to self betterment, by 1.Physical exercise,
good nutrition, and proper rest, 2.Social / Emotional, meaningful relationship within your
family and also making social human connections is healthy, 3.Mental continued learning
from all aspects of stimulus visual, thorough printed , video or live action stimulus,
4. Spiritual, Though prayer, reading of scriptures of your choosing, art meditation, Music,
time out in nature and in performing service for others well being.
Again as been stated and summarized the 7 Habits of highly ef ective people are,
In summary;
You, are in control you hold the keys to your life, and success, nobody can put you down if you
don’t allow them too, you control your mind so you yield the power to make it or break it in
your life.
You must build on your own future, always keep the end in mind as you are going thru life
Keeping who you want to be and what you want from life focused . Then forge your path there
always keeping your eye on the ball, the end, or “Meaning” in your life.
Now to best accomplish this in your life stay prioritized in everything you do and always care
for and keep your spiritual life and the things and people you care for first and it will lead you
where you want to be always remember keep that ladder on the right wall as you climb it in
life and you'll end up on the right path. One important thing to remember is to sit down and
write you personal mission statement for your life.
All quotes , graphs and diagrams, quotes and used in this report are from the Franklin Covey
Publications and internet sources.
