The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by stephen r. cover

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, so risky I took on board this book and now I'm so square I hurt myself, but did it with style. Common sense stuff find your own happy place, take what works for you leave out what doesn't, just appreciate Covey's work for what it is, as it is.

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l34str0

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

An okay book if you don't know how to manage your life it's probably really helpful but if you've thought about how to make yourself more productive or effective a lot of it's intuitive. Also like a lot of these books can only tell you things you have to make the changes yourself which is always the hard part so. This one was better written than most which I appreciate.

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Roka_Shibasaki

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

Ever since I worked at the bookstore at Virginia Tech, I would watch the douchebag* business major undergrads buy this book for their classes and look down upon them, and the book by association, as, well, douchebags.

*This is not to say that all undergrad business majors are douchebags. I've met one really really awesome one. Additionally, after working at a major university bookstore, a majority of all undergrad students can be fairly classified as douchebags. Jebus.

Consequently, I never picked up this book. I hated the people who were reading it for class. I hated the people who were assigning it for their classes. I hated my job and I hated the area that I was living in. (I was, yes indeedy, a hater)

Obviously it wasn't the right time for me to read it.

My current boss (who is only occasionally a douchebag) is doing this huge self-help/life plan program, and from it, there is a major reading list. As I am a wee bit addicted to books, I immediately agreed, and when I started searching on Amazon for the reading list, "7 Habits" appeared on pretty much every single page. So I picked that one up too.

Excellent decision. I chose to read it first. It has taken me, probably three weeks to read it. I have ordered (with my boss' blessing) "The 8th Habit" and will read that shortly.

Every single page I found something that made me put the book down for a couple of minutes and think about it. I already know that I'm going to have to re-read this at some point in the near future. I would say this is required reading for humanity, but my father would have been the exception to that rule.

Basically, this book will teach you about effective ways to be a compassionate, kind, enjoyable human being. It will teach you about personal responsibility (personal as in to your self, and to others). It will teach you how to be a better parent, employee, spouse, daughter, or boss.

I can't give it enough praise. It is a truly outstanding book.

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CJ_hope

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

I'm not able to rate this fairly as a reader coming to it in 2017. This was one of the first "personal development" books, and the other 4 thousand books I've read on the topic all borrow from it heavily. The thing is, they borrow from it, and then make it better in every way: more interesting, more relevant, better writing, more concise writing, better anecdotes and examples.

This is a classic, but I don't recommend reading it.

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KageShinigami22

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

The Seven Habits is a million dollar worth book which sow the seeds of effectiveness in the reader’s mind. The seeds grow large as the reader proceeds reading. The main message of the book is the 7 habits which every highly effective people possessed.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit.”

Habit 1- Be Proactive

Being proactive means recognizing our responsibilities to make things happen. This habit tells us to do whatever is necessary and consistent with correct principles. Work on the things which are in our influence to extend the circle of influence and spend less energy on the center of concern.

Habit 2- Begin with the End in Mind

Begin with the end in mind means to know where we are going so as to understand where we are now, and take our next step in the right direction. The best way to start is to develop a personal statement which describes what we want to be(character) and to do(achievement). Everybody wants to center his life on correct principles because principles don’t change. We can depend on them.

Habit 3- Put First Things First

This habit involves self-leadership and self-management: putting first things first. Leadership decides what the ‘first things’ are, and management is the discipline of carrying out your program.

“We don’t manage time. We can only manage ourselves.”

According to quadrant rule, do things first which are urgent and important, then the things which are important but not urgent. After that things which are urgent but not important, and then all other things which are neither urgent nor important.

Habit 4- Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

Listen is the most important tool for this habit. Listen but not with intent to reply or to convince. Listen to simply understand, to see how the other party sees things. Empathy is the skill need to develop for this habit.

“Empathic listening is with the ears, eyes and heart- for feeling, for measuring.”

Habit 5- Think Win/Win

Think win/win habit entrails making an important deposit in another person’s Emotional Bank Account: finding a way both of us can benefit by our interaction. All the other possibilities- win/lose, lose/win, lose/lose- are ineffective either in short term or long term.

Habit 6- Synergize

The exercise for all other habits prepares us for the habit of synergy. Properly understood, it is the highest activity of life. Through it, we create new, untapped alternatives- things that didn’t yet exist. We unleash people’s greatest powers. We make a whole greater than sum of its parts. The basis of synergy is that two people can disagree, and both can be right. It’s not logical. It’s psychological.

Habit 7- Sharpen the Saw

To sharpen the saw means renewing ourselves, in all the four dimensions of our nature:

·tPhysical- exercise, nutrition, stress management;

·tMental- reading, visualizing, planning, writing;

·tSocial/Emotional- service, empathy, synergy, security;

·tSpiritual- spiritual reading, study, meditation;

To exercise in all these necessary dimensions, we must be proactive. No one can do it for us. It’s a quadrant IV activity.

“To become strong, renew the spirit.”

Conclusion

The first three habits take us towards “private victory” - the journey from dependence to independence by taking responsibility for our lives. Next three habits lead us towards “public victory” to the path of interdependent to succeed with other people. The seventh habit allows us renewing ourselves in mind, body and spirit.

I would like to recommend this book to all those people who want to live their life fully, amazing and joyful.

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whitenessyz

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

Not a book I would have gotten myself... But as a rule, I will read all books I receive as gifts. It is one of them.

I found myself agreeing with all key messages and intended takeaways. Some of them are so well ingrained into common sense and ‘business speak’ that all seven principles are well familiar without reading a book. I guess back in 1989 it was coming across much punchier.

While agreeing with the key messages, I doubt I will recommend this read to others. It comes across quite ‘preachy’, full of awkward, clearly made-up anecdotes and dialogue. It also definitely feels like a book from another age... (in bad sense of it)

I am glad I had a chance to read it. It has almost a cult status. Everyone at least heard of this book. But I am not getting converted into Covey fan club thats for certain.

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koraszan

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

Re-reading an old favorite.

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thestarsailor

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

Inspirational, developmental, and practical -- what a combination! The principles of behavior covered in this groundbreaking and long-respected book are of great worth to anyone seeking success in career, family, or any other aspect of their life. Covey discusses first the actions we must take (or habits we must develop) internally first - getting our heads and hearts right first. These include being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, and putting first things first. These constitute the "private victory." He then moves on to the "public victory," that is, the things that we can do that involve other people, and not just our own internal battles and development. These include, thinking win/win, seeking first to understand and then to be understood, and achieving synergy with others. Finally, he addresses the truth that we won't always be energetic and at our best in his discussion of personal renewal. Key to that is the idea of sharpening the saw...that is, we can only be at the top of our game for so long before we need to re-energize. Any serious athlete understands that principle.

Outstanding book, especially when linked with his expanded discussion of Habit 3, putting first things first, in the book by the same title. Another excellent complement to this book is "Crucial Conversations."

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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

stephen r. cover

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