An outstanding book that leads you to the different dimensions of positivity. The author has suggested some fundamental psychological facts about our life. All seven habits suggest in the book is really awesome. If you will follow all these minutely then surely you will end up your life with a big name and fame.

If only humans were robots...
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If you were a paraplegic who had just fallen from an 11-story-building, and the by-standers shot you with automatic rifes and blew you with 100 grenades, leaving you behind as an amorphous mixture of blood and flesh. You would not have to worry. You are not your cirumstances.n

The author, Stephen R. Covey, passed away in July this year. Rest in peace. He left a positive mark and this needs to be appreciated.

Now to the book...

I bought it about 2 years ago, but never bothered reading it. It had a self-help look and feel about it which prevented me. In retrospect, I could have walked out of the bookstore without it, but fate had its way. And so it did last week, when a teacher of mine talked about this book and praised it. Oh yes he did. His opinion was that it was literally life altering. I thought, I already had the book, why not give it a read? You know, maybe it'll make me smarter, and a better person.

The thesis is clear from the get-go. The author realized that most of the self-help books focused on secondary problems so his intention was to focus on the effective practices which were fundamental in human nature. The real thesis? A self-help book that will vilify all the existing self-help books and then triumphantly walk as the 'true', read:self-help, book.

Make no mistake, every grain of this book is reaking of the generic self-help ideas. From the start the author berates self-help books as having 'platitudes', and by the 3rd habit chapter, I had enough of THIS book's platitudes.

It breeds in you your superirity, your ego. Your wife doesn't want to have sex with you, you choose to accept have sex with her. Your boss doesn't call you in the evening, you choose to go for the betterment of the business you work at. It wants you to become that ultimate prick.

I have read sentences in this book that made me vomit! The all-encompassing, all-positive, all-self-help-vocabulary-I-can-use-in-one-sentence kind of sentences.

Coming back to the opening of this review. The book doesn't make a room for humanness. On one hand, it wants you to live a life of your priorities, but then it tells you that don't get carried away with feelings, emotions or circumstances. The book kept quoting Viktor Frankl, which was very frustrating because life is not Frankl's concentration camp.

I am not perfect, I am probably not a leader. But at least I enjoy life at its fullest, I love all moments, I enjoy rain, I take walks just for the hell of it, I read stupid books just to feel superior. I regurgitate bullshit for conversations... I am a human and this book was definitely not for me.

n  n
n  I would like to make clear that David Hasselhoff's appearance in this review should in no way be deemed to imply that I endorse or support his career in any way whatsoever.Thank you for your understanding.n

FIVE "PRACTICAL" HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

First, a few comments on the seven so-called “habits” identified in the book, namely:

1.Be proactive,
2.Begin with the End in Mind,
3. Put First Things First,
4. Think Win-Win,
5. Seek First to Understand, then to be understood,
6. Synergize, and
7. Sharpen the Saw

In a word…..crap!!
In several words, what a giant, steaming pile of new-age, masturbatory, corp-lingo, platitude spewing bullshit.

Think Win-Win…are you kidding me with this Jim Jones Kool-aid party chant?

Synergize….just hearing that word makes me throw up in my mouth.

Sharpen the saw….exactly…reading that phrase makes me literally want to sharpen the saw and slice a hate filled path through the contents of this book.

This book is like a giant fortune cookie full of sounds good but says nothing. My advice: rather than read this book, go get a six pack or a bottle of wine, grab some China Mieville or Dan Simmons and find a nice comfy tree to sit under while you read something that might actually expand your mind.

Now I certainly don't have any foolproof answers or magic exercises that will help you bring out the "inner-winner" inside you. However, I did come up five pracical (and hopefully a little humorous) habits that have proven to be pretty effective at making people successful in their chosen field (tongue planted firmly in cheek).

1. EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICAL SCIENCE TO BECOME THE BEST YOU CAN BE

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2. BE BOLD, BE DARING AND DELIVER TO THE MARKETPLACE THE NEXT BIG THING

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3. DON’T BE AFRAID TO USE THE FORCE TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOAL

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4. GET IN GOOD WITH THE GERMANS

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5. BE RUTHLESS PROACTIVE IN DEALING WITH THE COMPETITION

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THE END.....n  n

Tikėjausi daugiau. Tam neturėjau jokio pagrindo, tik tai, kad šią knygą man rekomendavo žmogus kuriuo žaviuosi. Na, bent žavėjausi.

Nors autorius neklysta, kad šių principų pritaikymas gali pagerinti žmogaus gyvenimą, man buvo apverktinai nuobodu. Akys bėgo per tekstą, tikėdamosi užkibti už įdomesnio žodžio ar idėjos. Galiausiai pasidaviau knygos neperskaičius—niekas nekibo.

Patarimai, į gyvenimą žiūrint supaprastintai, gali būti naudingi. Prisiimk atsakomybę už savo gyvenimą (nebūk aplinkybių auka), turėk tikslą, dėl ko darai dalykus, tą tikslą prioritetizuok, ir stenkis, kad būtų gerai ne tik tau, bet ir kitiems. Nusižiovaujau rašydama. Šie principai nėra beverčiai, jų laikymasis, manau, padėtų kai kuriems žmonėms. Tačiau man tai skamba kaip savaime suprantami dalykai.

Principles
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is one of those seminal pieces of work that everyone should read. It is not a business book, it is not a marriage help book, it is not a parenting book and it is not a friendship book. It is a book about YOU, in a holistic context. It is about provoking you to examine your core defining traits; personality, character, principles and ethics. In other words, it is NOT a quick self-help book it is about instilling fundamental habits, 7 to be exact. These habits take us from our base level of being a dependent person, as in childhood, through Independence, as in adulthood, to Interdependence, as a contributing member of society and family. They are defined as:

1.tBe Proactive
2.tBegin with the End in Mind
3.tPut First Things First
4.tThink Win-Win
5.tSeek First to Understand Then to be Understood
6.tSynergise
7.tSharpen the Saw – Continuous Improvement

The principles are as sound today, as they were when Stephen Covey initially wrote them thirty years ago. They have always been core to personal attainment and effectiveness, and the world would be a better place if we all lived by these habits. The language is getting dated and some of it has been so widely used, and misused, that it’s a bit awkward in today’s vocabulary. Nevertheless to contemplate these values and commit to them, is literally life-changing.

I would say 5 stars for the impact this book has had, and 4 stars for the language being a bit aged. 4.5 stars would be about right.

قبل از اینکه بخونم فکر میکردم جزو کتابهای زرد موفقیت هست. سه دقیقه تا خوشبختی. یک دقیقه تا پولداری و اینا.
اما زرد نبود اصلا خوب بود :)

Filled with great thoughts and wonderful life skills, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is at once enjoyable and informative, well-written and easily read, and has plenty of food for thought. The charts and such were very helpful, too. The naysayers below have no clue about the subject of which they're blabbering about.

EDIT: I didn't remember that this book talks about how focusing on pleasure, friends, or enemies can ruin your life; that's what I've been doing for quite a while, so, I need to focus on what's truly important. I never would have realized that if I hadn't reread this book.

Not bad. Certainly better, if you know what a shit most of the self help books are.

عندي مشكلة جوهرية مع الكتب المتخصصة بتطوير الذات لا سيما هذا الكتاب، وهي أنها وضعت بالدرجة الرئيسية لمخاطبة القارئ الغربي. فهي تعالج في وصفاتها المشكلات المرتبطة بواقعه الحياتي الرازح تحت وطأة الرأسمالية المتوحشة وإيقاعها المتسارع وطابعها التنافسي الحاد وما ينتج عنها من اختلال في الحياة الاجتماعية والنفسية للفرد. ثم إن الغربي يمتلك فرصاً متساوية مع أقرانه للإبداع، لا ينقصه إذاً سوى المنهج العلمي الذي يساعده لتطوير ذاته وتحسين فرصه التنافسية. أما الفرد العربي فمشاكله من نوع آخر تماماً. الفرد العربي بحاجة لما يساعده على الخروج من واقع مجتمعه المتخلف وتأثيراته النفسية العميقة عليه، فهو بعبارة أخرى واستناداً على الفكرة الرئيسية التي انطلق منها كوڤي في كتابه حول ضرورة التطوير "من الداخل الى الخارج"، يمكننا القول أن الفرد العربي يحتاج لمن يعطيه منشاراً قبل أن يعلمه كيف يشحذه.

I started this book a long time ago and never got to finish it. Because at some point, I realised that there is no such thing as "perfection". There is no "highly effective people". There is "us"; and "us" cannot be “perfect”; the two words don’t belong to the same category. Ever. All we have to do is to accept what we are now and then just try, not hard but smart enough, to be the best version of ourselves. If there are flaws, let it be & don't overreact nor overthink for the mistakes you've made. (Just don’t make the same mistake over & over again! Learn from the damn thing and move on!)

So:
Have a plan. Stick to it. Try to be better each day just a little bit more than the day before. Or just keep the consistency; that’ll also do it. Be patient. Take a good care of your health. And that's it! That's all! Life is no perfect. Neither are the beings. Get over it! It hurts because it's real, but is worth accepting.

So in short: stick to the plan; throw these nonsense books away; And someday you yourself will be the most effective person of your life. Perfection my ass!

1. Join Mormon church
2. Read self help books
3. Create own self help book
4. Go on speaking tours
5. Get on television
6. Repeat crap from book
7. Sit back and enjoy the money rolling in

An inspiring book!
Boring at first but gets your attention after all

I think I might read it again in the near future just to make sure I understood everything :D

4/5