Lesson #5: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is the largest selling business book of all time. The greatness of this book is found in its relevance to all aspects of life and its focus on the most critical and fundamental aspect of living: the quality of your relationship to others.

By Stephen Covey

Habit #1: Be Proactive: Being proactive means that you have spent the time to develop your personal mission statement and use it to take responsibility for your life: your attitude and your actions. Proactive people develop the ability to choose their responses and thus, act based on their values rather than their moods and their surrounding conditions.

Habit #2: Begin With The End In Mind: This is about personal leadership – to be able to look at your day and know what your destination is. Effective people know that things are created mentally before they are created physically. They have a mission statement and use it as a frame of reference for making all future decisions.

Habit #3: Put First Things First: This is about personal management which means your ability to organized and prioritize your time and events based on Habit #2. You do what is the most important priority not reacting to what grabs your attention. Studies show that 80 percent of your desired results flow from 20 percent of your “high leverage” activities.

Habit #4: Think Win-Win: This is the habit of interpersonal leadership. Win-Win is the attitude of seeking mutual benefit. Effectiveness in families and business is achieved largely through the cooperative efforts of two or more people. It begins with the commitment to explore all options until a mutually satisfactory solution is reached or to make no deal at all.

Habit #5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood: One of the most important skills in life is the ability to communicate effectively. It is the key to winning relationships and the essence of professionalism. We see the world as we are, not as it is. Our perceptions are based on our experiences. As people interact, they sometimes question the credibility of those who see things differently.

Habit #6: Synergize: This is the habit of creative cooperation and teamwork. Synergy results form valuing differences by bringing different perspectives together in the spirit of mutual respect. People then feel free to seek the best possible alternative, often the 3^rd alternative. Synergy will create a whole that is greater than the sum of its original parts.

Habit #7: Sharpen the Saw: This is the habit of self renewal. Sharpening the saw means having a balanced, systematic program for self renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, mental, social and spiritual. It is the periodic and regular examination of our lives when we can advance our understanding, and refresh our minds so that we can move forward with the goals of our personal mission statement.

“Successful people have the habit of doing the things that failures don’t like to do. They don’t like doing them either, necessarily, but their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.”

“The Common Denominator of Success” by Albert E. Gray