7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey is a business and self-help book. It is a book about YOU! Help give direction to your life with many simple ways to make changes to navigate life and make it what you want it to be.
We see the world based on our perceptions and assumptions and can enormously hinder personal success.
Offering guidance on how to live life, and make your personal and professional life more effective. We all want to succeed and be successful, but identifying habits can help on the journey to success.
How do the seven habits help you?
We’re in charge of our lives and we choose the route which it takes.
People generally fall into two categories in life. Reactive or proactive
Reactive passive stance “There’s nothing I can do.”
Proactive making things happen”I control my destiny.”
Put simply, in order to be effective one must become proactive and take control of a situation.
Be proactive and take responsibility for the choices, constantly move forward, and keep looking to the future.
The Seven Habits
The seven habits are broken into three main categories of change and growth.
Moving you through three distinct phases from
Dependence – Independence – Interdependence.
- Habits 1, 2, and 3 self-mastery and moving from dependence to independence.
- Habits 4, 5, and 6 develop teamwork skills, collaboration, and effective communication and listening skills. Moving from independence to interdependence.
- Habit 7 continuous improvement and growth.
7 Habits of highly effective people’s main aim is to be Proactive: Make things happen and take charge of your life.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Be Proactive – Focus on what you can control
Take responsibility.
- Circle of concern (Reactive) – Things out of your control.
- Circle of influence (proactive) – Focus on things you can control
Begin with the end in mind
Map and life goals. Have a vision for how you want your future to be and align your actions. What do you value the most?
What do you want in life? Where do you want to be in 5/10/15 years’ time?
The personal mission statement on what you really want and your passions. Why? Dream big, and don’t hold yourself back with self-doubt. “You write the script for your life.”
First Things First
Make your vision a reality. At the moment, now what is the most important thing? Focus on things that really matter not trivial time-wasting stuff.
Classify things by urgency and importance (The Eisenhower Decision Matrix) and help with time management.
Focus on what is important to you and make it a priority. These steps are about becoming independent and self-mastery.
Think Win Win
Be fair, focus on cooperation, and build strong positive relationships in the whole process. Success should not be at the expense of the success of others.
Mutual benefits are key make sure they are acceptable to all parties rather than the benefit of one.
Seek first to understand, then to be understood
Listen…
Most people don’t listen with the intent to understand, but we listen with the intent to reply. Empathetic listening.
Don’t jump in with a solution, as this is a mistake. Take the time to listen to others, and only then make your evaluated recommendations.
Synergy
Value everyone’s differences and increase strength.
The contributions of many in a team will far exceed those of just an individual. This can help achieve goals you could never obtain alone.
Individuals can work together to make something even better.
Sharpen the Saw
Invest in yourself continuously improving. Don’t work yourself to death.
Physical – Exercise and body nourishment.
Spiritual – Who am i? Where am I going? Meditation, mindfulness
Cognitive Health – Learn, Education
Social Health – Relationships, family and friends.
How do you become a highly effective person?
7 Habits of Highly Effective People identifies that time is your most valuable asset we must learn to prioritise. There will always be more to do not become overwhelmed and try and do everything.
The key is not to prioritise your schedule but to schedule your priorities. We spend too much of our time doing things that are not important. Learn to focus on the most important tasks (MIT). Start your day your morning routine with your most important task, increase productivity and overcome procrastination.
Checking email and social media numerous times a day is a distraction from important tasks. Huge time waster.
Write things down as we all like to think we can remember many things, but it can be exhausting.
Prioritise the most important tasks by implementing the 80/20 principle (Pareto Principle or 80 / 20 Rule) 80% of results come from 20% actions. Pareto chart.
Learn to listen and really connect to another person by deep listening and really hearing what they are saying.
Time blocking is a great way to organise tasks.
Delegation gets more done. Learn to say NO or delegate don’t get overwhelmed by tasks.
Enjoy reading 7 Habits of Highly Effective People