The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

In 1989, Stephen Covey changed the world of self-improvement forever when he published his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This book quickly became an international bestseller and go-to resource for anyone who wanted to improve themselves. From top-tier executives to students, Covey’s book was the book to read.

Over 25 years later, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People remains one of the most referenced books in its genre. It set the tone not only for Covey’s second book but for an entirely new genre of literature. Now, Covey’s work is used not just at work but at home. Whether you want to improve relationships with colleagues, managers or have more fruitful social relationships, Covey bestows serious lessons on his readers. These lessons have more or less withstood the test of time and remain relevant as a solid foundation in interpersonal communication today.

Changing your habits can change not only the way you see the world but the way the world sees you. You can use the lessons in Covey’s book to help you:

• ·         Taking control of your life
• ·         Making not just better decisions but smarter, strategic ones
• ·         Managing and improving your relationships with family and friends
• ·         Overcome bad habits
• ·         Boost your productivity
• ·         Find a healthy work/life balance
• ·         Be your happiest self

These following seven habits are all synergistic and each of them complements each other in different ways. Thinking about developing these habits becomes easier when you consider them to be a part of two major habits: taking action and organized planning.

Habit 1. When you develop habit 1, you are committing to taking action by being proactive about your life. When you begin to take responsibility for your life and how you experience it, you are making both a physical and mental choice to regain control over your experience.

Habit 2. You learn to define your goals and your mission in life. This is an integral part of the planning process because you cannot create a set of directions if you do not have a final destination in mind.

Habit 3. When you choose to prioritize the actions that help further your goals, you are taking decisive actions. Habit 3 helps support habit 1 because while it is important to be proactive, it is equally important to act upon the things that will help get you there.

Habit 4. When you learn to think in terms of a “win-win” scenario, you learn to plan for several possibilities. Committing to a “win-win” decision is important because it helps everyone on the team feel valued. Learning to prioritize the health of the team over the health of the individual takes serious planning, compromise and flexibility.

Habit 5. Learning to listen first may not sound like you are taking action. However, active listening is one of the most important active choices that you can make. Active listening sets you up not only for further planning but also for further action. It cuts out redundancies and makes your team feel valued. It is astonishing what kind of difference you can make when you choose to listen to those around you.

Habit 6. Working on your team’s synergy is the ultimate way to take action in a group. It is important to remember that you cannot throw together a bunch of string instruments to create an orchestra. If the players do not have synergy, they are just people who happen to be playing complementary sheet music. When you reach that synergy, you are more likely to reach greatness.

Habit 7. Habit 7 is all about taking action to protect yourself. Making conscious choices to care for yourself will help you make conscious choices to care for others.