The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Summary (7/10)

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a classic by Stephan Covey that offers insights into productivity, teamwork, and self-management. Few books I can think of truly has the capacity to transform people the way this book does, not only because of the value of the ideas themselves, but because of the style in which Covey expresses them. He uses unpretentious, easily digestible language, and gives plenty of real-life examples that help cement these ideas in your memory.

Here is a summary of each of the 7 habits.

Habit 1: Be Proactive

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.Henry David Thoreau

Unless we think about how we see ourselves and others, we won’t understand how others see and feel about themselves and the world. The alternative is to project our intentions on their behavior and think we are being objective.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within usOliver Wendell Holme

Start with an understanding of your destination. To know where you want to go, you need to know where you are.

Habit 3: Putting First Things First

Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter leastGoethe

Management is different from leadership. Leadership is mostly a high-powered, right-brain activity. It is an art and is based on a philosophy. You have to ask yourself broad questions about life to deal with personal leadership issues. Without being in the right jungle, managing well doesn’t matter. But if you are in the jungle, left-brain management is critical for effectiveness.

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

Covey met with a manager of a company who was trying to get his employees to work harder. The manager knew that he could get more out of them they if they co-operated. He created a monthly challenge, the winner of which would earn a trip to Bermuda. But Covey noted that this incentive scheme would only result in competition, not cooperation. In other words, it was not win-win.

Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood

Covey met with a manager of a company who was trying to get his employees to work harder. The manager knew that he could get more out of them they if they co-operated. He created a monthly challenge, the winner of which would earn a trip to Bermuda. But Covey noted that this incentive scheme would only result in competition, not cooperation. In other words, it was not win-win.

Habit 6: Synergy

Synergy happens when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. A man and a woman can create a child, a programmer and marketer can create a company, and basketball players can create a winning team through synergy.

The problem is that life experiences teach us to have an aversion to synergy. A negative experience in the past will erode our trust in people, and we lose our spirit of adventure. Or we can only recall brief moments of synergy in our lives, and these occurred in emergency situations, or while we were playing a sport, but this synergy was never consistent enough for us to depend on it.

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things…. I am tempted to think…there are no little things.Bruce Barton

You will inevitably be caught up in a routine, and of course, this will be necessary for any progress to be made. But there is a danger in falling too deeply in love with this repetitive flow. Covey advises us to systematically remove ourselves from our work, and to replenish the parts of us that are most vital. He identifies three parts: body, spirit, mind.

If you’re an entrepreneur and you want a quick guide to know what to think about before launching you business, check out The Myth of Entrepreneurship.

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Related posts:

1. Habit 6: Synergy (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)
2. Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)
3. A Mind for Numbers – Quick Summary
4. 10% Happier Summary (7/10)