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Edition:	Free Press (Paperback)
Author:	Stephen Covey
Published:	November 2004
Pages:	384
ISBN 10:	0743269519
New:	$7.48 (108)
Used:	$3.75 (404)
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Overview

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People presents an inside-out approach to effectiveness that is centered on principles and character. Inside-out means that change begins within oneself. For many people, this approach represents a paradigm shift away from the Personality Ethic and toward the Character Ethic.

Book Summary

This international bestseller by Stephen Covey, explains the framework for personal effectiveness.

Inside-Out: The Change Starts from Within

Stephen Covey realized that since the 1920’s, books about success, and the tactical advice offered within them, focused on solutions to specific problems—effective only for immediate issues—as opposed to addressing long-term, root problems.

During the last half of the 19th century, self-help books largely attributed success to personality traits, skills, techniques, and maintaining a positive attitude, and were referred to as the philosophy of Personality Ethic. Approximately 150 years later, the literature about achievement emphasized the deeper principles and foundations of success: integrity, courage, justice, and patience, to name a few of the virtues. This philosophy is known as the Character Ethic.

The elements of the Character Ethic are primary traits while those of the Personality Ethic are secondary. For example, you may have excellent secondary skills in map reading and navigation, but will never find your destination if you are using the wrong map. In this example, getting the right map is a necessary primary element before your secondary skills can be used effectively.

The problem with relying on the Personality Ethic is that unless the basic underlying paradigms are right, simply changing outward behavior is not effective. More often, we see things not as they are in reality, but as we perceive them to be, based on our own conditioning. It is necessary to understand the importance of overcoming our individual conditioning so we can see things the way they actually are.

The Character Ethic presupposes that there are some absolute principles that exist in all human beings. These basic principles are: fairness, honesty, integrity, human dignity, quality, potential, and growth. Principles contrast with practices in that practices are for specific situations whereas principles have universal application.

The Seven Habits - An Overview

Our character is made up of our habits. Habits consist of knowledge, skill, and desire and play a powerful role in our lives. Knowledge allows us to know what to do, skill gives us the ability to know how to do it, and desire is the motivation to do it.

The seven habits move us through the stages of dependence, independence, and interdependence. To become interdependent, one must be independent first, since dependent people have not yet developed the character for interdependence.

• Habit 1: Be Proactive
• Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
• Habit 3: Put First Things First
• Habit 4: Think Win/Win
• Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
• Habit 6: Synergize
• Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

The first three habits focus on self-mastery that will allow one to move from dependence to independence. Habits 4, 5 and 6 address interdependence; and finally, the 7th habit addresses the continuous improvement of one’s capability to produce.

Habit 1: Be Proactive

To Be Proactive is to have the gift of self-knowledge or self-awareness - the ability to choose your own response. A proactive person is driven by values that are independent of other people’s reactions or responses. We can choose to use difficult situations to build our character and develop the ability to handle such situations better in the future.

Being proactive means assessing the situation and developing a positive response to it.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Begin with the End in Mind is a gift of imagination and conscience and occurs when you prioritize and plan with The End in mind. The End represents the purpose or driving force in your life. To engage in this habit you need to have a dream. By defining your own vision, and setting goals, measurable progress towards the fulfillment of your dream can occur.

When employing imagination and conscience—two unique human capacities—difficult situations can be alleviated. By using imagination and conscience, you don’t rely on memory. If you rely on memory or history, chances are you will lose your cool, make judgments regarding other people, and will probably exacerbate the situation.

Habit 3: Put First Things First

Put First Things First is the gift of will power. It is a life of advantage and influence.

To really understand and apply this habit, you need to spend time doing what fits into your personal mission, observing the proper balance between production and building production capacity. Identify the key roles that you take on in life, and make time for each of them. allen love gerald666

Habit 4: Think Win/Win

To Think Win/Win is an attitude of mind. It concerns bringing an attitude to the table that is committed to always finding solutions that will truly benefit both sides of a dispute. This idea is not based upon compromise—which is where most disputes naturally end. Compromise is the result of not perceiving the possible synergy of the situation properly.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood is the natural quality of courage balanced with consideration. It is the most important principle of interpersonal relations. Effective listening is the key to this habit and requires you to focus on the other person’s viewpoint no matter how it may differ from your own. The ability to listen first requires restraint, respect, and reverence. By truly listening to the other side, and being committed to understanding what is being said, one can find a better pathway or solution that benefits both parties. This approach requires the ability to make yourself understood, through courage and consideration.

Habit 6: Synergize

Synergize is the natural quality of creativity, the creation of something. You understand basic underlying needs, and interests, and find synergized solutions.

Finding a synergistic solution means finding a much better solution than either party might first propose. This synergistic solution can only be found if both parties truly understand each other’s position. By having a positive, can-do attitude, listening and understanding what the other party feels or wants, then communicating to that party in their own way of thinking, you can usually get a better solution. This is the fruit of habits 4 and 5.

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Sharpen the Saw is the unique qualities of continuous improvement or self-renewal to overcome entropy. If you don't constantly improve and develop yourself, you'll fall into entropy, closing off inspiration and creativity, and welcoming stagnation. By continuously renewing, improving, innovating, and refining, one stays in step with the world and profits by it.