Written by Stephen R. Covey, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” was first published in 1989 and it was one of the most successful self-help books. This book talks about seven habits that can make your success possible both in business and in life. The advice that is mentioned in this book is simple yet powerful and effective. Many call this book the epitome of self-help books.
Covey says that to achieve success in every step of life we all need to make changes at a considerable level, and it requires total internal reform and not just superficial change. This advice is accurate in today’s world because people today are looking for quick success instead of some magic juice or mojo instead of doing hard work.
When people read this book, they realize that they are not even performing 50% of what they can do, and that’s what makes this book a bestseller. Before getting into the summary of the book let’s have a look on a brief about the author Stephen R. Covey.
A brief About the Author- Stephen R Covey
Stephen Richards Covey was recognized for his non-fiction writings. He was originally from America and he spent all his life there. He was a very well-known businessman, as well as public speaker and an educator who taught people about how to become successful and how to achieve their goals. Most of the people know him for one of the best self-help books he wrote that is titled as “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”.
Born on October 24, 1932, he was brought up in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is said that his forefathers were part of significant developments in American societies. He loved sports and athletics, but unfortunately, he developed a hip disorder. This unfortunate event forced him to shift his interest in academics from games.
But he took it as a challenge, and he turned into one of the best participants in the school debates. He also managed to graduate from high school early. From the University of Utah, he achieved a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, and after that, he did his MBA from Harvard University.
He then shifted his focus from business to religion and did doctoral studies in religion. After that, he became a proud receiver of ten honorary doctorates awards. One of the most prestigious awards among these was known as a “Doctor of Religious Education (DRE)” which was awarded to him by Brigham Young University.
After completing his education he started his career as a teacher at Brigham Young University. He lived in Provo, Utah with his family after he got married. He was an active member of the “Church of Jesus Christ” in England. When he was serving the English church, he wrote several spiritual works that included ”Spiritual Roots of Human Relations (1970)”.
In 1980 he started to work on different self-help books. “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” that was launched in 1989 received immense popularity. More than 20 million copies of this book were sold across the globe.
In 2004, this book was again published with the title The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. He also established the “Covey leadership center” to help people. In 2012 he met with a tragic bicycling accident and succumbed to injuries on July 16.
Summary of the Book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
If you are wondering whether reading this book will help you or not, then here is the summary of the book.
Chapter-1 Be Proactive
This chapter of the book is all about understanding your responsibilities and performing them as well. Covey, this chapter tells you about being proactive instead of being reactive. He asks you to see through reality and not at the false mirror image. When you make this change, Covey says you will stop blaming your circumstances and situations for unfortunate events in your life instead you will set up your goal and take charge of the events that are occurring in your life.
Here are a few essential points that Covey talks about in this chapter:
- Don’t be reactive instead be active. Stop complaining about things that don’t come within your circle of influence instead work on those things that fall within your circle of influence.
- You must have a growth mindset, which means that you must not think that everything is predetermined.
- He asks you to be responsible and make your own decisions in different situations.
- The feelings shouldn’t govern you. Instead, you must know how to control your mood.
- Don’t blame others for unfortunate events instead accept your mistakes and correct them.
- You must use proactive language.
Chapter-2- Begin With the End in Mind
Having an end mind means knowing your final goal. It means that you know the result of the outcomes you desire to achieve. In simple words, you know what you want to become in professional and personal life. He says that when you know what you are aiming at, you will ensure to take necessary measures, guidance, and other steps to make your dream come through.
He says if you know the destination, you will move in the right direction. He also talks about the principles that you should be governed with for sure success in life. He says that if you apply these principles in your life like morals, then no one can stop yours from becoming successful.
The few main points that Covey says in this chapter are:
- Instead of running away from your responsibilities, identify the different roles that you play in your life. It can be the role of a husband, father or a doctor. To keep up in each position, you should define short and long term goals and act upon achieving them.
- You must define the essential principles in your life.
- You must start visualizing your goals.
Chapter-3- Put First Things First:
In this chapter of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he talks about prioritizing everything in your life. He says that if you don’t prioritize then everything in the living will go to waste, and you will reach nowhere. So after setting your destination, all you have to do is prioritize your steps to reach your destination. Once you have made your strategy to reach out to your goals and start to perform them, no one can stop you from attaining your goals. He also asks you to learn to differentiate between desires and needs, to achieve your goals, you will have to put your desires aside. Only strict discipline will help you reach you where your final destination is.
The essential point to learn in this chapter are:
- Make sure to plan your daily, weekly and monthly schedule.
- Start saying no to unimportant things.
- Start training people to reduce their workload.
- Identify what is important to you using the Eisenhower Matrix.
Chapter-4- Think Win-Win
Here he talks about this chapter creating interdependent relationships with people around you. These relationships should be beneficial to both parties. According to him, we all need the support of different people to reach our goals. If two people want to achieve the same destination, then the entire journey becomes easy. He asks you to negotiate with others so that they agree with you and to do so you will have to think about their benefits too. If you only think about yourself, no one will take an interest in what you say. Therefore come up with something that makes both parties happy and satisfied.
Here are the essential points from this chapter:
- In the long term, you must not keep the attitude of doing things in the last as it is not healthy.
- When you think to win/win, then you can bring the solutions that are great for both the parties.
- You should have an abundance mentality and not a scarcity mentality.
- You should set the goals for your team members instead of micr0 managing them as a manager. It helps you accomplish more substantial groups.
Chapter-5- Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
If you want to become successful in your career and life, then one of the most important things is to understand others. You need to be a good listener if you want others to listen to you. For a few people, this is the most challenging step. They do have many complaints about how others ignore them, but at the same time, they do the same with those people. You will find out that even many leaders in the world lack this habit, and this is what stops your growth. Only when you will hear out your team members, family and friends will you be able to understand what they want and what you can adopt from them.
An important lesson to learn from this chapter is:
- Learn that communication skill is of utmost importance in life.
- Become a good listener and hear people without any interruption.
- Understand the needs of the people around you.
- Don’t phrase your sentences like “I would not have done it like this”.
- If you will not understand what the other people are saying you cannot create a win-win situation.
Chapter-6- Synergize
When you start synergizing yourself, you stand on the same side with your team, and instead of playing the blame game, you will begin to work on the solutions of all the problems that you may face. This strategy helps you to build new opportunities. It also helps you to make alternatives.
The three main points of this chapter are:
- You must learn to embrace different opinions.
- It is not possible to synergize with people who have the same opinions.
- You must understand the counterpart to synergize.
Chapter-7- Sharpen the Saw
Life is not easy, and it can bring good, bad and worst times. It can make everything in your life difficult. Your job and relationship can leave you frustrated and make everything complicated, as well. Thus he says that you must rejuvenate yourself. He asks you to do so because this will help you in enhancing your performance in both personal and professional aspects of your life.
To do so, you will have to take care of your body. You will have to eat healthy food, take out time for exercise and even take sufficient rest. He talks about three dimensions that you must take care of to keep you mental and physical health in good shape. These dimensions are:
- The most important investment in life is that you do it for yourself.
- Spiritual dimension: spiritual dimension means that you must take out time for meditation. You should spend time with nature and communicate with it.
- Mental dimension: It is all about relaxing your mind, to do so you can read a book and note down your experiences in your diary.
- Social dimension: This is where he asks you to help others and be a part of community services. Helping others is satisfying, and it generates happy hormones as well.
My Honest Review of the Book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”
This book is unique to me because I like how simply the writer has explained all the seven habits. These habits touch all the aspects of our life and can make a significant change. If you read the book, you will be able to improve all the elements of the experience, whether it is a relationship, finance or anything else.
Book has made it very easy to understand every habit step by step, and it also helps by explaining how to adapt these habits. It is very easy to learn and adapt to the suggestions of Covey. If you follow the book like a bible, you will be able to become a better version of yourself.
Why should you read the book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”? What is the Hype?
The book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” is one of the best self-help books published to date and it tells you about the seven best habits to practice if you want to become successful. The patterns that Covey talks about are the principles that are governed by natural laws, and that leads us to success and happiness. If you want to become successful in life and not just a career, then this book is of utmost importance for you.
If you lack in any aspect of life and that is stopping your success, then this book will make your struggle easy. It helps you understand your flaws and mistakes and helps you in performing well in life. This book can change your overall personality and make you a better human being.
- This book talks about mastering seven habits of effectiveness that will ensure your success.
- It is easy to read and understand.
- The habits mentioned in the book could be difficult to practice but not impossible.
- The success of this book itself says that it has benefited millions of people to attain their goals.
- This book can change your life forever if you follow it like a bible.
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Final Words: 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People 2024
These are the seven habits that were mentioned by Covey that can change your life. If you want to attain success, then the book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Covey is a must-read. It will help you change in all ways and will make every aspect of life prosper.
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