Book Review : THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

 Book review

Title                       :               THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

Author                  :               Stephen R. Covey

Date                      :               August 15, 1989

Publisher             :               Free Press

Country                :               USA

Introduction

                The book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People aims at teaching powerful lessons in personal change. It develops personal leadership in the reader and improves personal effectiveness. It is useful for personal lives and organisations at the same time. It focuses on character ethics and parfocality ethics as the indicators of human success. The principles discussed in this book are universal and can be applied to every aspect of life. The book also emphasizes on our paradigm of life, society and events.  It presents a vivid picture of how our way of seeing, perceiving or thinking about other things, people or events affects on our personal and social life. The paradigm is the map which directs and leads is towards our destination, and if it is wrong, the results can be negatively affecting on our lives.

How I felt about the book

I really liked this book because Covey significantly explains the habits that improve our personal and professional effectiveness. While reading one can experience a paradigm shift in him/herself and attain a new perception of life around.

I loved the book right from the title to the end. It developed in me to believe and polish my personal leadership skills. The habits it discusses are effective and applicable to everyone and in every walk of life. he presents it so well and in so a simple language with easy example that one can relate to itself or want to improve with all the situations and solutions in their personal and professional life.

Summary of the book

                This book is about habits. It defines the habits and explains the role of habits in the effectiveness or ineffectiveness in our lives. It describes seven habits as the foundation stone of a successful & effective personal and professional life if applied in daily life with character ethics.

It is divided into Four parts. Part One mainly discusses Paradigms & Principles, the Part Two defines Private Victory; Part Three mentions Public Victory and the last part describes Renewal. The Seven habits run through these parts and explain the impact of their use on the lives of the people. The book gives suggestions and tests on recognizing and developing one’s own habits.     

These habits are:

Habit 1: Be Proactive—Principles of personal vision

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind 

Habit 3: Put First Things First -- Principles of Personal Management  

Habit 4: Think Win-Win -- Principles of Interpersonal Leadership

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

Habit 6: Synergize

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

The book argues

1.       That habits move us progressively on a maturity continuum from dependence to independence and from there to interdependence. The author uses day to day life examples and experiences in order to attest and verify to the reader the practices that make use of one’s own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their great success (pg 23).

2.       The Proactivity is the first and most basic habit of highly effective in any environment. The meaning of this is taking initiatives – ability to choose the response in any situation. The proactive people don’t blame circumstances, conditions or behaviour. It explains difference between being reactive and being proactive.

3.       That Reactive people are often affected by their physical and social environment and become impulsive whereas the proactive people subordinate impulse to a value. (pg 34)

4.       That the language of a person is the real indicator to record the degree of proactivity.

5.       That the proactivity approach solves problems involving our own behavior, problems involving other people’s behavior and problems that are situational.

6.       Beginning with end in mind means to start with the clear understanding of one’s destination. It creates all things twice; first in mind then in physical. Most people or business fail in first creation-due to misconception or misunderstanding of the target or market.

7.       That personal leadership is the first creation and that the management is second creation. It describes that the leadership is not management. That the personal mission statement is the basis of Beginning with end in mind (pg 50)    

8.       That at this stage of Beginning with end in mind, one is supposed to identify their center    from Spouse centeredness, family centeredness, Money centeredness, work centeredness, Possession centeredness, pleasure centeredness, Friend/Enemy centeredness, religion centeredness and self-centeredness affect lives and effectiveness of an individual (pg 53-58)

9.       That the identifying roles and goals create mission statement and create difference in the lives of others, experience greater joy, develop high performance in organization because these reflect one’s unique talent and sense of mission (pg 68)

10.   Putting First things First is the 3^rd habit that is based on the principles of personal management. It is the second creation. It is the personal fruit and fulfillment of habit 1 and 2 (pg 74)

11.   That a person should be disciple, follower of one’s own values and their source having the will, integrity, to subordinate one’s impulses in order to be independent and effective.

12.   That putting first things first is the heart of effective personal management. Selection of goals, scheduling, daily adapting, delegation, guidelines, Resources, accountability, are tools of this habit. (PG 79-90)

13.   Thinking Win-Win is the core foundation of Principles of effective Interpersonal Leadership. This habit focuses on six paradigms of interaction, which are win-lose, lose-win, lose-lose, win, and Win-Win or No Deal. It explains mutual benefit, authoritarian approach of leadership, use of power, possession or position, cooperation to get their way. Pg 103-106)

14.   that the Win-Win situation is the best of all as it elaborates five dimensions of effective interpersonal leadership which are self-awareness, imagination, conscience, mutual benefits and independent will. Win-Win is fundamental to success in all interactions, and character is the foundation of Win-Win paradigm. (pg 109)

15.   that from the foundation of character, relationships is maintained. From relationship, flow the agreements. It is all the Emotional Bank Account. (pg 110-113)

16.   Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood is the habit that focuses on emphatic communication. At this stage, the book emphasizes on training in listening skills which is the heart of communication and problem solving leading towards the building of character, success and relationships. Communications experts estimate, in fact, that only 10 percent of our communication is represented by the words we say. Another 30 percent is represented by our sounds, and 60 percent by our body language. (pg 122)

17.   Emphatic listening tends to be done not only with ears but with one’s eyes and heart. It also involves neuroscience and neuro-physics process of brain, and one will feel that pure knowledge and understanding will flow to one oneself from others.

18.   Synergize is the ha bit of working together-principles of Creative cooperation. It develops the essence of leadership and unleashes greatest powers within people. This habit opens mind and heart for new possibilities, new alternatives, new options (pg 134). The book tells us that all nature is synergistic. 

19.   that the people haven’t rally experienced the degree of synergy in their family life or in other interaction. This synergy will be helpful in every walk of life, in family, in business, in classroom.

20.   That Synergy helps us value the mental, emotional and psychological differences among people. Synergy works against negative forces which are against the growth and change, the book explains.

21.   Sharpening The Saw is the last of seven habits of highly effective people. It is the principles of balanced self-renewal. The renewal of four dimensions of yourself-physical, mental, spiritual and social.  Habit of highly effective people is to eat right kind of food, to get sufficient rest, and exercise on regular basis. Mental renewal comes from watching TV, listening to favorite music, reading favourite writer.

22.   That the neglect of these four dimensions or habit of renewal can cause loss and ineffectiveness in organizational functions and family relations. Renewal is the process that empowers people to move upward in growth and continuous improvement,

Analysis of the book

                The book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People mainly tries to develop the habits that are crucial in personal & professional improvements. It aims at capturing the attention of the reader towards the effectiveness and ineffectiveness by adapting to the habits discussed in the book. For example it share some meaningful and amazing maxims such as "Your attitude determines your altitude," "Smiling wins more friends than frowning," and "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve (pg 8) or "Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny,”. These maxims may motivate the reader and convince him/her to develop the habits.

                I like the proactive and synergizing habits more than the others. I believe we have to be ready to face the situation in a more positive way rather than in a negative way because in either way, the situation isn’t going away from us, but in latter we develop strength and in former we lose it. I also believe that as all parts of mother nature are working in a great whole and in harmony for a specific target set by God, we humans need to learn this habit of cooperating with other humans from Mother nature.      

                The book is comprehensible to everyone. The vocabulary used is much simpler and the illustrations are daily life events or examples. The writer makes it more practical by sharing his personal and professional experiences with reference to each habit, of course the most beneficial portion is the applications and suggestions given at the end of every habit which will help the readers to develop such habit and become highly effective people.   

Conclusion

                The book is the key to success in all walks of life as suggested by Edward A. Brennan. It helps leaders and mangers to be effective, interdependent, proactive and synergistic. It polishes the personality and character. It touches the core issues with human instinct and comes up with easy and quick solutions.  The book presents correct source principles because these principles are natural laws that inspire the people to work effectively in personal, professional, social, spiritual and physical spheres of their lives so that the ultimate purpose of human success and happiness may be achieved.

             The book tries to inculcate in humans the new skills, arts and habits that will help them prosper their business, personal life and social life. It elaborates that the ultimate habits of human life are to grow, make others grow, live & make others live and lead and make others lead effectively. The book is very useful and people specially youngsters, who are starting their new career, must read it to heart and make its most in their personal and professional life.