The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: The Infographics Edition Kindle Edition

Change is hard. How can I change? I suggest two practices for making changes in your life. The first is to follow your conscience. I speak a lot about the idea that between stimulus (what happens to us) and response (what we do about it) is a space to choose, and what we do with that space ultimately determines our growth and happiness. In this space lie the four human endowments of conscience, imagination, self-awareness, and independent will. Of the four, conscience is the governing one. Often, when we are not at peace in our lives, it is because we are living lives in violation of our conscience and deep down we know it. We can tap into conscience simply by asking ourselves questions and pausing to “hear” the answer. For example, try asking yourself the following questions: What is the most important thing I need to start doing in my personal life that would have the greatest positive impact? Think deeply. What comes to mind? Now, ask yourself another question: What is the most important thing that I need to start doing in my professional life that would have the greatest positive impact? Again, pause, think, and go deep inside yourself to find the answer. If you’re like me, you’ll recognize those most important things by listening to your conscience—that voice of wisdom, self-awareness, and common sense within you. Another great question to ask yourself is: What is life now asking of me? Pause. Think carefully. You may sense that you’ve been unfocused and need to be far more careful with the way you spend your time. Or you may decide that you need to start eating better and exercising because you’re constantly tired. Or you may sense that there is a key relationship you need to repair. Whatever it is, there is great strength and power in following through with a change that is endorsed by your conscience. Without deep conviction, you won’t have the strength to follow through with your goals when the going gets tough. And conviction comes through conscience. We all have three different lives: a public life, a private life, and an inner life. Our public life is what others observe. Our private life is what we do when we are alone. Our inner life is that place we go to when we really want to examine our motives and our deepest desires. I highly recommend developing this inner life. This is the place where our conscience can be most instructive because while here we are in the best frame of mind to listen. A second key to change is to change your role. As I’ve always said, if you want to make incremental changes in your life, change your behaviors. But if you want to make significant change, work on your paradigms, the way in which you see and interpret the world. And the best way to change your paradigm is to change your role. You may get promoted to be a new project manager at work. You may become a new mother or a new grandfather. You may take on a new community responsibility. Suddenly your role has changed and you see the world differently and better behaviors naturally flow out of the changed perspective. Sometimes role changes are external events, such as a change in a job responsibility. But other times we can change our role just by changing our mindset or our perception of a situation. Let’s say, for example, that you are seen as a control freak at work and that you know you need to start trusting others and letting go. Well, perhaps you could see yourself differently and redefine your role from one of “supervisor” to one of “advisor.” With this change of role, this mental shift, you would start to see yourself as an advisor to your team members who are empowered to make decisions and seek your counsel when doing so instead of being the one who has to own everything and constantly follow up. I’m often asked, Which of the 7 Habits is the most important? My answer is: The most important habit is the one you are having the most difficult time living. Use your endowments of self-awareness and conscience to help you sense which habit you may need to focus on. Often the best way to change is to pick the one thing, the single habit, and to make small commitments to yourself related to that habit and keep them. Little by little your discipline and self-confidence will increase.

Stephen Covey is a solid, masterful, genius, and how he has put programs and books together like this. Everybody can use all the 7 Habits..

This book has been on my Currently Reading list for quite some time: I received it as part of my onboarding packet when I started working at Epic Systems seven years ago! In those seven years, I quit Epic, spent time as a freelance designer, guided my kids through Covid virtual learning, and ended up back at my alma mater as a research lab manager. At the same time, I started the book over, reread several parts because I lost my place, and now have finally finished it. Honestly, I think this was exactly the way I needed to read this book. It gave me time to absorb the content, apply the habits one at a time, and experience personal growth before continuing to the next stage. This is not a book with a handful of things you can check off your to do list every day and consider yourself "successful", it is at its heart a book of philosophy. As with most philosophy, what you get out of it depends on what you put into it.There is a core message evident throughout the book that I found very moving, and kept me coming back to it over the years: Humans are strongest when we work together. To work together we must love each other. To love each other we must listen. To be able to listen with open hearts, we must first learn to love and trust ourselves.Note that the title is "The 7 Habits of Highly EFFECTIVE People". Not "successful" or even "influential". Because effectiveness depends not on how you appear to other people, but how well you accomplish your personal goals. To be effective, you must have a thorough understanding of what your goals ARE, and what tools you personally have at your disposal to reach them.Long and short of it: it's a great book. I apply things I have learned from it to every aspect of my life, as a mother, wife, professional, and friend.So...what is my reservation? Why four stars instead of five? Covey, possibly inadvertently, strikes a pretty sore spot for me, that I think I may share with a lot of people who grew up in the Evangelical Christian Church. He frequently references "correct principles" and at times displays rigid attitudes toward s*xuality and "vulgarity" (whatever that means). These are what we might now call "dog whistle" terms--they are strongly associated with a movement that has grown more radical and politicized over the last two decades. Covey is a Christian, of course, and openly states that he believes "correct principles" and in fact the whole idea of conscience originate from God. I don't think Covey is a radical--he references other religions in addition to Christianity, and his whole approach would seem to indicate a general disapproval of politics--but these "dog whistles" still made me uncomfortable. The idea of "correct principles", in particular, seems patriarchal, or at the very least implies a rigidity of thought. What he really means by it would seem to be, in much softer terms, "the laws of natural consequences" or perhaps, "Go with what works."

I find that reading this book is not like a textbook. The writing of this book is common, and practical to daily life. The telling method is by referred to some real managerial stories, adding the author's points. I like the seven habits,1. communicating efficient2. exercising3. asking questions4. taking quick notes when you are not clear5. life long education6. prioritize the most urgent work in a day7. learn to give up unnecessary task.

It’s a eye-opening book for me to understand the GL difference between common man and successful persons. Logic behind each habit is well explain and justified 2 the human behaviours. The human behaviour is basic of all activities which runs business and family relationships. I will definitely try to adopt, the principal based value system in my life

Wer sich und seine Gesellschaft verstehen möchte, findet hier viel Material zum vergleichen und einordnen. Wer sich ändern und verbessern möchte, findet hier Anstöße, ohne gleich andere Menschen "belästigen" zu müssen.

È un libro che veramente ti spinge a fare le cose meglio. È pieno di esempi pratici e basato sulla vita dello scrittore. Veramente bello. La cosa che non mi è piaciuta personalmente è che è troppo basata suo valori cristiani.

I'm very grateful for the opportunity to have access to the life principles in this book.I must admit that, it had rescripted my paradigms and opened me up to a new way of thinking and acting which naturally connected with me.If you're in pursuit of knowledge and efficiency both personal and corporate, you should have this book in your library.