Quick Summary - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Dr. Stephen R. Covey
Aquib Vohra
Medical Device Lead | Driver of Company Culture and Innovation | Effective Collaborator | Process Improvement | Root Cause Analysis
1. Be Proactive
The first and most fundamental habit of an effective person is to be proactive. More than just taking the initiative, being proactive means taking responsibility for your life.
The way to manifest proactivity can be seen in your ability to stick to the commitments you make to yourself and to others. This includes a commitment to self-improvement and, by extension, personal growth.
As we go about our lives we operate in two circles. First, is the circle of concern (Outer)- this comprises the things we care about or have an effect on us but have no influence, say, or little control over. Second, the circle of influence (Inner) these are things that we can control or influence.
When you are reactive in nature, you spend most of your time in the outer circle, the circle of concern. As your focus is on the things you really can't control or change as a result your circle of influence shrinks.
Whereas proactive people focus on their inner circle of influence, where their efforts make a positive difference in their results as well as relationships as a result their inner circle of influence grows.
"Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions." - Dr. Stephen R. Covey
2. Begin with the End in Mind
The author states that the most effective way to begin with the end in mind is to create a personal mission statement. You can do that by these three focus points -
- What do you want to be (character)?
- What do you want to do (contributions and achievements)?
- The values upon which both of these things are based
If you don’t make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default. It’s about connecting again with your uniqueness and then defining the personal, moral, and ethical guidelines within which you can most happily express and fulfill yourself.
As time passes by, your mission statement shall become your personal constitution.
"Through imagination, we can visualize the uncreated worlds of potential that lie within us" - Dr. Stephen R. Covey
3. Put First Things First
The author asks readers to answer the following questions:
- What one thing could you do regularly, that you aren’t currently doing, that would improve your personal life?
- Similarly, what one thing could you do to improve your business or professional life?
The first habit encourages you to realize you are in charge of your own life, the second habit is based on the ability to visualize and identify your key values, the third habit is the implementation of these two habits. These two questions help you become aware that you have the power to significantly change your life in the present.
To manage your time effectively ensure your actions are:
- Principle-centered.
- Conscience-directed, meaning that they give you the opportunity to organize your life in accordance with your core values.
- Aligned with your key mission, which includes your values and long-term goals.
- Giving balance to your life.
- Organized weekly, with daily adaptations as needed.
"Organize and execute around priorities." - Dr. Stephen R. Covey
4. Think Win/Win
The author emphasizes that win/win isn’t a technique, it’s a philosophy of interaction. It’s a frame of mind that seeks out a mutual benefit for all concerned. This means that all agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial, and all parties feel satisfied with the outcome. To embody this mindset, life must be seen as a cooperative, not a competition.
To adopt a win/win mindset, exercise each of the following traits when interacting with others:
- Self-awareness
- Imagination
- Conscience
- Independent will
To be an effective win/win leader, we shall embrace five independent dimensions:
- Character: foundation to create a win/win mentality, and it means acting with integrity, maturity, and an “abundance mentality” which means there is always plenty of everything for everyone, one person’s progress doesn’t threaten your progress.
- Relationships: trust is a basis for achieving win/win agreements. You must nourish your relationships to maintain a high level of trust.
- Agreements: this means that the parties involved must agree on the desired results, guidelines, resources, accountability, and consequences.
- Win/win performance agreements and supportive systems: creating a standardized, agreed-upon set of desired results to measure performance within a system that can support a win/win mindset.
- Processes: all processes and their actions must allow for win/win solutions to arise.
"Win/Win sees life as a cooperative, not a competitive arena."- Dr. Stephen R. Covey
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
Communication is the most important skill in life. You spend years learning how to read, write, and speak. But what about listening?
If you want to improve your interpersonal relations, the author argues that you must endeavor to understand a situation before attempting to make yourself understood. The ability to communicate clearly is essential for your overall effectiveness, as it’s the most important skill you can train. If you’re like most people, you probably seek first to be understood; you want to get your point across.
An empathic listener can get into the frame of reference of the person speaking. By doing so, they see the world as they do and feel things the way they feel. Empathic listening, therefore, allows you to get a clearer picture of reality. When you begin to listen to people with the intent of understanding them, you’ll be astounded at how quickly they will open up.
Once you think you’ve understood the situation, the next step is to make yourself understood. With empathic listening, you can communicate your ideas in accordance with your listener’s paradigms and concerns. This increases the credibility of your ideas, as you will be speaking in the same language as your audience.
"Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply."- Dr. Stephen R. Covey
6. Synergize
To put it simply, synergy means “two heads are better than one.” Synergize is the habit of creative cooperation. It is teamwork, open-mindedness, and the adventure of finding new solutions to old problems. But it doesn’t happen on its own. It’s a process, and through that process, people bring all their personal experience and expertise to the table. It means balancing the mental, emotional, and psychological differences between a group of people and, in doing so, creating new paradigms of thought between the group members.
You know you are synergizing when you:
- Have a change of heart.
- Feel new energy and excitement.
- See things in a new way.
- Feel that the relationship has transformed.
- End up with an idea or a result that is better than what either of you started with (3rd Alternative).
This is where creativity is maximized. Synergy is effectiveness as an interdependent reality. This involves teamwork, team building, and the creation of unity with other human beings.
"When people have experienced real synergy, they are never quite the same again."- Dr. Stephen R. Covey
7: Sharpen the Saw
Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have—YOU.
This seventh habit is about enhancing yourself through the four dimensions:
- Physical: Exercise, nutrition, and stress management. This means caring for your physical body, eating right, getting enough sleep, and exercising regularly.
- Social/Emotional: Service, empathy, synergy, and intrinsic security. This provides you with a feeling of security and meaning.
- Spiritual: Value clarification and commitment, study, and meditation. In focusing on this area of your life, you get closer to your center and your inner value system.
- Mental: Reading, visualizing, planning, and writing. To continually educate yourself means expanding your mind. This is essential for effectiveness.
"An increasingly educated conscience will propel us along the path of personal freedom, security, and power."- Dr. Stephen R. Covey
References-
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