Book Summary: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Book Summary: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

This is a summary of the book ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ by Stephen Covey. It is a very inspiring  and influential book for self improvement.

In this article, I summarised the key lessons  for the people who don’t have time to read the whole book. I think, it worth reading the habits of highly effective and successful people.

In this book, the author illustrated the 7 habits of highly effective, successful, and inspirational people and he believes by adopting these habits can bring success in life of every person.

Habits play an important role in our lives. Habits are the ingredients of our character and the character leads to the destiny. In our lives, habits produce effectiveness or ineffectiveness.

Good habits can lead us to effective and successful life and on the other hand bad habits can result in ineffectiveness and undesirable life.

What is a Habit?

The book is based on the habits, so it is very essential to understand the meaning of  habit. Habit can be defined as the interaction of knowledge, skill, and desire. Therefore, habit is the composition of these three elements.

Where knowledge is the what to do and the why, skill is how to do, and desire is the motivation the want to do. In order to make something a habit we need to work in these three areas.

Making new habits and changing the old ones can be difficult. But, the good thing is, habits can be leaned and unlearned. To be effective and successful we need to cultivate positive and good habits.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People Summarised

The author of the book Stephen Covey identified seven habits of highly successful people that also can lead us to the effectiveness and success in life.

These habits are summarised below:

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Be proactive is the first habit of highly effective people. Successful people adopt proactive approach to deal with problems and challenges in life.

As mentioned in the book, we as human beings are responsible for own lives and our behaviour is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. Where, we have the choice to take initiative and responsibility to make things happen.

Responsibility refers to the ability to choose your response. According to the author, proactive people recognise that responsibility. They don’t blame circumstances, conditions and the conditioning for their behaviour.

The behaviour of highly effective people is the product of their conscious choice which is based on values, rather than a product of their conditions.

The emotions and thoughts of the proactive people don’t depend on the environment and circumstances. They don’t let external forces to affect or change their behaviour.

Proactive people focus on circle of influence rather than on circle of concern. They drag many things from circle of concern to the circle of influence which widens the circle of influence and brings effectiveness.

On the other hand, Reactive people don’t take responsibility in their lives. They always blame other people, the external forces such as environment, circumstances and conditions. They by conscious decisions or by default empower these things to control them.

Reactive people focus on their circle of concern that’s why their circle of concern is normally larger than circle of influence. In life they focus on the things they can’t change and they don’t consider the things that they can influence.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

To begin with the end in mind as the author refers to start with a clear understanding of your destination. The highly effective people use this phenomenon as they begin with the end in mind; they exactly know where they want to go and what they want to do in life.

It guides and gives better understanding to the people to know where they are now and the steps have been taken in right direction.

When you keep the end in mind, it means you are certain about your vision, purpose, and it brings effectiveness in your life.

By keeping that end clearly in mind each day of your life contributes in a meaningful way towards your life’s vision and purpose.

Ineffective people don’t begin with the end in mind therefore it results in lack of direction and success. When you adopt this approach you gain a different perspective.

Habit 3: Put First Things First

For successful and effective life you need priorities. You must set priorities that lead you towards your goals and vision in life.

Putting first things first means prioritising things in life. The effective people put the things first which are the most important and which make difference in their lives.

This habit of highly successful people means in order to manage oneself effectively; he/she must put first things first. It is to prioritise our day-to-day actions based on what is important and what is not.

When you prioritise the things, putting the most important things first can lead you towards success and effectiveness. The reason is, you clear about the things, and you know what should be done first and what should be done later.

Putting first thing first habit disciplines you in all spheres of your life. Where, you spend your time in an effective manner. Time is a precious thing. Effective people manage and prioritise their things which lead them to success.

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

This habit is included in the public victory and paradigms of interdependence. It means how to make and keep relationships with others.

First we discussed the private victories where we focus on ourselves and those are the roots for public victories.

For good relationship we need self-mastery and self-discipline that make the foundation.

In order to be effective we must step from independence to interdependence in whatever capacity we are, which is a true leadership role. Think win-win is a habit of effective people and interpersonal leadership.

The author illustrated six paradigms of human interaction;

Win-win; it refers to the philosophy of human interaction. It seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. In win-win situation all parties feel good about the decision and commit to the action plan. This paradigm sees life as cooperative rather than competitive.

Win-lose; this is alternative to the win-win paradigm. In human interaction and leadership it is the authoritarian approach. The people of this paradigm use the position, power, possessions, credentials, or personality to get their way.

Lose-win; the people of this paradigm say ‘I lose, you win’. These people have no standards, no expectations, no vision. They worse than win-lose paradigm. Usually quickly to please or appease. Their strength come from popularity and acceptance of  other people.

Lose-lose; according to the author it is the philosophy of adversarial conflict and war. The people of this paradigm think, being a loser is not so bad, if nobody wins. The lose-lose situation occurs when two win-lose people get together, when two determined, stubborn, ego-invested individuals interact, the result will be loss-lose.

Win; it is the another alternative paradigm. Where, people only to think win. This mentality doesn't want someone else to lose. What is important is that they get what they want. It is common when there is no sense of competition or contest.

Win-win or No Deal; this paradigm occurs if people can’t find solution to come to the win-win situation, its better to agree –no deal. Where no expectations created, no contracts established. No deal option gives freedom, there is no need to manipulate people, no need to force them for what you want.

Which option is the best it depends on the situation and circumstances.

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

This habit of highly effective people illustrates the basic and fundamental principle of communication.

In order to have an effective communication we must learn to listen other people and then to be understood. In everyday life when we interact with other people to find a solution to a problem, we suggest a solution before diagnosing the problem and don’t seek to understand the problem first.

Communication is a skill which also calls life skill. Listening is an important component of communication. As the author says, very less number of people are good listeners.

The author suggested the ‘principles of emphatic communication’.  Emphatic communication requires a fundamental paradigm shift. As mentioned, many people don’t listen with the intent to understand, they listen with the intent to reply.

Emphatic listening means listening with intent to understand. Where, you understand other person’s frame of reference. You understand people’s paradigm and how they feel.

Habit 6: Synergize

This habit of highly effective people refers as creative cooperation. Synergy means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It creates the value such as one plus one is equal to three or more.

When we understand and value the perspective of another person, in this way we have the opportunity to create synergy. It creates the new possibilities through openness and creativity.

Synergy refers to the situation where create more by creative cooperation rather than doing something independently. The real meaning of synergy is to value the differences, to respect them, to build strengths, and to compensate for weaknesses.

It works in our family life, social interaction, environment and other spheres of our life. Synergistic communication is important and essential. This kind of communication opens your mind, heart, expressions to new possibilities, new alternatives, and new options.

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

This is the last but not the least habit of highly effective people. Sharpen the saw means balancing self-renewal. It also refers a continuous improvement. The author mentioned four dimensions that needs continuous improvement and renewal such as physical, mental, spiritual, and social/emotional.

If you want to be effective you must spend time to renew yourself physically, mentally, spiritually and socially. This is the habit which makes the other habits possible.

The author says, we must exercise all four dimensions of our nature regularly, and consistently, in wise and balanced manner. We must sharpen the saw on regular basis for success and effectiveness.

Further summarising these habits:

Private Victory; Habit 1, Habit 2, and Habit 3

Private victory means where someone focuses on oneself. It refers to self-mastery and self-discipline. Moving from dependence to independence.

Public Victory; Habit 4, Habit 5, and Habit 6

Public victory means developing relationship, collaboration, cooperation, and effective communication with other people. Moving from independence to interdependence.

Balanced Self-Renewal; Habit 7

Balanced self-renewal means we need continuous improvement in four dimensions such as physical, mental, spiritual, and social. It is the composite of all other habits.