To All Readers,
Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.
In last week’s blogpost, we looked at “The Power Of Now” and the benefits of Living at the present moment.
(If you missed last week’s posting – click here to access it)
This week topic is about Stephen Covey, educator, author, businessman, and keynote speaker book on “The 7 habits of Highly Effective People”.
“Knowledge is the quickest and safest path to success in any area of life. Stephen Covey has encapsulated the strategies used by all those who are highly effective. Success can be learned and this book is a highly effective way to learn it.” – Charles Givens, President, Charles J. Givens Organization, Inc., author of Wealth Without Risk
He highlighted that there are basic principles of effective living , and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character.
Only basic goodness gives life to technique. To focus on technique is like cramming your way through school. You sometimes get by, perhaps even get good grades, but if you don’t pay the price day in and day out, you never achieved true mastery of the subjects you study or develop an educated mind.
The book is prefaced with these words of Aristotle, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Covey’s key concept is that by changing certain habits, though it is usually a slow and often painful process, we can become more effective.
Habit 1: Be proactive. This is concerned with exploring ways to take control of events rather than being the victim of circumstance.
Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind. Covey recommends developing a personal mission statement and acquiring what he calls the habit of personal leadership so that you can keep steering in the right direction despite changing circumstances.
Habit 3: Put first things first. It is about self management: “decides what the first things are, and management is the discipline of carrying out your program.”
Habit 4: Think win/win. He recommends that your attitude should be, “I want to win, and I want you to win. If we can’t hammer something out this way, we won’t make a deal.
Habit 5: Seek first to understand and then to be understood. Covey states, “with intent to reply, to convince, to manipulate. Listen simply to understand, to see how the other party sees things.”
Habit 6: Synergize. Covey uses synergy in the sense that creative cooperation – the principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts – encourages us to “see the good and potential in the other person’s contribution.”
Habit 7: Sharpen the saw. It is taking time to sharpen the saw (you’re the saw). It’s the habit of self-renewal that makes all the others possible. Covey interprets the self into four parts, the spiritual, mental, physical and the social/emotional, which all need feeding and developing.
If you want to know more about “The 7 Habits of Effective People” book, click below.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Covey had added an eight habit for his another book “from effectiveness to greatness.” Tapping into greatness, Covey claims, “is a matter of finding the right balance of four human attributes: talent, need, conscience and passion” in order to move beyond effectiveness into the realm of greatness.
The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
In my next blogpost in about 7 days time, I will talk about the Anthony Robbins book, “Unlimited Power”.
Bye from now.
Reuben H C Ong (a.k.a Reubeno)
Website: http://www.reubenointernet.com/
Email: reubeno@reubenointernet.com