The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a modern classic. Filled with wonderful anecdotes, Covey leads the reader through each of the 7 Habits ending with what he calls the "Private Victory", the "Public Victory", and finally repeating the cycle to achieve more and greater goals.

One specific anecdote that I particularly enjoyed was about "paradigm shifts". Covey relates the story of being in the subway and becoming annoyed by a particularly roudy bunch of children. Upset he confront's the children's father who had been sitting in his seat apparently staring into space. Waking from his daze, the father apologizes to Covey, telling him that they had all just come back from the hospital where the children's mother just died not more than a few hours ago. Immediately Covey has a paradigm shift, seeing the father not as irresponsible and uncaring but rather as being in need of some emotional support.

This little story so wonderfully illustrates the need for the reader to see the 7 Habits as a paradigm, a frame of mind or method of action, that when followed will lead to high levels of effectiveness.

These 7 Habits are:
1. Be Proactive - Don't just sit there DO SOMETHING!
2. Begin With the End in Mind - Know where you want to go.
3. Put First Things first - Get your priorities straight and tackle them.
4. Think Win/Win - Success is much easier when it is shared.
5. Seek First to Understand then to be Understood - Hear what people have to say, stop, think and understand where they are coming from, and then explain how what you want is inline with what they want too.
6. Synergize - "2+2 = 5 or more" No man (or woman) is an island. Leveraging the knowledge, talents, and experiences of others you can achieve far more than you could alone.
7. Sharpen the Saw - Work to continuously improve yourself, never rest on your laurels, in our fast paced modern world what was good enough today won't get you by tomorrow.

If you haven't already read this book, READ IT. If you have read it, maybe this is the time to take a second look at how the 7 Habits can be made part of your life. Also realize that leadership requires the mindset of being a leader and The 7 Habits is a great start for getting into that mindset.

Happy Reading,

-Jason