The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
“Seek first to understand, and then to be understood.” -Stephen Covey
There are certain habits that if applied correctly and consistently can lead to success and fulfillment in life and business. To succeed in life and business, you need to be proactive and focus on what you can control. But before you can adopt the seven habits this book talks about, you need to change your paradigm how life and business really work.
1. Be proactive
This is essentially taking responsibility for your decisions and where you are in life. You need to be proactive in taking the necessary steps to get to your end goal. And what is really important here is to focus on what you can control because that is what you can change.
2. Begin with the end in mind
To have a successful and fulfilling life, you need to have an inspiring vision for your life. You are here to achieve something bigger and leave a lasting legacy. Moreover, you need to consistently and consciously take the necessary steps to get there.
3. Put first things first
Now that you have the vision for your life, think about one step no matter how small it may seem, that if done consistently will make a monumental change in your life. This equally applies to your personal and private life. You are in control of your life and choices that you make, which means that you decide what you want to start doing that will bring you closer to your dreams and what you will stop doing that will provide extra energy and resources to bring you closer to your dreams.
4. Think win/win
The best outcome is when everyone wins. We work together to achieve a common goal or even on a project where the by-product will be to give benefits to each side of the table. This is a very important virtue where we need to strive for our efforts to be mutually beneficial to everyone involved and even those that are not necessarily directly part of the team working to solve a particular problem.
5. Seek first to understand then be understood
To solve a problem, it is necessary that we understand it fully. And to do that we need to listen to others actively and understands their point of view. Only once you think that you have fully understood the problem, you need to provide your solution and make yourself be understood. This requires courage to speak what is right.
6. Learn to synergize
A group can achieve far more than individual. To succeed we need to learn to harness power of synergy. And this is done by learning from others, adopting and adapting their knowledge, skills and experience to find a new and better way of doing things.
7. Sharpen the saw
The seventh habit is really about you and the importance of investing in yourself. You need to have a healthy balance where you to renew and regenerate yourself in terms of physical health, social connections, spiritual growth and mental stimulation. This is an ongoing process and something that is essential part of life that needs to be your priority and a way of life.