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Covey’s Seven Habits
Stephen R Covey published his “Seven Habits of Highly Effective
People” in the late 1980’s. He discovered over years of reading
and studying success that certain underlying themes seemed to
recur. These weren’t superficial behavioural “how to’s”, but went
deeper, relating more to one’s ethics or way of life. The result was
his seven habits, equally applicable to your personal, social or
business life. Unlike many other approaches, the seven habits
work best if they’re adopted in their entirety. You can’t pick and choose which
ones to apply, nor are they situational (“if this situation occurs, follow this
formula.”).
THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE
PRIVATE VICTORY
The first three habits relate to our own internal or personal philosophy
| Be Proactive | Be aware of yourself, your strengths, weaknesses, blind spots, motivations – and be proactive in finding out as much as you can about yourself. Then be proactive in applying that knowledge to your relations with others. |
| Begin with the End in mind |
In summary, create and live by a personal mission statement. This may lead onto more specific goals and objectives, but the idea is that you try to live as the sort of person you’d like to be remembered for when you’ve passed on. |
| Put First Things First |
Define what it is that really matters in your life, then spend your time on those important things. Rather than spreading our time thinly across too many activities, concentrate on doing a few things well. |
PUBLIC VICTORY
The next three habits relate to our interaction with our environment
| Think Win/Win |
Not an original phrase, but in all your dealings with others, aim for each little negotiation to provide success (a win) for both sides. |
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| Seek First to Understand, then be Understood |
Put another way, “God gave us two ears and one mouth, and they should be used in that proportion.” In your communications, be sure you know the other person’s point of view before you start expounding your own ideas. |
| Synergize | Look for ways to take your ideas and other people’s ideas and build on them together, on the basis that the outcome will be something greater than the sum of the inputs. |
AND FINALLY, RENEWAL
The seventh habit that makes all the other six last is Sharpening the Saw. This
powerful idea can really only be described by Covey’s word-picture:
Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to
saw down a tree.
“What are you doing?” you ask.
“Can’t you see?” comes the impatient reply. “I’m sawing down this tree.”
“You look exhausted!” you exclaim. “How long have you been at it?”
“Over five hours,” he returns, “and I’m beat! This is hard work.”
“Well why don’t you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?”
you inquire. “I’m sure it would go a lot faster.”
“I don’t have time to sharpen the saw,” the man says emphatically. “I’m too
busy sawing!”
Sharpening the saw is about renewing yourself – physically, mentally, spiritually
and emotionally.
Taken from
Covey, S. ( 1989 ). 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. London. Simon and
Schuster