The Habit of Being Effective

   With over 15 million copies sold, I have to admit that just recently I had the chance to buy and read “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, by Stephen Covey. Very well structured and with extraordinary ideas, this book is definitely one of the books that are so useful to read at least once in life. But of course, that like any other great book must be doubled with action in order to see the results we want in our life.

   Practically, what Stephen Covey highlights as a first major idea is to stay focused on the Inside-Out approach. Difficult? Big time. Is it worth it? Big time. In the moment when we will make a habit even from this idea of stop waiting from others to come towards our expectations, and start focusing on what we can do in order to see a difference, very quickly we will see the results. I have the feeling that this “waiting” for something or somebody to fulfill our goals, needs, and desires, is a big issue of our times. 

   Coming back to the 7 habits, Stephen Covey presents them like this:

         a) In the Private Victory he includes:

1)      Be proactive – Principles of Personal Vision

2)      Begin with the end in mind – Principles of Personal Leadership

3)      Put first things first – Principles of Personal Management

          b) In the Public Victory he includes:

4)      Think win/win – Principles of Interpersonal Leadership

5)      Seek first to understand, then to be understood – Principles of Empathetic Communication

6)      Synergize – Principles of Creative Cooperation

          c) Renewal

7)      Sharpen the saw – Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal

   At a certain point, he also talks about the paradigm of interdependence, a great concept that is so well explained by Stephen Covey. I could give you a few details in my article about this, but I think you will have so much more to gain if you will end up reading the book. Also, I believe it is not random the fact that Stephen Covey chose to insert in the title of his book the word “habits”. Practically, in order to see great results in all areas of your life, you need to have great healthy habits. And actions become habits through repetition. 

   Bringing all together, I always have the feeling that everything I read about personal development so to say becomes more useful and powerful if I constantly develop that component of emotional intelligence which makes a big difference in our life. Everything depends only on us and stays in our power to what kind of difference we want to make.  

   If you were to choose one habit out of these seven and start taking action related today, what would that be?