Book Review: The 7 Habits of Highly effective people

                             

ख़ुदी को कर  बुलंद इतना कि हर तक़दीर से पहले

ख़ुदा बंदे से ख़ुद पूछे बता तेरी रज़ा क्या है

          ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Being desi we are very familiar with these lines of Allama Iqbal, we have heard this from our parents, grandparents, teachers, motivational speakers, and of course from “Raaj Kumar” in the movie “Bulandi’. But, why I am talking about all this while reviewing “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”?

 

GENRE  Self Help

AUTHOR Dr. Stephen Covey

PAGES   432

YEAR OF PUBLISH 1989

INTRODUCTION

Yes! You got this right, the book talks about achieving success like all other books but in its own way. It asks you to follow some habits which make you highly effective in whatever you do. This book is the work of famous author Dr. Stephen Covey, this book touched the lives of millions of people. 

Other than the usual motivational and success recipe literature that talks about personality ethics, it talks about character ethics. The book showcases the inside-out approach talks about building a strong character that will drive a person towards success.

Now, jumping to the books and what are these habits which one can adopt to be successful. We will be checking them out one by one:

 

Habit 1

Be proactive

We all heard about the circle of concern and circle of influence. The circle of concern consists of those things which are out of your control like politics, death, and aging, etc. The circle of influence includes those which are under your control like your own skills, attitude, hard work, etc. You can be reactive or proactive in life, it’s about choices you make. Reactive people keep complaining about problems, whereas proactive people take action to solve problems. They evaluate the situation and come up with a possible action plan as per their capacity. Instead of complaining they take ownership and fight for results.

 

Habit 2 

Begin with the end in mind

 

This habit is about deciding the goal of life, what you actually want to achieve. It says first think about what you want in your mind, make a clear picture of it and then create it in the outside world. Don’t wander aimlessly make your goals clear, plan for the next 5 to 10 years, plan and keep acting for those goals and sub-goals to achieve what you want in life. Work for your passion and create a map showing the path to it. It would be better if set great goals not just like earning lots of money. Write a script of your own life that’s what it says.

 

Habit 3 

Put first thing first

 

After creating a picture of what you want clear in your mind now it comes on how to do it. Its talks about managing things in a timely, doing important things first on the to-do list. It says your success depends more on how you manage your time. We use to waste our time on things which are not going to help us be fruitful. Time should be used wisely is the whole point. The author suggests dividing things into four quadrants of urgent and non-urgent, important and non-important. People working in management profiles are very much familiar with this technique.

 

Habit 4 

Think win-win

In the long run, if it isn't a win for both of us, we both lose. That's why win-win is the only real alternative in interdependent realities.” The First 3 habits make you independent but the fourth one talks about being interdependent. Just win or lose happens to one, here authors talk about team or collaborating with some others to create a win-win situation for both. The win-win relationship is considered best where people work together for mutual goals and that makes the journey to success easier for everyone. In this nobody loses everyone is working to each other a winner.

 

Habit 5 

Seek first to understand, then to be understood

 

The whole idea of this habit is to understand someone you have to listen to them first, which sounds like a thing of common sense. But as Voltaire said common sense is not so common, we miss this small thing and end up messing up with our relationships and profession. We see the world from our own perception and while doing that we often neglect others' ideas. We need to be more empathic listeners to understand someone. People always listen with the intent to reply not to understand. This is about being a good listener which will help not only with relationships but also in the professional arena.

 

Habit 6

Synergy 

From habit 4 to 6 makes you interdependent and tell how you can achieve goals working together. Instead of opposing others' perspectives and ideas, another way could be taking all of them to the table and working together. The author asks to show synergy and work in a team-first we learned about working for mutual goals, then understanding people, and now working with them synergistic-ally. We need to celebrate different opinions in short.

 

Habit 7

Sharpen the saw

A person use to waste 6 hours cutting a tree with a poor saw, but he can cut the tree in just 3 hours if he spends just 1 hour sharpening the saw. But he keeps cutting trees without sharpening the saw and says he doesn’t have time to sharpen the saw. This is what we all do, we are trying to achieve our goals without evolving ourselves. There is a need of upgrading skill set, knowledge, culture according to time and competition. There is a need for continual improvement in all four quads Physical, Spiritual, Cognitive, and Social. This habit will keep you fresh and will help in handling the other six habits.

 

 CONCLUSION

This book focuses on these habits and asks you to make them part of your lives. The focus should be on building strong character, you need not work on a personality that will emerge on its own if you will possess a strong character. This is not simply a motivational book but a tool penned by the author for a better life. Several management gurus and consultants recommend this book, even I got recommended in managerial training.  

Trainer advised us to read this book because it is a recipe for being a good leader. The book was worth reading and the matter is very practical to be implemented in real life. 

So, adapt these highly effective habits to get enlisted into a list of highly effective people. 

 

 

 

 

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