The 7 Habits

Stephen Covey's 7 Habits model of effectivity is one of the most widely used systems of self-improvement in the world. By learning and applying the principles taught in this model, you can greatly increase your productivity, sense of self-fulfillment and happiness, as well as your physical, mental, and emotional strength and health.

Good readin'! (Highly recommended.)

The Habits Are:

1. Proactivity — Decide to take action, instead of being acted upon. Take responsibility for your own happiness and success, instead of blaming others for your failures and hardships.
2. Begin with the End in Mind — Decide what your long-term goals and plans are, and what is ultimately most important to you. Decide where you want to end up.
3. Put First Things First — Make priorities and plans. Set short-term goals to help you reach your long-term goals. Decide what parts of life you need and which to do without.
4. Think Win-Win? — Develop the attitude that everybody can get what they want, rather than competing to be on top of everybody else.
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood — make sure you understand the desires and concerns of the people you interact with before trying to impose your way of thinking or doing on them. Understand their problems and point of view. Listen sincerely.
6. Synergize — Work together with the people around you to develop solutions that are better than either of those originally proposed or expressed, that benefit everybody better, without having to compromise. If not possible, agree to disagree agreeably, and decide on "no deal."
7. Sharpen the Saw — Take time to take care of your physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual health. (At least one hour each day.) This is the habit that feeds and develops the other six.

Other Important Concepts:

• Habits are internalized principles.
• Spend as much time in Quadrant 2 (important but not urgent activity) as possible.
• What you do comes from who you are. Your behavior is the natural outgrowth of your character and values.
• Paradigms and Principles — being principle-centered is the best paradigm of life.
  • A paradigm is our perception of reality; our attitudes and beliefs. If our paradigm is inaccurate, negative, incomplete, or unfair, if affects and hinders ourselves and our relationships with others. It is vital that we examine our frames of reference and be positive and fair in our outlooks, in order to be happy, healthy, and successful. We can have positive paradigm-shifts.
  • We cannot obtain happiness and success if we center our lives around anything but principles. We cannot be friend-centered, stuff-centered, romantic relationship, school, work, parent, or even self-centered. We can't be centered around hobbies, heroes, or enemies. We must be centered on principles such as honesty, love, hard work, service, respect, gratitude, moderation, fairness, integrity, loyalty, and responsibility. As a Christian, I believe that to be centered around Christ means that I am principle-centered, since I believe that He exemplified all true principles perfectly both in His teachings and in His life.
• The personal and relationship bank accounts (part of sharpening the saw)
  • Your Personal Bank Account is essentially your self-image or self-esteem. You make deposits when you accomplish good things, do things you enjoy, renew yourself, stand up to peer-pressure, are positive, and use and expand your talents. You make withdrawals when you fail to reach goals, don't do things you enjoy or are good at, beat yourself up, are negative, or wear yourself out.
  • Your Relationship Bank Account is how much trust and confidence exists in your relationships. You have separate accounts with everyone you deal with, and they are in constant need of renewal and deposits.

Links and Resources:

• "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" PDF

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