The seven habits of highly effective people is a very famous self-help book written by Steven Covey, and has till date sold more than 15 million copies in thirty-eight languages worldwide. The success of this book made him to write number of follow-up books, such as Power of the Seven Habits, Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families, and Beyond the Seven Habits. A sequel to The Seven Habits is The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness published in 2004.
Seven Habits is divided into 3 groups: ? 
Habit 1 ? Be Proactive: ? Being ?proactive? means taking responsibility for everything in life. Difference between a proactive mind and a reactive mind is that a reactive mind blames other people and circumstances for obstacles or problems, while a proactive person take personal responsibility and initiative. Covey talks about ?Stimulus and Response?. Between Stimulus and Response, we have the power to choose the response. In this response lies our destiny.
Habit 2:- Begin with the End In Mind. This habit asks us to set long term goals based on ?true-north principles?. Formulation of ?personal mission statement? becomes very important as it helps on to perceive one?s own purpose in life. The habit says that we need to begin everything with the correct end in mind. When we begin with the end in mind, we get a personal direction to guide our daily activities, without which we will accomplish little toward our own goals.
Habit 3:- Put First Things First.
To master Habit 3, we understand where we spend our time ? and why it is spent there. Covey uses a 4 quadrant matrix that maps activities on two axes ? importance and urgency. Important activities are those activities which will help you to achieve your goals. Urgent activities are something which needs to be done urgently. The activities that always demand our attention first are those in Quadrant I, Important and Urgent. Quadrant I activities are reaction to problems that could have been prevented and effective people spend time in Quadrant II (Important but not Urgent) to prevent the problems from happening again. Effective people stay out of Quadrant III and Quadrant IV, because, urgent or not, they are not important. Quadrant II deals with things that are not urgent, but important. It deals with things like building relationships, writing a personal mission statement, long-range planning, exercising, and preparation ? all those things we know we need to do, but somehow avoid doing them, because they aren?t urgent. We are asked to spend our time in Quadrant II.
Habit 4:-Think Win/Win: We have heard about Win/Lose. If I win, you lost. If you win, I lost. Think Win/Win describes an attitude whereby mutually beneficial solutions are sought, that satisfies the needs of oneself as well as others, or, in the case of a conflict, both parties involved.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be understood. Here we are taught how to LISTEN. When another person is speaking, we usually ?listen? at one of four levels: ignoring, pretending, selective listening, or attentive listening and the highest form of listening ? empathic listening. Covey asks us to listen empathetically. Thoroughly listening to another person?s concerns instead of reading out your own autobiography is purported to increase the chance of establishing a working communication.
Habit 6: Synergize: It means the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The habit describes a way of working in teams. It is put forth that, when this is pursued as a habit, the result of the teamwork will exceed the sum of what each of the members could have achieved on their own.
Habit 7:- Sharpen the saw: This habits starts with a story. A person was working to saw down a tree. He was exhausted from working for hours. We suggest him that they take a break to sharpen the saw and he reply, ?I didn?t have time to sharpen the saw, I?m busy sawing!? Habit 7 is taking the time to sharpen the saw. By renewing the four dimensions of your nature ? physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional, you can work more quickly and effortlessly. To do this, we must be proactive. This is a Quadrant II (important, not urgent) activity that must be acted on.
Mastering these seven habits is not something you can do in a night. Some people ?TRY? to implement these habits, but if they are unsuccessful, they quit. As I had discussed in my previous article, opposite of success is not failure, but quitting. There are some very good links you can try to learn this topic (http://www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/7-habits/7-habits.htm, http://www.profitadvisors.com/7habitlist.shtml), or you can order a book online. The book might cost you a few dollars but the reward of this is worth millions.
You might be interested in buying this book . You can buy it from here :?The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
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Category: Health Mastery
Source: http://successmuslim.com/2011/06/03/book-review-seven-habits-of-highly-effective-people/
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