Personal Response to The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Book Report/Review Example

A personal response to: The seven habit of highly effective people. [Name] [Course] [Instructor] [Institution] [Date] Table of Contents Introduction. 3 Habit one – Being proactive. 5 Habit two – Beginning with the end in mind. 6 Habit three – Putting First things first. 7 Habit four – Thinking win-win. 8 Habit five – seek first to understand, and then be understood. 9 Habit six – synergize 10 Habit seven – Sharpen the saw 10 Conclusion. 11 References 12 Introduction I enjoyed reading Stephen Covey's book 'The seven habits of highly effective people'. I found it very interesting. It is a book worth reading as many times as one can. I totally agreed to all that Covey talked about in the book. The most efficient ways to get the best out of the seven habits mentioned in the book is by having an open mind. It’s captivating how Covey defines success. As a function of attitudes, the public image, habits and skills that ease the interaction process in humans. According to Covey, a character is a composite of our general practices. Habits often show our character and generate our effectiveness. Stephen Covey explains the meaning of effectiveness by quoting what Aristotle once said, "We are what we often do. Excellence is a habit, not an act." (p.46) In his book, Covey has identified seven unique practices. I find them very helpful to the general society of productive people. Happily, those not effective can learn this habits too. Additionally, the aggregate experience of the ages reveals to us that gaining them will give you the character to succeed. Covey (1989, p.24) uses the example of a map. Where he says that every one of us has two maps in our minds, maps that show the realities – the way things are, and maps that show values – how things should be. These maps explain everything we do. Often we question their efficiency; even though we are not in any case aware that we have them. Only, we expect that how we see things is the truth or how they ought to be. If there isn’t fundamental goodness and deep integrity backing up what we do, life's compilations will cause true motives to avail, and relationships failure will take over success. Quoting Emerson, “What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say” (p.22). I like how Covey puts it in the real life situation. He says that there are circumstances where individuals have high character quality. However, they lack relational abilities. It is very visible in our friends, family, colleagues and those we associate to. In Covey's analysis, what we hear is significantly more evident than anything we mention or do. We all have individuals we doubtlessly have trust in, just because we know their character. He further quotes William George Jordan. "Into the hands of every person is given a marvellous power for good or evil. The silent, unconscious, unseen influence of his life is simply the constant radiation of what someone is, not what he pretends to be." (p.22) From the example of the map, changing our habits to improve whom we are can be difficult. It can only be triggered by a bigger reason, and our readiness to replace what we think we ought to know with what we know we need later. As Covey introduces his habits, he explains how we can achieve new habits as we open the gates of change. Although it's not a quick fix, he assures us that we will get immediate benefits. If one can clearly see the picture as a whole, they can have the ability to follow the entire process to the end. He also wants us to have faith in the process. Covey explains independence and dependence. "Dependence is the way of how you take care of me; you come do things for me; I fail; I blame you for the failure". and "Independence is the criterion of I – I will do it; It's my responsibility; I can rely on myself; I have choices."He also adds another paradigm; Interdependence is the criterion of how we can do it: how we can cooperate; together we can build something by joining our abilities and talents (p.24). I am amazed by how Covey presents his encounters and professionally joining the seven habits within the concept of maturity continuum. He successfully clarifies how somebody moves logically from a dependence standard to independence and after that to interdependence, and he skilfully corresponds that with both public and private victories Even though everything that he clarified bodes well, and we may think about it, putting it as a whole in such a way is not any single individual's capacity. One – Being proactive To be proactive means to handle yourself and what we do. People have become reactive. One can't always blame their relatives for everything. People who are proactive carry their problems and attitudes with them. To avoid being reactive, we should shrink the circle of concern and not focus on the thing that are out of control. A proactive person becomes responsible to make things happen. Those who get good jobs are the ones who do the what is necessary, and to hold the correct principles with consistency to get their job done. Covey says that, "Inside the freedom to make choices are the provisions that make us unique humans." Apart from self-awareness, we can see in our thoughts a vision of our current reality. Am thrilled with how he handled a particular group of people with some challenging questions. He started by asking them, "what is going on with us?" The answer was; they were dropping off their friends just for survival. Next he asked them, "In the future, what will happen?" the group thought that it would get worse even before things improved. On his third day with the panel, they targeted on the main proactive question, "How do we respond?" After the session where they discussed on management, cost cutting, and increasing market shares, they were able to concentrate on a few do-able things. After that session, they had now realised they have the power to respond positively. By looking at the way I speak, I have a clue on how I can get a proactive habit. Sometimes I get myself using this terms. “That’s just the way I am.” There’s nothing I can do about it (p.78). “He frustrates me!" It's not my responsibility. My temperamental life is led by something beyond my control (p.78). "I need to do it." Other people's circumstances influence my actions. I don't have a choice to my actions (p.78). Another interesting thing Covey brings up is how he say, "Proactive individuals target their efforts in the Circle of Influence. They target the things they do. They have positive energy, enlarging and magnifying, increasing their Circle of Influence" (p.83). Proactive individuals spend fewer energies focusing on the wider circle of concern but rather focus on their circle of influence. The influence circle contains the persons and things that we can hold. Am left wondering, does more proactive lead to making more mistakes? Covey explains this, that while we make the choices to our actions freely, we cannot have the choice of their consequences. They happen to be administered by the law of nature out in the circle of concern. Therefore, the proactive way to tackle mistake is to accept it in the instant, make a correction to it and have learning from it. Delaying or denying an error is missing its lesson. "Success is on the far side of failure," said IBM founder T. J. Watson (p.91). To become proactive in life, we should try these exercises as Covey suggests: 1. Focus only on my circle of influence. 2. “Maintain commitments” (p.91) 3. "Don't be judgemental, Don't be a critic but a model. Associate yourself with the solution and not the problem" (p.92). Two – Beginning with the end in mind Effective people start by considering their prime goals in mind. My opinion based on this second habit is that, each part of our life, all behaviours involve with what is of importance to us. By maintaining the end focused in our minds, we can ascertain that what we do doesn't conflict the criteria we think is of importance. Also that every day of our lives contribute in an important way to the imaginations we have of our lives. Covey defines 'Begin with the end in mind' as a clear comprehension of our destinations. He says that to know your destination, it is better you know where you are now so that you can move on in the right path" (p.98). I find it very easy to be trapped in activities in this restless life, working so hard to climb the success ladder only to get the ladder is leaning on the wrong wall. Covey tells us that the most effective way is to begin with developing a mission statement. It describes what character we desire and our expected achievements. Even though we may be lazy in writing mission statements for my life, Covey encourages us by saying, "A mission statement is not easy to write. Deep contemplation is needed, creative ideas, crucial review, and many trials to develop it to it to the end. It may take you a very long time to get satisfied with it even before you realize how it has become an important guide for your life. Additionally, you will be required to make improvements to it as time passes bringing (p.129). Three – Putting First things first I have come to learn how crucial this habit is to the growth of our businesses, by maintaining a priority of essential tasks to be done. Covey talks of self-leadership and self-management in this habit. It's leadership that decides what 'first-things' are. On the other hand, management is what carries out the program. He mentions that, apart from being self-aware, and conscious, Being independent is the other individual character that leads them to deciding effectively. Covey says that we aren't to manage time, but rather manage ourselves. Apart from fitting everything in our lives in the allocated period, just like how many plans on management do, we should rather target much on our interactions and attaining goals. In many businesses, you will find crucial tasks piled some being important and others not important. In the same manner, some of them are urgent, and others are not. Therefore, we need to differentiate between tasks that we should attend to first and those that should wait. Furthermore, there are varieties of tasks available for the manager's responsibilities. Apart from maintaining a flawless process of production, the manager has to, arrange orders, couch members of staff, check for quality, and improve team effectiveness. I find Covey's book very useful in this scenario. He challenges me when explains our choices of accepting and rejecting. He says, to say yes to relevant things; you have to know how and when to say "no" to other things, sometimes urgent activities" (p.157). Covey classified the 1st quadrant for activities we regard as important given their contribution towards our missions and the urgency of the activities. In Quadrant 2 he classified the important activities that are not urgent. Some of these activities are devolution, preventing, learning, reading, developing relationships and arrangements. People should build energies and a proactive character so that they have the ability to say no when there is a demand to attend to activities in quadrant 2 and 3. I agree to the fact that Quadrant 2 is critical requirement for successful personal management, even though it associates with relevant yet not demanding activities. To become effective people, we should target more on the relevant activities not the demanding ones in Quadrant 3. Four – Thinking win-win In this section, I realized that Covey has positively showed that managers should be both considerate and courageous in meetings with their counter-parties. Here, being considerate refers to the willingness of the manager to benefit the other party while being courageous shows how much information he/she shares and focus in benefiting his/her own business. I learnt that Win-Win way demanded an exclusive combination of both features, Breakdown of any of them could bring destructive outcomes to either party. In this habit, I conclude that mostly we are unsuccessful in deals solely due to our selfishness. Using the win-win habit requires these traits: Integrity – how we value ourselves Maturity – balance between courage and consideration Abundance mentality Five – seek first to understand, and then be understood. I realised that this habit was more concerned with the previous habit. It is concerned with both bargains and an individual's characteristics of communication. Am taken back to my communication studies by this particular section. Covey explains that the most important word to know so as to master habit five is 'listening'. Listening to our workmates, relatives, counterparts, and friends – with no intention of replying, convincing, or manipulating them. Just listen for the purpose of understanding and to know what they think. Covey introduces empathy, a listening skill. Empathic listening is very strong because it gives us authentic information to use. It involves listening with your ears, eyes and heart to feel for meaning. This habit teaches me that when other things are equal, the dynamics of humans are more important than the technical dimensions of deals. This habit benefits an individual in different ways together with; though not limited to providing solutions to staff problems, making approaches and taking preferences to performing an activity, etc. Six – synergize Covey defines synergy as the highest activity in life. The use of the previous habits readies us for this habit, through synergy, we create new alternatives untapped and yet to exist. We let out people's powers making a whole bigger than the addition of its parts. He explains the basis of synergy as how two people can be in disagreement, and yet both could be right. It is both logical and psychological. Covey says, "Once people have gotten real synergy, they are never the same again. They know the possibility of knowing other such mind-expanding adventures in the future" (p.264). What opens us to the power of synergy will depend on all the habits as one. It requires confidence, empathy, and integrity. All joined in one critical ability, valuation and exploitation of the mental, psychological and emotional differences amongst people. I can see the effectiveness of having sessions and investing time with other parties just to reach a collective synergistic solution. It develops a highly respectful team, highly emotional and closely related regardless of the strength of the disagreement. In my view, it was just an ordinary result of taking effort investing time to understand. The importance of synergy is to valuing contrasts of mental, emotion and the people's psychology. People are never the same again after going through synergy. Seven – Sharpen the saw. According to Covey, Sharpen the saw reflects to preserving and improving the greatest assets we own. This habit is what makes all the other habits possible. Sharpening means re-innovating ourselves in all four nature's aspects; "The physical dimension involves caring effectively for our physical body." involves eating good food, doing exercises regularly, resting and relaxing." (p.291) "The spiritual dimension is your centre, the commitment to your value system. It's a very crucial area of life and a supremely important one. It draws upon the sources that inspire and uplift you and tie you to the timeless truths of all humanity." (p.149) we can get spiritual renewing through, spiritual reading, meditation, and study. Mental dimension is renewed through reading, planning, visualizing and writing. The social/emotional – can be renewed through empathy, synergy, service and security. Exercising in all these dimensions requires us to be proactive. I realised that this section was more targeted on motivation and implementation that helps in uplifting spirits and enabling someone make his/her life effective. Therefore, I learnt that Covey comments that it is our primary responsibility to enhance our best assets, which are us. It encouraged me to enhance my characters, not just for business life, but also for the other daily tasks too. The concept of this habit is so important in commerce and interactions to obtain the best. If a person in the business takes the required duration to replace his employees or re-establish all the business. Conclusion In conclusion, Cover tells us there exist a difference between response and stimulus. How we use this difference is the key to both happiness and our growth. Am left wondering, do I respond to situations in a positive manner, proactively? Am I taking control of myself?. Stephen Covey's book ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People' is a very important material for everyone. It shows the things that can assist people not only in their businesses and jobs, but also in their day to day tasks. I learnt that majority of the things Covey discussed were direct. It's what people do not pay attention to, else they do not know how to obtain the aspects of their lives. Therefore, the book helps in recognising the benefits together with the ways to use the personal aspects in one's life. Concerning this, I learnt that Covey has carefully defined the gains from the use of a visual diagram that let people master them visually. I found all habits described by Covey very beneficial to our businesses and careers. To conclude, I find this book very helpful in getting the methods that I can use to become effective in life. I would also recommend other people to use this book to obtain the knowledge of becoming effective. Covey has also motivated me with the concept of the emotional bank account. Having great openness, respect, and trust, then credibility will follow. Situations and issues will be targeted rather than positions and responsibilities. Additionally, communication and understanding will be very high. References Covey, S. (1989). The seven habits of highly effective people. Simon and Schuster, New York. Read More