7 Habits of Highly Effective people
I hope most of us have come across this book written by Stephen R. Covey, who would have read this book on improving themselves on a personal and professional front.
But have you ever faced a situation to read it once again from start, and still, you visualize yourself behind in all terms of the personal traits or habits keyed out in this book? I am also the one among you.
What made me read this book once again?
This book was first introduced to me by my college mate, who was an avid book reader, when I was doing my engineering and was searching for a job in my final year. Until then I was a casual reader who reads stories only on certain times when I was bored. After reading this book I started to have an earning in my heart and mind to learn more things about personal improvement and which also helped me in changing the perspective of how I started to perceive people and things around me, and also helped me in landing on a job.
You might ask, Ok! You have read this book and you landed the job and you would have succeeded in your professional life. But why read it once again?
My answer would be no. I have not succeeded yet. The first time I read this book I was reading it and learning some quick fixes on personal and professional problems and was improving my personality ethics which the world recognizes and how it sees us. But this time when I started to read, it is like I have not read this book and what am reading is totally new and I have started to understand that building character ethics is more crucial than personality ethics.
Character ethics
Honesty, Modesty, Empathy, Humility, Hardwork, self-control, patience and Integrity were some of the important characters which everyone should focus on developing from inside, rather than focusing on the outside personality traits like the way you dress, speak and showcase yourself by self-promoting about how you would be perceived by others.
To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.
One should develop oneself by focusing on learning about themselves from inside-out to improve their character, by learning about the chronic problems and finding a permanent solution, which will be helping them over the long run, rather than focusing on solving the acute problems with quick fixes and easy solutions by hustle reading more personal improvement books.
We see the world, not as it is, but as we are──or, as we are conditioned to see it.
This book helps us to learn about the 7 principles which everyone should keep in mind always to achieve private success and proceed to acquire public success and retain it.
7 Principles
I am not going to say or explain about what are the seven principles and what they do and how do you achieve it. Its already done by Stephen very well in his book. This article is just an inspiration about his work and how it is going to improve our life by learning these principles and abiding by it.
The first 3 principles of this book talk about personal success and how to achieve it by improving the basic character of a person inside-out. A person will grow from being dependent on others to be independent physically, emotionally and intellectually.
And the next 3 principles talk about the public success on how one will achieve his relationship with the outside world, by moving upward in maturity continuum to interdependence. One will learn the difference between doing work independently and doing it along with others interdependently by using the help of others and growing as a whole in an organization or in a family.
The 7th principle is about renewal of oneself around these 6 principles and doing it as a continuous process in improving personal and professional life.
P/PC principle
A farmer who has a golden goose should not only concentrate on the golden eggs, but also take care of the goose which produces it, in order to achieve the same constant success of the golden egg. In other terms, a boss should not only concentrate on the profits but also on the assets and employee who produces them, to achieve constant success in the future too.
If the farmer is too greedy to kill the golden goose to get all the golden eggs at a time, then he will end up in losing both the eggs and the goose which produces it. There should be a balance between production (P) and production capability (PC) to ensure constant success in the future.
Habits
Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.
Why does he call them a habit? As he wanted to make these principles inherited by us our innate character and repeat them as a habit and not only to read it once and leave it aside.
Humans have a tendency to read the books to achieve some quick fixes for the problems they face currently and not focusing on the chronic problems which they were facing and will be facing in the future and not ready to accept the failures and don’t know how to move away from it or avoid it.
It’s not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us.
Habit is the intersection of Knowledge (what to do), Skills (How to do) and Desire (Want to do) which keeps us motivated in achieving the success which everyone earns in their life. All people who will see other’s success want to know how they achieved it, and ask the winners to share some knowledge about some easy tips, in order to achieve success. But they don’t want to learn and pursue the hard work and the difficult path the winners had taken for the great success.
Principles are the territory. Values are maps. When we value correct principles, we have truth — a knowledge of things as they are.
If you have a map of a location, you are in, you would be able to find and move to the correct place where you want to be. If you have a wrong map of a different place other than what you need or where you are, then it will be impossible to move to the specific place you want. This book is a map through which you will find the right guidance on how to achieve the right place you earn to go.
This is not a book to read it once and leave it. Read it again and again when you find you are not in correct path and you need guidance and shift your paradigm to a new level.
Above are some snippets from the book and I hope it excites you to read the principles and make sure you follow it by practicing it and speaking about it with others. I found it anew by reading it again after 13 years. I am sure you will too.
— Happy Reading 😊
