The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
I read this book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, some time ago. I even took a class about it. The 7 habits are:
- Be proactive
- Begin with the end in mind
- Put first things first
- Think win-win
- Seek to understand, then seek to be understood
- Synergize
- Sharpen the saw
Adopting these habits, to me, was beneficial firstly at work. It helped when I was trying to get into leadership. I do hate having to read books that go on and on about a specific topic. I like short reads when it comes to these self improvement types of books.
The whole book can be summarized as below.
Being proactive; literally, don’t wait for people to come to you with a problem, be able to recognize problems and handle them. When you are working on a problem… Think of the solution and work backwards if its a big problem. I know that works on small problems too; that’s beginning with the end in mind. If you have a ton of problems, learn to prioritize them by working on what is urgent and important, then on what’s important but not urgent, because the important and not urgent will eventually become urgent. That’s putting first things first. The part of thinking win-win, that’s honestly about trying to help others succeed because they will eventually also help you succeed. Also, its about returning the favor if people help you win. If people talk with you, try to understand them; like what are they really saying? Is there some underlying thing they are saying that they’re not saying? Sometimes people beat around the bush. When you communicate, try to be clear. Make sure you’re understood! In a team environment, even if its just a partnership, leverage everyone’s strengths if that will be helpful to solve a problem. It’s better to leverage strengths. That’s synergizing. Lastly, sharpening the saw is about keeping up with your personal improvement stuff. Stay smart.
If you do want to read more about it, here’s a sample below. Even better if you want to just buy the book here.
