The 7 Habits of Highly

Stephen Covey's book is one of the phenomena of modern personal
development writing. It has sold a million copies a year since its
release, has been translated into 32 languages, and forms the intellectual
basis of a large corporation. It took Dale Carnegie's How To
Win Friends and Influence People 60 years to have the same sort of
impact.
What was it that lifted it above the mass of books claiming the
secret to a better existence?
Inside-out success
First, it was timing. The 7 Habits came out just as we entered the
1990s. Suddenly, aspiring to be a "master of the universe" in a
shoulder-padded world did not seem to satisfy, and people were ready
for a different prescription for getting what they really wanted out of
life. Covey's message of "restoring the character ethic" was so oldfashioned
that it seemed revolutionary.
Having studied the success literature of the last 200 years for a doctoral
dissertation, Covey was able to draw a distinction between what
he termed the "personality ethic"—the quick-fix solutions and human
relations techniques that had pervaded much of the writing in the twentieth
century—and the "character ethic"—which revolved around
unchanging personal principles. Covey believed that outward success
was not success at all if it was not the manifestation of inner mastery.
Or, in his terminology, "private victory" must precede "public victory."
A business plan for personal life
The second, more practical reason for the book's success is that it is a
compelling read, both as a self-help book and as a leadership/management
manual. This crossover status effectively doubled its market. It
also means that the reader interested only in personal development
may not like the management terms, diagrams, and business anecdotes
that fill it. For a book that is so much about changing
paradigms, it is remarkably representative of the paradigm of business
thinking.
But this should be a small price to pay for what is a brilliant guide
to reengineering your life, enlivened by Covey's personal and family
experiences. Covey may be Dale Carnegie's heir in many ways, but his
classic is more systematic, comprehensive, and life-expanding than any
of the modern self-help titles that came before it.
Habits: The building blocks of change
The emphasis on habits as the basic units of change has also been
important in the book's success. Covey saw that real greatness was the
result of the slow development of character over time; it is our daily
habits of thinking and acting that are the ground on which that greatness
is built. The 7 Habits promises a life revolution, not as a big bang,
but as the cumulative result of thousands of small, evolutionary
changes. The English novelist Charles Reade summarized what Covey
is referring to:
"Sow a thought, and you reap an action; sow an action, and you reap a
habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you
reap a destiny."
Effective vs. efficient
Finally, the success of the book owes much to the use of "effective" in
the title. By the late 1980s, western culture had had decades of management
theory about efficiency. The concept of time management, a
product of a machine-obsessed culture, had spilled over into the personal
domain, and we could have been forgiven for thinking that any
problems in our lives were the result of "inefficient allocation of
resources." However, Covey took a different perspective, and he had
this message: Think about what is most important to you and see if it
is the center around which your life revolves. Don't worry about efficiency.
There is no use being "efficient" if what you are doing lacks
meaning or an essential good.
The 7 Habits puts effectiveness at a higher level than achievement.
Achievement is hollow unless what you achieve is actually worthwhile,
both in terms of your highest aims and service to others. Covey's view
is that the personality ethic of twentieth-century self-help had helped to
create a high-achieving society that also did not happen to know where
it was going.
The habit of responsibility
The seven habits are predicated on a willingness to see the world anew,
to have the courage to take life seriously. The book struck a nerve
because it showed many of us, perhaps for the first time, what genuine
responsibility was about. To blame "the economy" or "my terrible
employer" or "my family" for our troubles was useless. To have fulfillment
and personal power, we had to decide what we would take
responsibility for, what was in our "circle of concern." Only by working
on ourselves could we hope to expand our "circle of influence."
To review the seven habits briefly:
1 Be proactive. We always have the freedom to choose our reactions
to stimuli, even if everything else is taken away. With that ability
also comes the knowledge that we do not have to live by the scripts
that family or society has given us. Instead of "being lived," we
accept full responsibility for our life the way conscience tells us that
it was meant to be lived. We are no longer a reactive machine but a
proactive person.
2 Begin with the end in mind. What do I want people to say about me
at my funeral? By writing our own eulogy or creating a personal
mission statement, we create the ultimate objective or person first,
and work backward from there. We have a self-guidance system that
gives us the wisdom to make the right choice, so that whatever we
do today is in line with the image created of ourselves at the end.
3 Put first things first. Habit 3 puts into daily action the farsightedness
of habit 2. Having that ultimate picture in our mind, we
can plan our days for maximum effectiveness and enjoyment. Our
time is spent with the people and the things that really matter.
4 Think Win/Win. One person's success doesn't need to be achieved at
the expense of the success of others. In seeking Win/Win, we never
endanger our own principles. The result is a better relationship—
"not your way or my way, a better way"—created by truly seeing
from the other person's perspective.
5 Seek to understand, then to be understood. Without empathy, there
is no influence. Without deposits in the emotional bank account of
relationships, there is no trust. Genuine listening gives precious psychological
air to the other person, and opens a window on to their
soul.
6 Synergize. Synergy results from the exercise of all the other habits. It
brings forth "third alternatives" or perfect outcomes that cannot be
predicted from adding up the sum of the parts.
7 Sharpen the saw. We need to balance the physical, spiritual, mental,
and social dimensions of life. "Sharpening the saw" to increase productivity
involves taking the time to regularly renew ourselves in
these areas.
Final comments
The author's heroes are a guide to his philosophy. Benjamin Franklin is
put forward as a perfect example of the character ethic in action, "the
story of one man's effort to integrate certain principles and habits deep
within his nature." Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian leader who originated
the Middle East peace accords, also ranks highly in Covey's mind as a
person who successfully "rescripted" himself. Covey uses the story of
concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl (see Man's Search For
Meaning) to support his personal responsibility ethic, and Henry David
Thoreau (see Walden) to illustrate the independent mind.
It has been said that Covey's seven habits are merely common sense.
On their own they may be, but put together in the one package, in that
sequence, and with the philosophy of principle-centeredness to support
them, they can produce the synergy that Covey celebrates.
A common criticism of self-help is that a seminar or a book can
inspire us enormously, then we forget about it. Through its use of
habits as the units of action and change, The 7 Habits gives readers the
momentum to incorporate its teachings into daily life. We are given the
means for changing the little, in order to transform the big.