The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey

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Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
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Covey presents an approach
to being effective in
attaining goals by aligning
oneself to what he calls
"true north" principles based
on a character ethic that he
presents as universal and
timeless.
Introduction
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People first published in 1989,
is a business and self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey.

During his 25 years of working with successful individuals in
business, universities, and relationship settings, Stephen Covey
discovered that high-achievers were often plagued with a sense
of emptiness.
Introduction
In an attempt to understand why, he
read several self-improvement, self-
help, and popular psychology books
written over the past 200 years. It
was here that he noticed a stark
historical contrast between two
types of success.

Covey defines effectiveness as the balance of obtaining desirable
results with caring for that which produces those results.
Introduction
He illustrates this by referring to the
fable of the goose that laid the
golden eggs.
He further claims that effectiveness
can be expressed in terms of the
P/PC ratio, where P refers to getting
desired results and PC is caring for
that which produces the results.

Covey's best-known book has sold more than 25 million copies
worldwide since its first publication. The audio version became the
first non-fiction audio-book in U.S. publishing history to sell more
than one million copies.
Introduction
Covey argues against what he calls
"the personality ethic", that he sees
as prevalent in many modern self-
help books. He promotes what he
labels "the character ethic": aligning
one's values with so-called universal
and timeless principles.

In doing this, Covey distinguishes principles and values. He sees
principles as external natural laws, while values remain internal
and subjective.
Introduction
Our values govern our behavior, while
principles ultimately determine the
consequences. Covey presents his
teachings in a series of habits,
manifesting as a progression from
dependence through independence on
to interdependence.

Today more than ever we need to improve life and work
effectiveness. They represent a proven process of personal and
interpersonal growth that can have an immediate and lasting impact.
The purpose of The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective People ® is to help
you lead your life in a truly effective
way and thus, your organization to
achieve greater productivity, improved
communication, strengthened
relationships, increased influence, and
laser-like focus on critical priorities.
Course Objective

Contents
The 7 Habits
Independence
1- Be proactive
2- Begin with the end in mind
3- First things first
4- Think win-win
5- Seek first to understand, then
to be understood
6- Synergize
Continual improvement
7- Sharpen the Saw; Growth

The Paradigm Shift
Covey introduces the concept of paradigm shift and helps the
reader understand that different perspectives exist,
i.e. that two people
can see the same
thing and yet differ
from each other.

The 7 Habits
Covey also introduces
the Maturity Continuum.
These are three successive
stages of increasing
maturity:
dependence, independence,
and interdependence.

It’s a principle-centered,
character-based, “inside-
out” approach to personal
and interpersonal
effectiveness. It emphasis
focus on Character ethic and
moving along the maturity
continuum from
dependence to
independence to inter-
dependence.
The Maturity Continuum

At birth, everybody
is dependent, and
characteristics of
dependence may
linger; this is the
first and lowest
stage of maturity.

I may be emotionally dependent
on other people's affirmation and
validation of me. Dependence is
the attitude of "you": you take
care of me... or you don't come
through and I blame you for the
result.
Dependence means you need others to get what you need. All of
us began life as an infant, depending on others for nurturing and
sustenance. I may be intellectually dependent on other people's
thinking;

Independence means you are pretty much free from the external
influence [and] support of others. Independence is the attitude of
"I".
It is the avowed goal of many
individuals, and also many social
movements, to enthrone
independence as the highest level of
achievement, but it is not the
ultimate goal in effective living.
There is a far more mature and more
advanced level.

The third and highest level in the Maturity Continuum is
interdependence. We live in an interdependent reality.
Interdependence is essential for good
leaders; good team players;
a successful marriage or family life;
in organizations. Interdependence is the
attitude of "we": we can co-operate;
we can be a team; we can combine our
talents.
— Stephen Covey, The 7 habits of highly
effective people (1998)]

Each of the first three habits is intended to help achieve
independence. The next three habits are intended to help achieve
interdependence.
The final, seventh habit is
intended to help maintain
these achievements. Each of
the seven habits has a
chapter of the book (or a
section of the videotape or
DVD) devoted to it:

Independence
The first three habits surround moving from dependence to
independence (i.e., self-mastery):
Habit 1 - Be Proactive
Take responsibility for your reaction to your experiences, take the
initiative to respond positively, and improve the situation.
Recognize your Circle of
Influence and Circle of Concern.
Focus your responses and
initiates on the center of your
influence and constantly work to

Habit 2 - Begin with the end in mind
Envision what you want in the future so you can work and plan
towards it. Understand how people make decisions in their life.
Independence
To be effective you need to act
based on principles and
constantly review your mission
statements.
Are you - right now - who you
want to be? What do I have to
say about myself? How do you
want to be remembered?

Habit 2 - Begin with the end in mind
If habit 1 advises changing your life to act and be proactive, habit 2
advises that you are the programmer! Grow and stay humble.
Independence
All things are created twice. Before
we act, we should act in our minds
first. Before we create something,
we measure twice. This is what
the principle is about. Do not just
act; think first: Is this how I want it
to go, and are these the correct
consequences?

Independence
Habit 3 - First things first
Matrix of importance vs urgency that Stephen Covey and Dwight
D. Eisenhower used in deciding where to invest their efforts.
Talks about what is important and what
is urgent. Priority should be given in
the following order (in brackets are
the corresponding actions from
the Eisenhower Matrix, which
Dwight D. Eisenhower attributed to a
former College president)
.

Independence
Quadrant I. Urgent and important (Do) –
important deadlines and crises
Quadrant II. Not urgent but important (Plan)
– long-term development
Quadrant III. Urgent but not
important (Delegate)
– distractions with deadlines
Quadrant IV. Not urgent and not
important (Eliminate)
– frivolous distractions you do.

Independence
The order is important; after completing items in quadrant I, we
should spend the majority of our time on II, but many people
spend too much time in III and IV.
The calls to delegate and eliminate are
effective reminders of their relative
priority.
If habit 2 advises that you are the
programmer, habit 3 advises: write
the program, become a leader! Keep
personal integrity: what you say vs
what you do.

Interdependence
The next three habits talk about interdependence (e.g. working
with others):
Habit 4 - Think win-win
Genuine feelings for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements
in your relationships.
Value and respect people by
understanding a "win" for all is
ultimately a better long-term
resolution than if only one
person in the situation had
gotten their way.

Interdependence
Habit 4 - Think win-win
Think Win-Win isn't about being nice, nor is it a quick-fix technique.
It is a character-based
code for human
interaction and
collaboration.

Interdependence
5 - Seek first to understand, then to be understood
Use empathetic listening to genuinely understand a person,
which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an
open mind to be influenced by you.
This creates an
atmosphere of
caring, and positive
problem-solving.

The order is important:
1) Ethos, your Character,
2) Pathos, your Relationships,
3) Logos, the Logic of your
Presentation.
Habit 5 is greatly embraced in the Greek philosophy represented
by 3 words: 1) Ethos 2) Pathos 3) Logos

1) Ethos - your personal credibility.
It's the trust that
you inspire, your
Emotional Bank
Account.

2) Pathos is the empathetic side.
- it's the
alignment with
the emotional
trust of another
person's
communication
.

3) Logos is the logic of your presentation.
- its the reasoning
part of the
argumentation
supplemented
with facts, figures
and case studies

Interdependence
6 - Synergize
Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork,
so as to achieve goals that no one could have done alone.
“Synergy is not the same as
compromise.
In a compromise, one plus one
equals one and a half at best.”
DR. STEPHEN R. COVEY

Interdependence
6 - Synergize
When people begin to interact together genuinely, and they’re
open to each other’s influence, they begin to gain new insight.
The capability of inventing
new approaches is
increased exponentially
because of differences.

The final habit is that of continuous improvement in both the
personal and interpersonal spheres of influence.
Habit 7 - Sharpen the Saw; Growth
Balance and renew your
resources, energy, and
health to create
a sustainable, long-term,
effective lifestyle.

It primarily emphasizes exercise for physical renewal, good prayer
(meditation, yoga, etc.) and good reading for mental renewal.
It also mentions
service to society for
spiritual renewal.

Covey explains the "Upward Spiral" model in the sharpening the
saw section.
Through our conscience,
along with meaningful and
consistent progress, the
spiral will result in growth,
change, and constant
improvement.

The Upward Spiral model consists of three parts: learn, commit, do.
According to Covey, one
must be increasingly
educating the conscience in
order to grow and develop
on the upward spiral.
The idea of renewal by
education will propel one
along the path of personal
freedom, security, wisdom,
and power.

In essence, one is always attempting to integrate and master the
principles outlined in The 7 Habits at progressively higher levels at
each iteration.
Subsequent development
on any habit will render a
different experience and
you will learn the
principles with a deeper
understanding.

Abundance mentality
Covey coined the
term abundance
mentality, or
abundance mindset,
a concept in which a
person believes
there are enough
resources and
successes to share
with others.

Abundance mentality
He contrasts it with the scarcity mindset (i.e. destructive and
unnecessary competition), which is founded on the idea that if
someone else wins or is successful in a situation,
…it means you lose,
because you are not
considering the possibility
of all parties "winning" in
some way or another in a
given situation.
(see zero-sum game)

Abundance mentality
Individuals having an abundance mentality reject the notion of
zero-sum games and are able to celebrate the success of others,
rather than feel threatened by them.
The author contends
that the abundance
mentality arises from
having a high self-
worth and security.

Abundance mentality
See Habits 1, 2, and 3, and leads to the sharing of profits,
recognition and responsibility. Similarly, organizations may also
apply an abundance mentality when doing business.
After The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective
People was published,
the business press have
discussed the idea.

References
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" - Stephen Covey,
Archived from the original on October 7, 2012.
’’7 Habits' author Stephen Covey dead at 79".
CNN. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
The 7 Habits: Begin With the End in Mind
Stephen Covey – Begin With The End In Mind

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey

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