Do You Know The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People?
Are you an individual who wants to be more capable with your life?
Do you want to be an effective person who knows how to use their time wisely?
Do you wish to have a higher self-esteem?
Do you want more independence from people and things around you?
If so, take The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. These habits will help guide your decision-making process and keep on track with what matters most in your life. This blog post will go over each habit in depth, explaining the benefits as well as how it can be formed into a part of personal routine. As someone who has read the book, I know this advice can do wonders for anyone's life.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a book written by Stephen Covey, which originally released in 1989. The main focus of the book was to provide an effective system to lead one's life. Based off of this success, Covey wrote another book, which focused on each individual habit– 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens . This book helped introduce the concepts of self-discovery and self-improvement to younger audiences.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a self-improvement book that will have you talking to yourself out loud, every day. It is full of practical advice that can be formed into a daily routine.
The purpose for this blog post is to provide an in-depth review on each habit, why it's important, and how you can incorporate this into your daily life for maximum effectiveness.
Governing Principle: The first habit in the book, which Covey calls the "Governing Principle", states that "We tend to become what we believe". This means that if you want to change yourself as an individual, you have to believe it yourself. This is something that you say to yourself in your head, every day.
Covey provides the reader with a strong foundation for their own self-awareness and self-discipline. If you can practice the first habit in your life, the rest of the habits will come a lot easier for you to learn and practice. The first habit is going to be difficult as it requires quite a bit of self-evaluation but by implementing effective communication, planning and implementation skills, this will help motivate you to keep improving yourself until it becomes a part of your routine.
Be Proactive: This second habit teaches readers about taking initiative instead of being reactive all the time. If you are proactive, you are better at planning and creating a solution to a problem before it even arises.
You can practice this by writing out your priorities and goals, making sure that they align with what is most important in your life. This will teach you how to plan out your days instead of being unorganized and just wasting time on unnecessary tasks. This also helps develop leadership skills as well, because as a leader, you can set an example for others to follow by setting goals for yourself and practicing the second habit of being proactive.
Begin With The End In Mind: This third habit reminds us to live our lives with meaning, instead of just drifting through it mindlessly. This helps us plan for the future and the consequences that could occur from our actions. If you are living your life without purpose or meaning, you are less likely to act positively towards your goals. This means that when you set goals and make plans for the future, you will be happier overall as well as more likely to stick with them until they're accomplished.
Begin With The End In Mind also includes another habit called "Master Your Day", where you start from the end instead of starting from the beginning. By starting from the end, you can get a quick overview of what needs to be accomplished within a certain period of time, giving yourself an advantage in knowing what needs to be done first. This habit also helps us set goals that are realistic and attainable. As we know, reaching a goal is only half the battle. If we just write down a goal that seems too far away or unattainable, it can be hard to stay motivated to achieve it.
Start Small: This habit teaches us that starting small will help our lives grow over time. This means that by setting your goals little by little in the beginning, you will be more likely to reach them. When you try to go all out right away, you are bound to fail and end up with more disappointment then success. Instead of trying to accomplish everything in your life at once, start by taking one small step at a time and building up from there.
This information also leads us to Habit 6: Sharpen The Saw, where it is important to maintain your physical, mental and spiritual health in order to perform at your best. A great way to accomplish this is by exercising and staying active, eating well and taking out time for yourself.
Seek First To Understand Then To Be Understood: This habit teaches us the importance of communication with others. This means that before you try and persuade someone or tell them something, you need to understand what they are saying first. You can't expect them to listen if you don't know what their ideals are in the first place. This also helps with how we communicate with ourselves too. If you don't understand yourself well, how can you expect to influence others to listen?
Practice The 3P's Of Communication:
Principle 1: "Put yourself in their shoes" means that you need to understand what the person is feeling. This helps develop empathy and understanding for others. To learn this habit, try and imagine how you would feel about a situation if it were happening to you. You need to be able to put yourself into the shoes of others in any given situation, helping with being a leader as well as a team member.
Principle 2: "Practical Application" means that whatever skills or knowledge we have, we need to put them into action. If we are good at one thing, we need to try and use this skill in different areas of our lives to improve outcomes.
Principle 3: "Positive Intent" means that you should always assume positive intent up until proven otherwise. You should treat others how you want to be treated, taking into consideration how they feel about something before you express your own opinion. This habit helps with not only communication but also with collaboration and interpersonal relationships as well.
Synergize: This habit teaches us that by working together, we can produce better outcomes than working independently. This can be applied to teamwork inside the workplace or even friendships. By working together, we can divide and conquer tasks more efficiently and develop stronger bonds with those around you. It is important to accept help from others and have a positive attitude in order to succeed as a team, by understanding that everyone has something unique to bring to the table.
Sharpen The Saw: This habit reminds us that in order for us to improve ourselves as individuals, we need to take care of our physical selves. This means that we need exercise on a regular basis, eat well and take time out of our hectic schedules every day for a good quality of life.
Conclusion
As you can see, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has a lot to offer. These habits are not only applicable to business or personal life, but they also can be applied to every aspect of your life and help you become a happier and healthier person.
If you are struggling with any areas in your life, whether it be relationships, finances, fitness or career; I suggest reading this book and applying its principles as much as possible. This book changed my own life by helping me realize what I was doing wrong and teach myself how to be a better person overall.