Some great lessons from the 7 habits of Highly Effective People

Hello buddies! How are you doing? I hope you are fine, safe and healthy.

First of all I am sorry that I couldn’t publish any article in past a few days. I spent much of my time thinking about what should I write a new article about, what should be the topic and so on. So today I finished reading the book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and It took me almost a month due to being extra lazy as I’ve been procrastinating my life away, which I’m working to get better on and come to the normal routine. I thought to give a review on this book. I asked my brother too about it as he has already read this book so he guided me.

Should I write an article on this topic? He said, “Yes you may write”. He scolded me and said, you have not written any article yet, you were very passionate to make account on read.cash and now you’re taking about 1 week to write one article.

This was all about my day, now let’s move towards the topic.

This book is written by Stephen R. Covey and published in 1989.There are many chapters in this book. But I will touch some of them that are very close to my heart. I learnt a lot of lessons from this book.

About the book: The book is about courage and aspirations.

Now the question is why its name is 7 habits of highly effective people? The answer is the chapters that are included in this book are based on 7 habits.

The following are the 7 habits that are described in that book.

1.Be Proactive:

People are not proactive in life but rather reactive. They react to external factors (external factors influence our daily lives and decisions we make). Their behavior and emotions change and depend on situation and on environment.

2.Begin with the End:

Working to become more focused is pointless if you don’t know why you’re doing this thing in the first place. Not knowing what’s really important to you and why you’re working towards it is like planning for a failure. To avoid this, it is necessary to be aware of your goal.

Firstly, make planning and then move towards your goal. If you have long term planning then you could easily reach on your destination.

3.Put first things first:

“First things first” means you should prioritize thoroughly. Approaching everything confusingly won’t ever lead you to become more productive.

It does not mean you have to put to-do-lists and then just tick them one-by-one. First thing first means you have to distinguish between different tasks and then prioritize them according to the importance. If something is more close to you and you think that it should be delayed then give it priority.

4.Think win-win:

If it’s distraction that holds you back, think of what others will gain if you’re more focused at work. Make this change part of something greater than yourself, and your entire team will get benefit from it. If you’re thinking good for yourself, think same for others. #Be Positive

5.Seek first to understand then to be understood:

You should be empathetic and a good listener. If you have these qualities then expect from people that they will listen to you. You could be understood, like if we see around us in our friends or family, people like to speak but no one likes to listen to others. They don’t realize that we should understand then to be understood.

6.Synergy:

Stephen Covey(the writer) sees synergy with others as a way of recognizing and appreciating differences. When people synergize (interact) with each others, they empathize with each other and work together towards achieving a greater result.

7. Sharpen the saw:

Sharpen the saw means “self-care”, whether it’s emotionally, mentally or physically. When you sharpen yourself, you get and preserve more in yourself.

In these ways, you may sharpen yourself:

~Take care of yourself, eat right, exercise daily.

~Spend your time with your family and friends.

~Sharpen the saw keeps you fresh when your mind will be fresh then you could continue to practice the other six habits.

Now, I share story with you guys that I read and learnt something very special from. It is about ( habit#5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood)

Title: Off to Bed!

This story is between son and father.

In this story, Stephen Covey shared that I was attending seminar and there was a senior manager he was probably about forty five years old, and he shared his experience. He said that it was about 8’O clock when I told my son to go to his bedroom. He didn’t want to go and I was forcing him to go to bed because he had to go to school in the morning.

The father tried to use logic with his son but his son didn’t listen to his father at all. He found himself moving towards his son to grab his arms forcefully. Then he realized that I should not do this, I must listen to my son empathically. He stopped his son and knelt down and said, “You seem frustrated about going to bed” What happened to you? Is everything okay?

The manager said, my son wanted to say something to me but he was not expressing so, I asked him to go to his bedroom. He looked at me suspiciously as he was not expecting that I’d talk to him.

We talked all night about school, feelings, experience. I left his room at mid night and now I feel like I know my son. I just never listened before.

Moral Of The Story: We don’t listen to others we don’t realize what the other person wants to express and is going through, so we should always understand then to be understood.

I have shared my understanding and experience with you guys. I’ll suggest you to read this book because this is very interesting and full of knowledge.

If you have read this book, then share your experience in the comment section below and tell what you have learnt from this book.

P.S. All the content in this article is my own, it's neither plagiarized nor stolen from anywhere else.