• Most of us learn to base our self-worth on comparisons and competition. We think about succeeding in terms of someone else failing—if I win, you lose; or if you win, I lose. Life becomes a zero-sum game. We all play the game, but how much fun is it really?• Win-win sees life as a cooperative arena, not a competitive one. Win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions.

4. Think Win-Win

• Be Proactive is about taking responsibility for your life. Proactive people recognize that they are “response-able”.<ul><li> They don’t blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior.</li><li>Reactive people, on the other hand, are often affected by their Environment . If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn’t, it affects their attitude and performance, and they blame the weather.</li></ul>

1. Be Proactive

• Most people listen with the intent to reply, not to understand. You listen to yourself as you prepared in your mind what you are going to say, the questions you are going to ask, etc. You filter everything you hear through your life experiences, your frame of reference.<ul><li>Listen deeply </li><li> Understand </li><li>Reply with full understanding </li></ul>

5.Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood

• Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have—YOU. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual.• Increase your capacity to produce and handle the challenges around you. Without this renewal, the body becomes weak, the mind mechanical, the emotions raw, the spirit insensitive.

7. Sharpen The Saw

• Begin With the End in Mind is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation. • If you don’t make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default.

2. Begin With End In Mind 

“Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.”

“When the trust is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.”

“It's not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us.”

1. Be proactive2. Begin with the end in mind3. Put first things first4. Think “win-win”5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood6. Synergise7. Sharpen the saw

Short Summary

• Proactive people work on the things they can do something about.• Management is doing THINGS RIGHT; leadership is doing the RIGHT THINGS.• A paradigm is a way to “see” the world.• We see the world, not as it is, but as we are conditioned to “see” it.• To make relatively minor changes in your life, focus on your attitudes and behaviors. To make significant, quantum change, work on your basic paradigms.

Quantum Change

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

What are “first things?” First things are those things you find of most worth. If you put first things first, you are organizing and managing time and events according to the personal priorities.

3. Put First Things First

• To put it simply, synergy means “two heads are better than one.” Synergize is the habit of creative cooperation. • Together, they can produce far better results than they could individually. Synergy lets us discover jointly things we are much less likely to discover by ourselves. It is the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

6. Synergise

“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”—Stephen R. Covey

A leading management consultant outlines seven organizational rules for improving effectiveness and increasing productivity at work and at home.

productivity

Productivity

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

habits

Habits

problemsolving

Problem Solving

books

Books

The 7 habits of highly effective people is recognised as one of the most influential books ever written. In this seminal work, Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centred approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty and human dignity -- principles that give us the security to adapt to change, and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates. The 7 Habits have become so famous because they work. From Habit 1: Be Proactive and Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind, millions of People have worked their way through the 7 and found in them a key to transforming their lives. This book has been the key to the success of legions of business leaders and individuals the world over.

Stephen R. Covey is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Stephen R. Covey has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Stephen R. Covey's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

STEPHEN R. COVEY

Similar ideas

How bad habits hurt us

A proper frame of mind

Task interruption and the need for closure