7 habits of highly effective people

Habit 1 - Be proactive.  We can choose our own response to any signals or information we receive. We have the ability to influence our own actions. Therefore, being proactive means to actively choose what our response will be in any situation rather than to react blindly.

Habit 2 - Begin with the end in mind.  Main Idea Beginning with the end in mind means using an image or paradigm of your character at the end of your life as a frame of reference or criterion by which everything is examined. Each part of your life should be examined in the context of the whole - the long-term view.

Habit 3 - Put first things first. Main Idea The heart of effective personal time management is to spend the maximum time possible doing important jobs in a non-urgent atmosphere that increases your efficiency.

Habit 4 - Think win/win. Main Idea The most effective way to work with other people is to structure a win/win relationship focused on results, not methods.

Habit 5 - Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Main Idea Everyone has a natural tendency to rush in and try to give advice or try to fix things before taking the time to diagnose or try to understand why the other person feels the way they do. The trick, however, is to seek first to understand the other person, then to try and be understood yourself.

Habit 6- Synergize. Main Idea Synergy means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In other words, each of the parts combine to create new and exciting unexpected discoveries that were not possible before. It is a creative force of unparalleled power created in the principles of creative cooperation.

Habit 7 - Sharpen the saw. Main Idea Habit 7 is taking time to sharpen the saw. In other words, don’t get so busy sawing that you don’t realize you are using a blunt saw. Take the time on a regular basis to sharpen your saw in the physical, spiritual, mental and social or emotional dimensions.

The most significant of the 7 habits to me is #5 seek first to understand, then to be understood.  I think out of all the habits, this is the most important.  If everyone in the world sought to understand each other first, we would have a much more peaceful world.


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