The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Before you can adopt the seven habits, you'll need to accomplish what Covey calls a "paradigm shift"--a change in perception and interpretation of how the world works. Covey takes you through this change, which affects how you perceive and act regarding productivity, time management, positive thinking, developing your "proactive muscles" (acting with initiative rather than reacting), and much more.

This isn't a quick-tips-start-tomorrow kind of book. The concepts are sometimes intricate, and you'll want to study this book, not skim it. When you finish, you'll probably have Post-it notes or hand-written annotations in every chapter, and you'll feel like you've taken a powerful seminar by Covey. --Joan Price

Amazon.com Audiobook Review
Anyone who thinks the audiocassette adaptation of Stephen Covey's bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is a shortcut to reading the book has another thing coming. As a preview, the cassette is worth every one of its 90 minutes; as a substitute for the original, it will only leave you wishing for the rest. There's a reason 7 Habits has sold more than 5 million copies and been translated into 32 languages. Serious work has obviously gone into it, and serious change can likely come out of it--but only with constant discipline and steadfast commitment. As the densely packed tape makes immediately clear, this is no quick fix for what's ailing us in our personal and professional lives.

The tape opens to the silky-smooth, overtrained voice of the female narrator, who's responsible for tying together audio clips from actual Covey seminars. Leaving aside the occasional attempts at promoting Covey and his institute, her script does a first-rate job of making sense of Covey's own intense, analogy-rich style of explaining his habits. There's nothing simple about his approach to becoming an effective person. The first three habits alone--which have to do with personal responsibility, leadership, and self-management--could take years to master. Yet the last four are unattainable, the narrator insists, if you can't acquire the personal security--the "inner core," says Covey--that presumably comes from a mastery of the foundation.

Throughout our lessons, Covey's presence is both learned and thoroughly appealing. He drops references to the likes of Socrates, T.S. Eliot, and Robert Frost with the aplomb of an English professor. And his knack for mixing everyday stories with abstract concepts manages to clarify difficult issues while respecting our intelligence. You could argue that the cassette is nothing more than a clever marketing tool for selling another few million copies of the book. But, even at that, it's worth the investment in time and concentration: in the end, we're moved to learn more about integrating all seven habits in our struggle to become better and, yes, more effective people. (Running time: 1.5 hours, one cassette) --Ann Senechal

Product Description
In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered 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, service, 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.

I've read this book several times and I get something new out of it every time. The only other self development book that helped me this much (I've read them all) is "THINK & GROW RICH" by Napolean Hill I also highly recommend "BUSINESS BUY THE BIBLE" and "DON'T SET GOALS" by Wade Cook. These books are very much in the tradition of "SEVEN HABITS".

To me, this book is not only "not over rated" as one reader indicated, I believe that it is grossly under rated and arguably is the best self development book on the book racks right now!


A must have business classic that does not offer a quick fix!   June 22, 2006
Patrick D. Goonan (Pleasanton, CA)
23 out of 25 found this review helpful

This is an excellent book that probably almost everyone has heard of. Millions of people have read it, but unfortunately many people don't make the commitment to actually apply the habits in their everyday life. If they did, it's a "can't miss" success formula. However, it is not an "instant fix" formula that is the rub for many.

Dr. Covey writes well and holds the reader's attention. His arguments are sound and it comes across that he practices what he preaches. The section on the basic life assumptions that are unconsciously adopted by people that keep them stuck is particularly useful. These fall under the general category of the psychology of "paradigm changing," which is a revelation to a lot of readers.

I also like that the book sticks to seven pivotal habits and puts the spotlight on them. From these, most other productive habits logically follow as a consequence. In this sense, his formula is simple. However, the application of his ideas is more difficult.

I would recommend this book to anyone in business. It gives great, practical advice that one could start implementing immediately. I also recommend the book A BETTER WAY TO THINK ABOUT BUSINESS (Solomon). This title explores how personal integrity leads to corporate success.



The 7 Basic Guiding Principles Of Life ...   June 6, 2005
Sachin Gaikwad (Silicon Valley, USA)
18 out of 21 found this review helpful

This is the best, best, best book I have ever read. It has significantly changed the way I look at life altogether ...

In this book, Stephen Covey has put forward the following few simple principles which can change the way you think & operate ...

(1) Be Proactive
(2) Begin with the End in Mind
(3) Put First Things First
(4) Think Win/Win
(5) Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood.
(6) Synergize
(7) Sharpen the Saw

Many of these principles are simple and obvious but they are amazingly powerful. My personal favorite is the habit #7 viz "Sharpen the Saw". We get so engulfed in our day to day life that we forget to sharpen our saw. Over the period of time, it gets rusted and blunt. We end up putting more energy in doing the same old stuff with diminishing returns.

Some of the additional ideas that are interspersed in the book that I liked ...
=> Anything you learn in life, teach it to at least three other folks in your circle.
=> Work within your circle of influence. Slowly & steadily increase your circle of influence.

I would highly, highly, highly recommend this book ...

-Sachin


A strong guide to business and personal self-help.   January 10, 2003
C. Gilbert (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
The book walks the reader through the seven habits and provides practical concrete examples for how they can be applied in the everyday life of the reader. There were habits that I saw could be put into use immediately in my own life as well as other aspects that seemed like good ways to help think about future directions.

Covey roots his philosophy of change in building habits that endure and suggests grounding those habits in sustainable personal integrity. Covey writes with confidence and uses a clear, readable style. Recommend.