While I am not a big one for self-improvement, this book has always intrigued me. 7 habits? That’s it? All I need to do to be highly-effective is develop 7 simple habits? I have more habits than that already! I can handle another 7!
So when I saw this book for $1, I figured it was worth the investment. That was 14c per habit! I was in.
And these much-touted 7 habits are:
- Be Proactive
- Begin with the End in Mind
- Put First Things First
- Think Win-Win
- Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood
- Synergize
- Sharpen the Saw
So many buzzwords! And “Sharpen the Saw” sounds ominous, doesn’t it? Turns out, most of it is pretty self-explanatory — Be Proactive means to, er, “be proactive” and to Put First Things First is to, well, put first things first, and even Sharpen the Saw is simply that “we must never be to busy sawing to take time to sharpen the saw.”
I actually like that one.
Look, a lot of it isn’t super relevant to me, a lot is just common sense and a lot, so says Covey, is based on his decent Christian values, which irks me no end. There’s an underlying current, to me, of “Be more Christian and you will be a better person.” Ugh.
Still, there are lessons to take from this book, and some fundamentals of life to be reassessed.
And then I’ll probably forget all about it.
That’s the eighth habit of highly effective, I reckon. Being able to leave aside anything that isn’t necessary to your life.
SCORECARD
TBR DAY 58: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
GENRE: Self-Help
PUBLISHED: 1989
TIME ON THE TBR: 5 years.
PURCHASED FROM: Op shop.
KEEP: No.