Beautiful Summer Morning: Review of Inspirational Books

Review

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”

Sub title: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change.

By Stephen R Covey

I recently wrote an article titled “Lessons from My Dreams”. I talked about what happens when you start to change even small things in your life.

Old habits you are trying to change have a nasty way of fighting back. With this book, I found a wealth of information to help the transformation to a more effective self.
One of my firm beliefs is in the necessity of a personal mission statement. Mr Covey devotes sometime to explaining the usefulness of doing this. I have also written on this.{see my article here: http://beautifulsummermorning.com/2006/05/08/personal-mission-statement/}

Two ideas that resonates with me were: the idea that change start in the inside and works out, and the idea that there is a moment between stimulus and response where you have a choice in choosing your response. For me the ideas proved to be a launch pad for my own insights into the nature of time and how we can use those insights to help us reach for a deeper more fulfilling life.

The book works on two levels. One level deals with the day-to-day challenges of living using a new fourth generation management system. The other level delves into why we are the way we are and how we can change that by following the Seven Habits outlines in the book.

The Seven Habits are:
1. Be Proactive
2. Begin With the End in Mind
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win Win (I found a lot of practical information here)
5. Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

I now use the book as a reference, constantly referring to if when something comes up I need to think through or just to find a more effective way of doing something. Learn to use the 7 Habits to begin the change on the inside, and before too long the change will be evident on the outside.

Joy in the Moment

Nick:

You can order your copy here: