Reviews

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People/ The 8th Habit by Stephen R. Covey

cuppa_curiositea's review

3.0

There were a few eye-opening takeaways that I got out of this book, but a lot of it is targeted towards people who care more about being productive than about being human, which is a mindset that I have recently escaped and don't wish to venture into again. He even has a disclaimer at the end of the book that none of his teachings are original, just a compilation of things that he has learned from other people and resources along the way. I appreciated the attempts at sensitivity and inclusivity of other belief systems, but the author makes it very clear that be believes in a specific path, which felt contradictory to his "everyone is right" and "seek to understand" chapters. I also could never get on board with his P/PC and synergy talk. Those are both foundational to his methods, so I found myself skimming a lot when his personal, self-affirming jargon got too concentrated.

brittandie's review

2.0

The concepts in this book are more intuitive than anything else, written like a student trying to fill in as many words as possible to fit the word count requirements. The writing is too ambiguous, riddled with faux-profound statements. Reading this made me want to pound my head against the wall.

You want to know what these secretive 7 habits are that the highly effective don't want to tell you about?
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

This book is exactly like a fortune cookie. Sounds good but with no real substance.

You want endless charts with exactly what is written in the previous paragraph? You want diagrams with arrows galore? You want to buy his time-management calendar? You want to buy his other amazingly profound books?

Yeah, I don't.

No thanks.