A review by mollywithcurls
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey, Jim Collins
5.0
This book was truly life-changing, as many have said before me. The title of the book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, gives away the main crux of the book: the seven characteristics and behaviors that successful people have mastered and that people should continue to work on daily to improve themselves and their positions in life.
So instead of going into detail about what the book teaches, I wanted to discuss in this review the reasons that I thought the book was effective.
Foremost, Covey writes the book not as an expert but as a peer and fellow student of the "habits." This is highly effective because the reader can form a bond with him, as he writes very personable manner. He says himself that he is far from perfect, and also that he is not the author of the habits but rather that they are divined from true values and principles and that he is merely trying to do his best.
Because he writes in this fashion, he gives many personal accounts of the way that he first realized the habits and the ways in which, as he has improved at living them, they have positively impacted his life.
As I have eluded to, another thing that I loved about the principles or habits taught in this book, is that they are something that one can constantly strive to improve at. They are not infinitely attainable or consumable. No one is perfect at any of these habits, but at different stages of our lives we grow and change and we can become better by addressing the things in the book and seeing how we can emulate them in our own circumstances, our own lives and our own positions (or circles) of influence.
As Covey explains in the conclusion of the book, the habits are easy to understand but difficult to live perfectly. However, in reading the book one can more fully understand the means and ends that habits consist of, thereby increasing the motivation to live them. As the motivation increases through witnessing the wonderful blessings of changing our behavior, we can strive for more and better change and influence.
I like the think of the book as an evolving life coach. I'm sure that as I strive to follow the teachings in the book and revisit it in the future I will learn and grow more each time because the way that we react to these types of principles is intrinsically attached to our current emotional status.
Lastly, I greatly enjoy the importance that Covey places on understanding the principles and innately spiritual and divine meaning behind an effective life. No one can find more power in worldly things than a truth-seeker can find in divine principles.
I look forward to implementing the things that I have learned in this book and revisiting it many times in the future to ensure that I am on the path the effectiveness.
So instead of going into detail about what the book teaches, I wanted to discuss in this review the reasons that I thought the book was effective.
Foremost, Covey writes the book not as an expert but as a peer and fellow student of the "habits." This is highly effective because the reader can form a bond with him, as he writes very personable manner. He says himself that he is far from perfect, and also that he is not the author of the habits but rather that they are divined from true values and principles and that he is merely trying to do his best.
Because he writes in this fashion, he gives many personal accounts of the way that he first realized the habits and the ways in which, as he has improved at living them, they have positively impacted his life.
As I have eluded to, another thing that I loved about the principles or habits taught in this book, is that they are something that one can constantly strive to improve at. They are not infinitely attainable or consumable. No one is perfect at any of these habits, but at different stages of our lives we grow and change and we can become better by addressing the things in the book and seeing how we can emulate them in our own circumstances, our own lives and our own positions (or circles) of influence.
As Covey explains in the conclusion of the book, the habits are easy to understand but difficult to live perfectly. However, in reading the book one can more fully understand the means and ends that habits consist of, thereby increasing the motivation to live them. As the motivation increases through witnessing the wonderful blessings of changing our behavior, we can strive for more and better change and influence.
I like the think of the book as an evolving life coach. I'm sure that as I strive to follow the teachings in the book and revisit it in the future I will learn and grow more each time because the way that we react to these types of principles is intrinsically attached to our current emotional status.
Lastly, I greatly enjoy the importance that Covey places on understanding the principles and innately spiritual and divine meaning behind an effective life. No one can find more power in worldly things than a truth-seeker can find in divine principles.
I look forward to implementing the things that I have learned in this book and revisiting it many times in the future to ensure that I am on the path the effectiveness.