Discuss the 7 habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, The Free Press, 2004…………………..
Introduction
Publication information: The Free Press, 2004 (ISBN: 0743269519)
Brief: This is a self help manual that is essential to an individual, business or social gatherings and its main purpose is to help individuals in self actualization and provide support to people in an informal way.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People first publication came in the year 1989 and from that time on it has had its gradual revisions. It is written by Stephen Covey and its main goal is to provide people with support and help for each other in an informal way, in other words it is a self-help book. It is meant to assist individuals to critically examine themselves and make a judgment on whether or not they are living up to the required standards .In summary, Covey has divided the book into three chapters and each of these chapters are maligned to one of the habits. In order for an organization to achieve its set goals and objectives it may need to apply mentality when doing business. By combining individual efforts and strengths the organization will be at a better position to realize its profits and achieve better result. I have evaluated Coveys self-help book as follows:
Chapter one: Self mastery
The first three habits evolve around the art of self-mastery that is, moving from the state of being depended to being independent.
Habit 1 Be proactive. For you to be independent then you have to be proactive that is, you have to take initiative and responsibility in life keeping in mind that for you to become effective you have to make decisions and choices which in turn will allow you to take responsibility for the consequences.
Habit 2 Begin with the end in mind. It requires you to meditate on the life goals and character values that you consider of great importance. As individuals we have our own set of standards and values which we would love to meet at the end of the day. Therefore, it is important for us to align those values at our places of work, school, with other colleagues in order to meet our goals towards becoming effective.
Habit 3 Put things first. It requires you to prioritize, plan and execute your daily activities in accordance to their urgeny.One needs to examine whether their efforts display their desired character and whether they gear them towards achieving their goals. Therefore, it is important to discipline your self towards positive thinking.
Chapter two: Interdependence
Interdependence means working with others. You move from being independent to a stage where you can use your freedom to know how to relate with others. These habits describe how you need to work with others.
Habit 4 Think win-win .It requires one to develop mutual understanding and strive for mutual agreements as your relate with others. In this section, one needs to see the benefit of working together to achieve long term goals as a team other than doing it alone. You need a positive mind by not allowing circumstances put you off.
Habit 5 Seek first to understand, then to be understood .it requires you to be influenced by others genuinely and you can only do that when you have a mind open to corrections or criticisms. This way, an atmosphere of respect and problem solving is created .since we cannot afford to be alone, criticisms and encouragement from others will inspire us to move on with life.
Habit 6 Synergize. Synergy means to create a positive teamwork by combining efforts and strengths from others since one cannot achieve set goals and standards alone. Positive performance can only result from meaningful contribution by members and a supporting leadership style.
Chapter three: Self renewal
Self renewal is the act of being rejuvenated or discovering yourself after a session of despair or depression.
Habit 7 Sharpen the saw. It requires you to keep the four dimensions of your character in check. This involves examining your mental and physical health, your spirituality and, how you socialize with others. Once you have renewed yourself then you are in a better position to create an effective and long-lasting lifestyle.
We live in a world where businesses are owned by people who aim at satisfying their selfish needs. I would recommend this book to business enterprises and organizations especially those that are gradually on the rise. Stephens Covey’s book has cut across all areas of an individual’s life from a social, physical mental, spiritual point of view since most organizations do not value teamwork and positive leadership.
Covey’s seven habits is essential for a management course because all the aspect of organizing, staffing, coordination and, cooperation can be met effectively and efficiently. As business people you cannot afford to blame others for your failures and mistakes and it is a result of this that most organizations end up not achieving their intended goals. Covey’s book is an essential material that will help business people to be aware of the responsibilities they have at hand and to keenly take initiatives for every mistake made. You can only learn from mistakes and with success comes failures and with failures comes a positive learning attitude.
Stephen Covey’s book is an essential manual guide for an individual’s ethics. This means that you can only know the achievements and failures of an organization once you establish an individual’s behavior and character towards certain indicators like change in roles, leadership, among others. Covey‘s hand book is important because it motivates people to be diverse and open minded. It is a beneficial manual for a management course since it motivates workers and team members to search for alternatives on how to do things differently. Monotony tends to really slow down the workload of people in an organization especially when a certain activity has been repeated over many times. Covey’s handbook will instigate for innovations and inventions so as that an organization gets better services and products in return.
Covey’s self-help manual will be of great value in discovering one’s personal traits. Once team members are aware of each other’s traits then issues like conflicts, being cynical and judging others will be unheard of. It will encourage workers to appreciate diversity in terms of accepting one another’s strengths and weaknesses.Therefore, team members must realize that when they accommodate each other’s character then they can create a positive atmosphere of work. Covey encourages individuals to be flexible since situations, environment, people tend to change and you cannot afford not to sail along with change. He states that, every change manifests a perfect opportunity for someone to make choices. For an organization to achieve results it has to come up with decisions from which choices will be met and made.
Covey’s handbook is an essential material for a management course since it will assist an individual or a leader in an organization to focus on areas in which he or she needs to expand on his or her energy in order for his or her organization to become proactive. Team members should be given that opportunity and chance to fully participate in the company’s activities in order for them to gauge their areas of weaknesses or strengths.
Stephen Covey’s books act as an essential guide and tool to be used for empowering sessions and programs since it aims at helping individuals to rejuvenate themselves.For a company to be successful, then it needs to organize for empowering programs and sessions of mind renewal. At times individuals need to take time and self-actualize themselves judging whether or not they are achieving results and meeting goals or not.
Conclusion
Stephen Covey’s manual is an essential material for character transformation since it cuts across all avenues of an individual’s mental state, maturity and intergrity.Therefore, it assists the person in expressing his opinions and views about something or someone, it helps him to believe that other people have potential that is yet to be exploited and also it helps the individual learn to stick to his or her own true feelings. Stephen Covey has successfully managed to express his views and opinions to a wide group of people. Consequently, his manual has been used in areas different areas ofaccounts, laws, business finance, guidance and counseling and many people have benefited from it.
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