Habit 1:
Be Proactive
Change starts from within,
and highly effective people make the decision to improve their lives
through the things that they can influence rather than by simply
reacting to external forces.
Habit 2:
Begin with the End in Mind
Develop a
principle-centered personal mission statement. Extend the mission
statement into long-term goals based on personal principles.
Habit 3:
Put First Things First
Spend time doing what fits
into your personal mission, observing the proper balance between
production and building production capacity. Identify the key roles
that you take on in life, and make time for each of them.
Habit 4:
Think Win/Win
Seek agreements and
relationships that are mutually beneficial. In cases where a
“win/win” deal cannot be achieved, accept the fact that
agreeing to make “no deal” may be the best alternative. In
developing an organizational culture, be sure to reward win/win
behavior among employees and avoid inadvertantly rewarding win/lose
behavior.
Habit 5:
Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
First seek to understand
the other person, and only then try to be understood. Stephen Covey
presents this habit as the most important principle of interpersonal
relations. Effective listening is not simply echoing what the other
person has said through the lens of one’s own experience. Rather, it
is putting oneself in the perspective of the other person, listening
emphatically for both feeling and meaning.
Habit 6:
Synergize
Through trustful
communication, find ways to leverage individual differences to create
a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Through mutual
trust and understanding, one often can solve conflicts and find a
better solution than would have been obtained through either person’s
own solution.
Habit 7:
Sharpen the Saw
Take time out from
production to build production capacity through personal renewal of
the physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual dimensions.
Maintain a balance among these dimensions.
Ref:
First Thing First, S. Covey.
