Principles to Habits
A review of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change” by Stephen R. Covey
Covey, S. R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. U.S., Free Press, 2004.
Dear Fellow,
This is the review of the first book I read this year. I hope you find it worth a piece to check out before we go far into the year. Or perhaps include it on your TBRa as we progress further into the year.
The Backstory
In the last days of the previous year, I was in a conversation with a friend who is also a productivity coach (you met her in my first update for the year). I was asked what book I’d start the new year with. I had two in mind: Atomic Habits by James Clear and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. We had an extension—following her counter-opinion on which to read first, I decided to read The 7 Habits. I desire effectiveness in the new year, far better than I was the previous year, and to be far better in the years before me. So, it only made sense to read such a book at such a time, the start of a year, with an anticipatory state of mind.
I attempted to read this book last year, but couldn’t get beyond the first chapter using the electronic copy. I had to get a print copy this time. Also, I had to apply a productivity strategy to get me through the book: this is because the book is not some easy-breezy narrative text which doesn’t command analytical reasoning in doses.
The Reading
I apportioned an hour a day to reading books outside of school work and my Bible. In the previous year, I read through a book using several time series of 40-minute focused reading. Using that strategy, I finished several books in a day (that is, one per dayb). It was easier to take in the bulk of information from a book with a spaced reading and break time periods of 5 minutes or more in between. This year, given the long list of commitments, I had to find a way reading doesn’t become an old and dead habit; hence the (minimum) of one hour of reading for each day. I did just that with this book, and the reading spanned 17 days (from the 2nd to the 18th). Now, what lends me confidence in sharing this strategy? Sir Covey suggests that one hour spent reading good literature is a “better way to inform and expand your mind on a regular basis.” Developing the mind, he explained in the book, is a way to effectively practice the seventh habit which is called “Sharpen the Saw”.
The Lessons
The book teaches that principles are the way to effective living and not some quick-fix approach, made-up practices seen everywhere to make up for character deficits in our development process. The principles taught are shared into two parts: the first habits are for personal effectiveness, or “personal victory” as the author calls it; while the other part deals with interpersonal effectiveness otherwise called “public victory”. The 7 habits are as follows:
Personal Victory Ways:
Be Proactive
Begin with the End in Mind
Put First Things First
Public Victory Ways:
Think win/Win
Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
Synergise
Renewal:
Sharpen the Saw
You must have noticed I used “principles” and “habits” interchangeably. Principles are timeless truths independent of our opinion of what is right or wrong: they are natural laws which weren’t invented by man. They are observable in nature and are imitable. Habits are learned actions that become second nature over time. They are used interchangeably in his review, as in the book also, because it is more rewarding to live out the principles outlined above, not as merely time-to-time staged actions, but as just a part of ourselves as tears drop when the eyes interact with peeled onions.
The numerous lessons out there on effective living do not address the roots of our problem, where our flawed behaviours emanate from. Sir Covey points to our paradigms—how we see and interact with and interpret our environment—as the genesis of our individual and interpersonal ineffectiveness. That, if we must be effective people at every turn of our lives, we must first recognise our own paradigms, our own biases, formed over time from childhood hitherto, assess their objectivity (being proactive); then learn what the principles are, in contrast to our paradigms; and then to act in accordance. The bulk of the book illustrates how the highlighted principles can be turned into habits, how they are objective and universal in application, and also what these principles are not.
The Conclusion
The book offered me a number of validations. Aside from the one-hour reading-per-day practice, there is a recommendation to plan your schedule on a weekly scale and not the usual to-do list made for each day. The weekly scale scheduling is recommended as one way to practice Habit 2, Begin with the End in Mind. A practice I took up since mid-last year. Thank God for the ability to imagine, think, and create. I feel more confident about encountering this validation. However, the book helped made me see the deeper meaning and relevance of this intuition-born practice.
I think this book has done the necessary rewiring in my thought process on living effectively. Of course, the book is always there for revision.
In several instances of the reading, the principles sounded like one of the fruits of the spirits I am implored to desire according to Galatians 5:22 in the Bible—or a combination of them. I thought, Is it just technicalities and rehearsals that fix the ineffectiveness in my personal and interpersonal living? And after having gone through the pages, processing and employing the practices the book offers, I came to the point where Sir Covey says:
“I believe there are parts to human nature that cannot be reached by either legislation or education, but require the power of God to deal with. I believe that as human beings, we cannot perfect ourselves. To the degree to which we align ourselves with correct principles, divine endowments will be released within our nature in enabling us to fulfil the full measure of our creation.”
It is to know these correct principles and align ourselves with them, that we commence the journey to effective living. Effective living is living from the divine endowments inside of us, enabling purpose-driven actions and fruitful interpersonal interactions.
Dear Fellow, I wish you a fruitful reading experience all through this year.
Your LetterMan,
Tongjal, W. N.
PS: Sir Covey suggests that making and fulfilling personal commitments is a great way to commence the journey of committing to a principled life. Take your commitments seriously and keep to them.
PSS: May I know what was your first read this year? Or what book you are currently reading, in the comment? And why you picked it if you don’t mind?
aTBR is short for the “To-be read” list. It is commonly used among ardent readers.
bThe reading of a book a day was turned into a series called Milestone Series, which had me exploring every reader-friendly space accessible in the city of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. It was inspired by a friend’s report on reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho in a day—it took me about a week to read the book on my first reading. Check it out: The Milestone Series.
Thank you much dear! Great job