A short summary of Covey's excellent book. Read this and then tell us what you think? Mercuri International help you to win, manage and grow customers better. We have been helping companies implement strategies and achieve powerful sales results for over 50 years, with an international team of 500 people in 50 local offices around the world. Our clients and our industry recognise we are experts in sales. We want to meet you. Mercuri International is featured on both Training Industry’s and Selling Power’s Top 20 Sales Training Companies list. We want to speak with you. Call Mat on 07572 343 341 or matthew-everitt@mercuri.co.uk You can learn more about Mercuri here; http://mercuri.net/our-vision-mission-and-core-values http://mercuri.co.uk/how-can-mercuri-international-help http://www.slideshare.net/MatMercuri/how-mercuri-help-you-improve-your-performance-65699011

1. Being effective is learning to do 'that which produces the desired result'. If you
want to be extremely successful in business or very happy in life or achieve some
large goal, then being effective is doing the things that will bring about the results
you are after.
Perhaps the best overall prescription for becoming effective is contained in
Stephen Covey's best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. His
best-selling book, published by Simon & Schuster, provides a useful, sequential
framework for understanding much about the process of Personal Development.
Covey does not claim to have invented the 7 habits, but rather to have
discovered them and to have found a simple language for articulating them. In
fact, he says that these basic principles of effectiveness may be found in all world
religions; and it can be noted that many highly successful people seem to have
naturally developed these habits.
Habit 1 - Be Proactive
Be Proactive Begin With The End in Mind Put First Things First Think Win-
Win Seek First To Understand Synergize Sharpen The Saw The 8th Habit
The first of the 7 Habits is - Be Proactive. It is perhaps a great compliment to
Stephen Covey that today, the substance of this first habit is deeply embedded
into the management psyche. We are told, in business, that we should be
proactive; and broadly what is meant by that is to focus our efforts and attention
on the long-term and to think in terms of the long-term consequences of our
actions.
Covey contrasts being proactive or having a proactive mentality with being
reactive. Reactive people, he says, are those who are resigned to the truth that
whatever they do in the present can have no effect on their circumstances. And
interestingly, for reactive people, it really is a truth, for whatever we believe in
our heart affects our thoughts, words and actions. If we really believe that we can
do nothing about our unreasonable boss or the daily events in our lives, then we
simply do not make the effort.
Proactive people, on the other hand, simply will not accept that there is nothing
that can be done about the unreasonable boss or the events of daily life - they
will point out that there are always choices. It is by the decisions we make, our
responses to people, events and circumstances that proactive people can and do
affect the future. We may have no control over what life throws at us but we
always have a choice about how we are to respond.
Now this notion that having a particular attitude of mind (which is really where
this habit begins) can make such a huge and positive difference to almost
everything we experience in life is foreign to those who have already internalised
the opposite habit as a part of their personalities. For some people, the glass is
always half-empty and the feeling of melancholy is a pleasant reminder that
something is indeed missing. For such people, this habit represents a bitter pill to
swallow - but, says Covey, it is also completely liberating.
When we are finally prepared to accept full responsibility for the effects that are
manifest in our lives; when we have the strength of character to admit it when
we make mistakes (even big ones); when we are completely free to exercise the

2. options available to us in every situation; then it can be said that we have finally
internalised this habit. The other six of the habits require that we first work on
our basic character by becoming proactive and thereby transforming ourselves
into men and women of integrity.
Habit 2 - Begin with the End in Mind
Be Proactive Begin With The End in Mind Put First Things First Think Win-
Win Seek First To Understand Synergize Sharpen The Saw The 8th Habit
The second of the habits is - Begin with the End in Mind. Many people in the west
identify with the frustration of success. Being successful at their chosen career
and committed to its progress they come to realise that it does not, in the final
analysis, bring any sense of real satisfaction. The reason for this ultimate
dissatisfaction is that they did not begin with the end in mind. For many people, it
is not just that they did not begin with the end in mind; it goes a bit deeper -
they did not ever get around to defining the end itself and so they simply could
not begin with the end in mind. So what does all this mean? The end represents
the purpose of your life. Until you can say what that purpose is, with assurance,
then you just cannot direct your life in the manner that would bring you the
greatest satisfaction.
There are no short-cuts here. To engage in this habit, you need to have a dream,
define your own vision and get into the practice of setting goals which will allow
you to make measurable progress toward the dream. If you practice a faith, then
you will want to consider how this affects your purpose in life; if you do not, you
will still need to get involved in deep self-examination to find out exactly what it
is that will bring you fulfilment. To help you with this, you may wish to obtain my
E-Book The Deepest Desire of Your Heart; available from this site. The book
contains some excellent self-reflection exercises you can use to focus your mind
on what is most important to you in life.
Until you have defined your vision - the big dream to which you will be working -
you will be unable to move on to habit 3 which provides a basic framework for
you to re-align your efforts so that you will ultimately achieve your heart's desire.
Habit 3 - First Things First
Be Proactive Begin With The End in Mind Put First Things First Think Win-
Win Seek First To Understand Synergize Sharpen The Saw The 8th Habit
The third habit is - First Thing First. Following the amazing popularity of his work
on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey published a second
book that deals with the 7 Habits; and the title of that book is also First Things
First. Both the book and this habit deal with subject of managing your time
effectively.
Consider the simple 2 x 2 matrix shown below. It plots the concepts of urgency
and importance against each other; and represents where you are spending your
time. To really understand and apply this habit, you need to have first done habit
2 - that is, you should already have defined what is important to you. Without
first doing this, habit 3 has no power because you simply cannot separate what is
important from what is not important.

3. This representation shows four categories of demand which may be made on your
time. Quadrant 1 consists of activities which are both urgent and important - in
other words, things to which you absolutely must attend. Why must you do these
things? Because they are important - meaning that they contribute to your
mission; and they are urgent - meaning that they have some sort of deadline
associated with them.
Choices about where to invest your time really are made in the other categories;
and most people - driven by the concept of urgency - get drawn into Quadrant 3;
doing things that consume their time but do not contribute to their goals. Highly
Effective People (yes they all fit together you see) understand that the high
leverage activities are all Quadrant 2 - important but not urgent. Planning,
preparation, prevention, relationship-building, reading, improving your
professional knowledge and exercise are all examples of Quadrant 2 activity - not
an exhaustive list, by any means.
We all intuitively know that Quadrant 2 activities are the key to getting results;
but you need to have internalised the first two habits before you can benefit from
the high leverage this habit brings. In other words, you first need to have
developed the strength of character (proactivity) which allows you to be able to
say no to demands on your time that fall into Quadrants 2 and 3; and you also
need to have defined what importance means for you - otherwise the Quadrants
do not exist.
Put habits 1,2 and 3 together and you have the ultimate success formula. Stated
simply - get your mind right; define what is important; then organise your life to
maximise your Quadrant 2 efforts. By spending appropriate time on Quadrant 2
activities, you will gain control over the circumstances of your life; Quadrant 1
will actually get smaller because you will have anticipated and prepared for much
Quadrant 1 activity. Concentrating on Quadrant 2 is absolutely fundamental to
achieving success. You might like to take a look at the 4tm Spreadsheet,
available from this site, which can help you to make this key adjustment in the
use of your time.

4. Habit 4 - Think Win Win
Be Proactive Begin With The End in Mind Put First Things First Think Win-
Win Seek First To Understand Synergize Sharpen The Saw The 8th Habit
The next of the 7 Habits is - Think Win-Win. This habit is again an attitude of
mind. It concerns fostering an attitude that is committed to always finding
solutions that will truly benefit both sides of a dispute. Solutions do not, of
course, exist in themselves; they must be created. And, even if we cannot see
the solution to a particular problem, it does not mean that no such solution
exists. The win-win idea is not based upon compromise - that is where most
disputes naturally end. But compromise is the result of not properly perceiving
the possible synergy of the situation.
The more you practice this habit, the more committed you will become as you
find solutions which truly do benefit both parties, where originally it looked as if
no such agreement might be reached. Covey has amended the wording of this
habit slightly in recent years to read: Think Win-Win or No Deal. This attitude
works well because it liberates the individuals concerned from the effort of trying
to persuade the opposite party to shift ground or compromise. The effort is
instead spend on trying to understand, which is where habit 5 comes in - you see,
they are also sequential.
Habit 5 - Seek First to Understand
then be Understood
The fifth habit is - Seek First to Understand. What most people do, naturally,
when involved in some type of discussion, meeting or dialogue is exactly the
reverse - they seek first to be understood. And, as Stephen Covey says, when
both parties are trying to be understood, neither party is really listening; he calls
such an interaction, 'the dialogue of the deaf'. This habit is an important key to
inter-personal relationships and it seems to be almost magical in its ability to
transform the course of discussions. Why? Because by making the investment of
time and effort required to understand the other party, the dynamics of the
interchange are subtly affected.
This habit is not just about letting the other person speak first; it concerns
actually making the effort to understand what is being said. It is about
understanding that our natural habit of mind is to misunderstand. When we are
engaged in conversation, error is always present. NLP tells us that we simply
make our own meaning based on our own experiences and understanding of life;
and frequently we make the wrong meaning. You might like to take a look at the
answers given by school-children on history exams which illustrates this principle
- we are no different!
If however, we are prepared to invest the time and effort to really understand the
other person's position; and to get into the habit of spending the first part of the
discussion doing so; then, when it is felt by the other person that you do indeed
understand, the dynamic changes. People become more open, more teachable,
more interested in what you may have to say and with the mutual understanding
that flows from this habit, you are ready to practice habit 6; which concerns
finding creative solutions.

5. Habit 6 - Synergize
Be Proactive Begin With The End in Mind Put First Things First Think Win-
Win Seek First To Understand Synergize Sharpen The Saw The 8th Habit
The sixth of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is - Synergize. This habit
involves you putting your head together with the other party or parties in order to
creatively brainstorm a synergistic solution to a problem i.e. to find a solution
which contains win-win benefits. It can only be done successfully if you have first
practiced habits 4 and 5. The well-known definition of synergy is as follows:
Synergy - When the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Finding a synergistic solution means finding a solution which is better than either
party might first propose. Such a solution can only be found if both parties truly
understand the other parties position - the fruit of habits 4 and 5. There have
been many books written on successful brainstorming techniques; my own
favourite techniques are those proposed by Edward DeBono - professor of
thinking and perhaps most famous for Lateral Thinking.
Putting habit 4, 5 and 6 together, you have a perfect model for human
interaction. Put simply: first be mentally committed to the idea that a solution
that will benefit all parties may be constructed; next invest the necessary time
and effort to really understand the other party and do that first; finally creatively
brainstorm a synergistic solution - a natural product of mutual understanding and
respect.
Habit 7 - Sharpen the Saw
The last habit of the 7 Habits is - Sharpen the Saw. In this habit, you are the
saw; and to Sharpen the Saw is to become better, keener and more effective.
Highly Effective People always take time to Sharpen the Saw. What is meant by
Sharpening the Saw is to regularly engage in the exercise of the three dimensions
which make up the human condition: body, mind and spirit. Covey also adds a
fourth dimension - the inter-personal.
Spiritual Exercise
Let us begin by considering Spiritual Exercise - this is the area which is perhaps
the most misunderstood. I believe that, in the west, we have become spiritually
blind. The progress of our science, education and technology has lead us to
construct a view of the world and the universe that excludes the agency of God.
Freud famously said that it was man that made God 'in the image of his father'. It
is, of course, a very clever statement and not one I wish to here challenge -
whether this statement or the reverse is true is for you to decide. However, as
the west has, by and large, abandoned faith in the creator God, so it has
simultaneously abandoned the idea that life has any meaning or purpose; and it
is purpose and direction in life that this habit refers to as Spiritual Exercise. Of
course, if you are a religious person, then there will be a tie-up here with your
personal faith; however, if you are not religious, don't also abandon the idea that
life holds a special purpose for you.

6. To exercise spiritually, I recommend that you consider engaging in some form of
meditation. Meditation involves regularly sitting in a relaxed position and thinking
about nothing for a period of about 10 or 15 minutes. Why this practice should
bring about any material benefits is an interesting question. You might consider
that you relax your mind quite enough when you sleep, but it turns out that we
don't really relax our minds when we sleep. The brain is active during sleep -
during REM sleep, the brain appears to be processing information. Though it is
not yet known exactly what it is doing, the brain is certainly not passive and so
the mind is not relaxed during sleep. Meditation is the practice of disciplining the
mind, It is difficult to do at first, but if you stick with it, positive health benefits
will follow.
Making use of Jack Black's House on the Right Bank is an excellent tool for
combining what is really guided meditation with the practice of regularly
reviewing your mission, your roles and your goals; and that is what Stephen
Covey means when he talks about spiritual exercise - the regular, review and
preview of the things that are most important to you in life. These are the first
things that you must define in habit 2 - Begin with the End in Mind.
Physical Exercise
Regular aerobic, physical exercise is essential for health, energy and a feeling of
well-being. Naturally, you should always consult your doctor or physician before
you embark upon any course of physical exercise; and it should be obvious that
such professional advice as may be given, should always be taken into account.
To practice this part of Habit 7 requires that you commit to at least three sessions
of at least twenty minutes per week. If you are not already engaged in this sort of
exercise, you will find that after a period of about six weeks, you will feel much
better, much healthier and indeed your body will become more efficient at
processing oxygen - which is the key to energy.
Mental Exercise
Ask yourself these questions. What am I doing to sharpen my mind? Am I
engaged in a programme of education or learning of some kind? What am I doing
to improve my professional knowledge?
How you should go about this part of the habit is, of course, for you to decide,
but you should ensure that you are reading regularly. What should you read?
Naturally you want to put in the good stuff - so it's not a case of reading for its
own sake; it is reading carefully selected material which allows you to broaden
and deepen your understanding.
You will naturally be paying particular attention to the important areas you
defined in habit 2, but you should also consider reading all the great works of
literature and also ancient wisdom literature which includes books like The Psalms
and Proverbs..

7. Interpersonal
This part is not really a discipline, as are the other three parts, it is really a
commitment; and for me, I make the commitment during the spiritual part of the
habit, that is, during a meditation. It is simply to commit to approaching inter-
personal relationships by making use of habits 4, 5 and 6.
Even if people approach me making use of language, actions, or behaviour which
I personally believe to be inappropriate, my commitment is to not react, but to
use my proactive capacity to engage in the exercise of habits 4, 5 and 6 which I
believe will lead to the best possible outcome in such circumstances
AND The 8th Habit
Some time ago, someone commented to me that I ought to write a book called The
8th Habit. That person was basically saying to me that the 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People book by Stephen Covey was not complete because he did not really
address the matter of how you go about developing a habit.
At the time, my response was that the 7 Habits framework was a complete paradigm
and so I thought the idea was a non-starter. Then - what do you know - along comes
Stephen Covey with his latest book, which is entitled The 8th Habit.
So, if the 7 Habits framework is indeed complete, why do we need an 8th habit? Well
it turns out that the 8th habit is not another habit that was missed out of the 7
habits book: the 7 habits of Highly Effective People was all about effectiveness. The
8th Habit is about moving from being effective to being great.
Find Your Voice
& Inspire Others to Find Theirs
The 8th habits is: Find your Voice & Inspire Others to find Theirs. The essence of
this habit is that you will find your voice when you can say that you are 100%
involved in what you are doing with your life. By 100% involvement, what is
meant is that your body, mind, heart and spirit are all engaged in the adventure -
whatever that is for you.
The idea is very simple. Whatever you are doing right now with your life, ask
yourself these questions. Is it serving my body, mind heart and spirit? In other
words, is it serving your bodily needs: does it allow you to make a good living;
does it more-than pay the bills; does it feed and clothe you and your family and
provide you with a lovely home?
Secondly, is it serving your need for mental stimulation: do you find it truly
stimulating, engaging and challenging? Thirdly, is it serving your emotional
needs: do you just love it and are you passionate about it? Finally, does it serve
your spiritual needs: do you believe it is the right thing for you to be doing with

8. your life? If you can answer those four questions relating to body, mind, heart
and spirit with a resounding 'yes', then it can be said that you have 'found your
voice'.
Covey says that the reality in business today is that there are very many people
who have not found their voices or perhaps they have lost their voices. The result
of this cane be seen everywhere. People may go to work just to earn money i.e.
to serve their bodily needs but do not really put their creativity, talent and
intelligence into the job.
Perhaps the job is serving more than your bodily needs: perhaps it is also
mentally stimulating you but, if you won the lottery, you might immediately
resign because it is not really what you want to be spending your time doing if
monetary considerations were not present. Perhaps, most difficult to imagine is
having a job that provides the money, is indeed stimulating and you love doing it,
but it is still not the right thing for you to be doing. The cost to business of
employing people who don't really understand or even care about the Vision and
Mission of the company is a loss of the 'voice' of the organization.
To find your voice, you need to examine your natural talent - you are good at
something! Don't let anyone convince you otherwise. You have a unique talent;
or 'a unique expression of a talent' in the words of Deepak Chopra. You must find
out what that is. Isn't it interesting that you may actually be carrying a talent that
is presently unknown to you! (I don't often use an exclamation mark, but that
point is I believe worth the punctuation.) You must find out what you absolutely
love to do. You must find out what really interests you. And you must listen to
the confirming inner voice of your conscience that tells you what is the right thing
for you.
When you have found your voice, you can begin inspiring others to do the same
thing - that is the second part of the habit. I always remember Jack Black saying
that following his seminars, at certain leading British companies, some people
actually resign from their jobs. That is because they have been inspired to give
up the process of making a buck and really go for what excites them in life. I
might add that not everyone resigns because some of them are indeed in the
right place.
Great leaders have always inspired us to 'find' ourselves - to find our own 'voices'
and to find the 'voice' of the organisation - that is the essence of greatness.
People and organizations who have truly found their 'voices' go on to become
great. I hope that you will invest the time to discover your own greatness.