7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Do successful people have anything in common?  Are there common attitudes, personality traits, or mindsets that successful people have that others can copy in order to replicate their success?  Stephen Covey argues that successful people have seven habits in common.  These are habits that anyone can adopt and thus become successful.

The seven habits of highly effective people are the following:

• Habit 1: Be Proactive
• Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind
• Habit 3: Put First Things First
• Habit 4: Think Win/win
• Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
• Habit 6: Synergize
• Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

So what do these habits mean?  Read this hub and find out.

Here is the first habit of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People":

Habit 1: Be proactive

The first habit states that you're the product of your own choices. You're not a prisoner of your past: past programming, past circumstances, and so on. Most people are deterministic; they think they're prisoners of their past, their upbringing, their environment, and so on. You're not a product of either nature or nurture, because you can choose your response to both of these.

For example, even if you were abused as a child, you don't have to abuse your own child. You have the power to reinvent yourself. The space or the gap between a stimulus and a response gives you the freedom to choose your response.

Here is the second habit of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People":

Habit 2: Begin With the End of Mind

In "Alice in Wonderland", there's an exchange between the Cheshire Cat and Alice that goes like this:

"Cheshire Puss," she began, rather timidly... "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where..." said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

This is what life is like for a lot of people: they simply don't know where they're going. The second habit is about setting long term, mid term, and short term goals and giving your life meaning and direction.

Here is the third habit of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People":

Habit 3: Put First Things First

Habit 3 is about putting first things first. One of the best ways to explain this habit is to refer to an example used by a college professor. He walked into a classroom carrying a big jar, a bag full of pebbles, and some large rocks.

The jar represents a week. The pebbles represent menial, unimportant tasks. Lastly, the large rocks represent the most important things in your life (the people you love, your life goals, and the activities you most enjoy doing). So how do you plan your week to make sure that the large rocks are included? If you put the pebbles in first, then you probably won't be able to fit all of the big rocks in the jar.

However, if you put all of the big rocks in first, and then add the pebbles, you'll make sure that all of the big rocks will fit in the jar. That is, you'll get all of your most important things scheduled into your week.

For a lot of people, this means scheduling the three most important things that they want to get done on any particular day for the morning hours, and then leaving an hour or two in the afternoon to run errands and take care of other small tasks. The key is to make sure that your priorities are not getting pushed out in favor of unimportant projects, tasks, and to-do items.

Here's the fourth habit of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People":

Habit 4: Think Win/Win

Most of us have been taught that life is a zero-sum game. In order to win--or to get what you want--someone else has to lose. However, people with a high degree of interpersonal skills seek not to get the biggest piece of the pie, but to expand the pie so that everyone can get a large piece. Win/win is a frame of mind that seeks to find ways so that everyone can benefit.

In order to think win/win you need to have an abundance mentality. If you believe in scarcity--that there's a finite number of resources--then it's going to be very difficult for you to take the needs of others into consideration. However, if you believe that by being creative, by looking at problems from different angles, and by actively seeking different alternatives you can create a scenario in which everyone's needs can be met, then you're ready to look for win/win solutions.

An example of looking for a win/win solution that is often used is that of two brothers fighting over an orange. If they take the orange and simply cut it in half, neither will be truly satisfied. However, if they sit down to talk and to try to find a solution in which both of them can be happy, they'll realize that one of them wants the juice of the orange to make juice, and the other wants the peel of the orange to use in a recipe. That is, they can both get what they want.

Here's the fifth habit of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People":

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

If you want to influence another, you first have to understand them. When you're talking to someone, you need to give them your full attention and you need to make sure that you're really listening to what they're saying, instead of thinking about what you're going to say next. Most people listen in order to respond, instead of listening in order to understand.

Here's the sixth habit of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People":

Habit 6: Synergize

Synergy means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The truly effective person understands that two heads think better than one, and that sharing and talking to others can help broaden their perspective and help them to look at things from a different angle.

Here's the seventh habit of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People":

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Many people think that the harder they work, and the more hours that they put in, the more that they'll be able to get done. However, in order to perform at your best you need to make sure that you take care of yourself. That is, you have to make sure that you sharpen the saw.

Scientists have shown that by exercising regularly you improve cognitive functions. Lack of sleep can have devastating effects on your memory and problem solving skills. In addition, by eating well you'll lower the chances that you'll have to take days off for sick days.

Another way to sharpen the saw is through practices such as meditation and keeping a journal. In addition, you need to take regular breaks--short breaks while you work, as well as taking a vacation once in a while--in order to produce your best work.