About this title: This bestselling book in the self-help and management fields offers a new paradigm for personal and professional success. Covey advises building from the inside out and offers strategies for moving from dependence to independence and then to interdependence.
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Description: Good. Trade Paperback. Cover art is different than shown. Cover has shelf and edge wear. Pages are tanning, first 97 pages are wavy on the top. Spine is straight. read more
Description: Acceptable. Book is in good reading condition. Cover has wear at edges and corners, and may have creases. Spine has wear at edges and may have creases. read more
Description: Very good. Trade Paperback. Cover art is different than shown, this is a 1990 edition. Cover has shelf and edge wear. Pages are clean. Spine is straight. read more
Description: Good. Ships within two business days with delivery confirmation. Good condition. May or may not contain highlighting. Expedited shipping available. read more
Description: Good. Ships within 2 business days with delivery confirmation. Good condition. May or may not contain highlighting. Expedited shipping available. read more
"I borrowed this book from the library and I liked it enough to buy my own copy.
Unlike other self-help books, there is no flim-flam here. Right at the beginning of the book Covey tells readers that none of his advice will work unless the reader works, hard. At the end of the book Covey reveals that he struggles with his own advice.
If you are an amotivated person who starts things and who does not finish them, this book will not give you a trick to make sticking to a plan easy.
What this book tells you to do is to discover what you truly value, not what you tell yourself you value. The idea is that once you are in touch ( honestly ) with what your values are you can use that knowledge to motivate yourself to work hard at following hard to follow time honored advice for success.
As far as complaints go I could have done without the corporate buzz terms and diagrams. I guess it is a sign of success of the book that the terms from the book have degenerated into corporate buzz terms.
I also thinks it sucks that Covey tried to cash in on this insightful work by putting out a series of lame sequels, office supplies and over-priced bloated courses.
Some reviews claim that the book pushes Christianity. I am an atheist, I read the book, and I think that claim is rubbish. Towards the end of the book Covey mentions that he is a Christian and that he turns to religious readings in his spare time for inspiration. That is about as far as it goes.
If you are wary of this book be aware that it was very successful. Many copies of it exist in libraries and used book venues so the risk is small."
"Why I Read this Book: There is nothing more valuable than personal development and improvement. This got me off to a wonderful start.
Review:
Stephen Covey is an absolute master mind when it comes to personal change. I received this book from my family one Christmas while I was at university. At first I was skeptical; no I should say I was pessimistic. That is a bit more honest. Does it not seem that most people perceive books on personal change and self improvement in a negative way? Pretty ironic wouldn't you say? Well this was the first such book that I owned that fell into the "personal change" category. Since then I have read it numerous times and have read countless other books on the subject. It is safe to say that this book completely changed my perception on reality and it put me in a place where I was not only comfortable, but motivated, to read every other book like it that I could get my hands on.
As one can probably understand from the title, Stephen Covey presents his strategy for personal change and development through these seven habits that he has created to lead individuals in being as effective as possible. I will not get into detail about what the seven habits actually are because that of course would greatly take away from the power of this book. Do you really think Covey would spend over 350 pages discussing these seven habits if he could get the same point across by just listing them on one page? The things that make this book so powerful are not only the seven habits, but the stories, examples and explanation that thoroughly support each of them.
Through the seven habits Covey gets across so many fundamentals of leading a powerful life. I credit this work with so many positive things that have since done wonders for my life and my outlook on it. These include writing a personal mission statement, understanding the power of setting goals and then setting them, establishing clear values by which to live, effectively managing my time, understanding the significance of honesty and integrity, focusing on results and leading others.
If I had to claim a single most powerful benefit that I received from this book, (which is difficult because there really are so many) I would have to say it was learning the value of having my own personal mission statement. Unfortunately the idea of a personal mission statement does not go over well with most people. That is at least the experience I have had. The truth is that without a personal mission statement and a definition of what it means for you to be successful, how is one ever going to know when they have succeeded and what they should and should not do to get them closer to their goals? This clear definition does wonders for your motivation, drive and excitement with everything you do.
I now have a personal mission statement that I can look to at any part of my day and ask myself "is what I am doing right now getting me closer to my mission". If the answer is no then I should not be doing it. I just looked up at my statement as I was writing this and I can confidently say that writing these words to you is very in line with my life mission. It is pretty simple really. Do you know how good it feels to be doing things that get you closer to your mission? It is time to find out.
"This was the book that made Stephen Covey at familiar name in the workplace in the 80's and 90's. We were asked to read this in relation to a company-wide training on the same in the mid 80's and my friends from other companies were also required to undergo the same training. The 7 habits will always be applicable as they are all based on common sense. However, there are some that was new during the 80's like the paradigm shifting and the visualization. Now we have the "secret" - law of attraction which is basically similar to visualization (thinking with the end in mind). I think the business gurus are just renaming things in order to appear new. They are the ones laughing their way to banks while HR people in companies appear to have brilliant ideas for productivity by using those new ideas or propositions based on these books. I have been working for almost 3 decades now and I can't help but see this cycle of foolishness."
"This was the book the placed the name "Steven Covey" on the map of business and leadership literature.
He centered on the "inside-out" approach, that behaviour can be learned and is not entirely instinctive. A person can break old habits and replace them with more powerful effective habits that can make one's life richer and fuller.
The author believes that we should focus back on the Character Ethic rather than the Personality Ethic. He differentiates the two as character being more embedded to one's life and not merely some technique that one applies for short-term gain.
Below is the list of habits that Steven Covey identified to be common among effective people:
1. Be Proactive (initiative) 2. Begin with the End in Mind (creativity) 3. Put First Things First (productivity) 4. Think Win/Win (interdependence) 5. Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood (empathy) 6. Synergize (valuing differences) 7. Sharpen the Saw (consistency
This is one book, I'd love to have my kids read the moment the can learn how to read. hehehe."
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