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The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People

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The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Summary
Kelley Calhoun
What happens when success feels empty? Steven Covey answers this question and lays out a path of seven habits needed to be truly successful and fulfilled. Covey believes that the way we see the world is based entirely on our own perceptions. To affect change, we must change the way we perceive the world. Early in history successful people worked on character ethics like integrity, temperance, courage, modesty, and the Golden Rule. Somewhere around the 1920’s, success seekers shifted to personality ethics where success is a result of personality, public image, attitudes and behaviors. Many people want a quick fix or a shortcut to success without putting in the work. These people look to self-help gurus and their books for the magic trick to achieving their success. To achieve this perception change, Covey came up with seven habits: be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win/win; seek first to understand, then to be understood; synergize; and sharpen the saw.
Covey’s first habit is to be proactive. Being proactive means understanding a situation and discerning the things we have control over and making changes accordingly. To put this habit into practice Covey suggests being proactive instead of reactive. We are in charge of our lives by choosing how we react to events in our lives. He states that if you are unhappy, it is because you choose to be unhappy. Being proactive

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