About The 7 Habits
“Real character development begins with the humble recognition that we are
not in charge, that principles ultimately govern.”
- Dr. Stephen R. Covey
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Signature Programme: Helping People Change From The Inside Out
For 25 years, FranklinCovey has helped millions become more effective in their work and personal lives. based on the proven principles found in Stephen R. Covey’s best-selling business book, the 7 Habits of Highly effective people Signature programme helps your company achieve sustained superior results by focusing on making individuals and leaders more effective. from part-time receptionists to top-level executives, the 7 Habits of Highly effective people Signature programme breaks down barriers to success while laying a foundation of effectiveness for individuals, employees and leaders.
For everyone—top to bottom—in your organisation. participants gain hands-on experience, applying timeless principles that yield greater productivity, improved communication, strengthened relationships, increased influence and laser-like focus on critical priorities.
Becoming Effective
Effective individuals win two victories in life: a private victory when they learn self-mastery and self-discipline and a public victory when they build deep and enduring relationships with others. as they practice the 7 Habits, they move from being dependent on others to independence and finally to interdependence, where they reap the rewards of superb cooperation and collaboration.
Our character is a composite of our habits. Changing habits is hard, but can be done by tremendous commitment.
A (good) habit can be defined as the intersection of knowledge, skill and desire. Change is a cycle of being and seeing (visualization).
Our objective is to move progressively on a maturity continuum from dependence to independence to interdependence. Although independence is the current paradigm of our society, we can accomplish much more by cooperation and specialization. However, we must achieve independence before we can choose interdependence.
Habits 1, 2 and 3 (Be Proactive, Begin With The End In Mind, Put First Things First) deal with self mastery. They are the "private victories" required for character growth. Private victories precede public victories.
Habits 4, 5 and 6 are the more personality-oriented "public victories" of Teamwork, Cooperation and Communication.
Habit 7 is the habit of Renewal, creating an upward spiral of growth.
Effectiveness lies in balancing our Production (P) with building Production Capacity (PC).
This process of growth will be evolutionary, but the net effect will be revolutionary.
Personality vs. Character Ethics
There have been two dominant theories of achieving success in the literature of the past 200 years, the personality ethic and the character ethic.
The personality ethic has been in the forefront since World War I. Previously, the character ethic was dominant.
According to the character ethic, it is most important to focus on integrating the principles of effective living into one's character.
This may be a long-term process, but working on the character, including an effective view of the world, is getting at the root from which behaviour flows and so is fundamental.
The character ethic sees individual development as a long-term process bearing results according to the law of the harvest.
According to the personality ethic, there are skills and techniques one may learn and a public image, personality and attitudes one may develop that result in success.
The problem is, eventually we may be discovered as insincere and shallow. These ideas may be helpful when they flow naturally from a good character and the right motives, but they are secondary.
A paradigm is a model, theory or explanation of something else. It is the "lens" of our preconceived notions through which we view the world.
If our paradigm is not close to reality, our attitudes, behaviours and responses will not be effective or appropriate. We will be as lost as a person trying to function in Chicago with a map of New York.
We can only accomplish quantum improvement in our lives if we accomplish a paradigm shift resulting in a more accurate and effective view of the world.
Some paradigm shifts may be fast (a blinding flash of the obvious), some are more slow (a change in character).
The Seven Habits is a principle-centered paradigm. Principles are guidelines for human conduct that are proven to have enduring, permanent value -- they are fundamental.
Stephen Covey's Seven Habits are a simple set of rules for life - inter-related and synergistic, and yet each one powerful and worthy of adopting and following in its own right.
For many people, reading Covey's work, or listening to him speak, literally changes their lives. This is powerful stuff indeed and highly recommended.