The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change was a groundbreaker when it was first published in 1990, and it continues to be a business bestseller with more than 10 million copies sold. Stephen Covey, an internationally respected leadership authority, realizes that true success encompasses a balance of personal and professional effectiveness, so this book is a manual for performing better in both arenas. His anecdotes are as frequently from family situations as from business challenges.

Before you can adopt the seven habits, you'll need to accomplish what Covey calls a "paradigm shift"--a change in perception and interpretation of how the world works. Covey takes you through this change, which affects how you perceive and act regarding productivity, time management, positive thinking, developing your "proactive muscles" (acting with initiative rather than reacting), and much more.

This isn't a quick-tips-start-tomorrow kind of book. The concepts are sometimes intricate, and you'll want to study this book, not skim it. When you finish, you'll probably have Post-it notes or hand-written annotations in every chapter, and you'll feel like you've taken a powerful seminar by Covey. --Joan Price

REVIEW

With all of the self-help books out there, why is this one business schools, seminaries and high school students read? Why "Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People"? What does Stephen Covey have to say that differs from Spencer Johnson, Phil McGraw and John Gray?

In some cases, what Covey says they all say. The biggest difference is the process, not the method. Covey's "Seven Habits" are like eating right during the gestation of your baby. The short-term results are hard to realize, but the foundation for good health are laid. Follow what Covey says, and in the long-term, you will be highly effective.

Covey starts with explaining that the first step isn't external, but internal. It isn't just that Covey is trying to get you to feel good about your abilities. Instead, he wants you prepared for the hard work the seven habits will require. In fact, Covey deplores the cheap 'character ethic' method, noting it evolved away from character, and more into quick-fix influence techniques.

He separates influence and character, and wants the reader to know influence without character is not good. "Only basic goodness gives life to technique." The book is not a lesson in technique.

The Seven Habits are divided into chapters:

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

Covey, despite how it is a management and professional growth book, has also written a personal growth book. It is not a relationship book, as in the sense John Gray writes, or a weight loss book, like Dr. Phil writes. Fans of "Who Moved My Cheese" by Johnson will connect. Though Covey won't charge at the reader by asking him to repeat a mantra of "I think I can. I think I can," he does show the reader the ways of realigning their perspective, their goals and their strengths for the greater good of both the reader, and those he interacts with.

I fully recommend "Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey.

Anthony Trendl