Though Steve Covey wrote the book the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People many years ago, the principles in this book are timeless, and worth revisiting. I've put up a presentation which reviews the main principles in this book.

2. Habits have a
tremendous gravity
pull

3. Lift off takes a lot of effort,
but once we break out of the gravity pull,
our freedom takes on a whole new dimension

4. Ready for take off ?

5.  We are what we repeatedly do
 Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit
 Habits are learned and unlearned
 We are not the habits, hence we can change
them

6. The 7 habits center on the timeless and
universal principles of:
 Personal
 Interpersonal
 Managerial
 Organizational Effectiveness

7.  The principle of continuous learning, of self-education -
the discipline that drives us toward the values we
believe in. Such constant learning is required in today’s
world, in light of the fact that many of us can expect to
work in up to five radically different fields before we
retire
 The principle of service, of giving oneself to others, of
helping to facilitate other people’s work
 The principle of affirmation of others - treating people
as proactive individuals who have great potential

8.  The principle of staying positive and optimistic, radiating
positive energy - including avoiding the four emotional
cancers (criticizing complaining, comparing and
competing)
 The principle of balance - the ability to identify our
various roles and to spend appropriate amounts of time
in, and focus on, all the important roles and dimensions
of our life. Success in one area of our life cannot
compensate for neglect or failure in other areas of our
life.

9.  The balance of spontaneity and serendipity - the ability
to experience life with a sense of adventure, excitement,
and fresh rediscovery, instead of trying to find a serious
side to things that have no serious side.
 The principle of consistent self-renewal and self-improvement
in the four dimensions of one’s life:
physical, mental, spiritual, and social - emotional.

10.  Self Awareness:
We begin to become self-aware and explore the
programs we are living out. We come to realize that we
stand apart from our programming and can even
examine it. We also realize that between stimulus and
response, we have the freedom to choose. This self-awareness
then leads to the ability to look at other
unique endowments in our secret life.

11.  Conscience:
Our conscience is our internal sense of right and wrong,
our “moral nature.” It is the “greater harmonizer” and
“balance wheel” of all the principles that govern our
behavior. Our conscience gives us a sense of the degree
to which our thoughts and actions are in harmony with
our principles.

12.  Power of Imagination:
We can visit the power of the mind to create or to
imagine that which does not exist now. In that
imagination lie our faith and our hope for the future. We
look at what is possible, what we can envision.

13.  Will Power or Independent Will:
Willpower refers to our determination, our resoluteness
- our ability to act based solely on our self-awareness.
We ask ourselves, “Am I really willing to the distance on
my mission statement?” “Am I willing to walk my talk?”
“Am I really willing to put first things first in spite of
external distractions and pressures?” “Am I going to live
a life of total integrity?”

14. HABIT A BREAK FROM
TRADITIONAL WISDOM
TOWARD
7 HABITS PRINCIPLES
Habit 1 We are a product of our environment and
upbringing.
We are a product of our choices to our
environment and upbringing.
Habit 2 Society is the source of our values. Values are self-chosen and provide foundation
for decision making. Values flow out of
principles.
Habit 3 Reactive to the tyranny of the urgent. Acted
upon by the environment.
Actions flow from that which is important.
Habit 4 Win-lose.
One-sided benefit.
Win-win.
Mutual benefit.
Habit 5 Fight, flight, or compromise when faced
with conflict.
Communication solves problems.
Habit 6 Differences are threats. Independence is the
highest value. Unity means sameness.
Differences are values and are opportunities for
synergy.
Habit 7 Entropy.
Burnout on one track - typically work.
Continuous self-renewal and self-improvement.

15. Habit 1:
Be proactive
“You are respons-able: able to choose your response!”

16. Stimulus Response
Self-Awareness
Imagination Conscience
Independent Will
Freedom
to
Choose
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our
response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. Viktor Frankl

17. I choose my attitude, emotions,
and moods
I can forgive, forget, and let go of
past injustices
I’m aware that I’m responsible
I’m the creative force of my life

18. Circle of Concern
Circle of
Influence

19. Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression. No man is
free who cannot control himself. Pythogoras
CIRCLE OF
CIRCLE OF
INFLUENCE
CONCERN
(Positive energy
enlarges the Circle of
Influence)
From The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Stephen Covey (1989)
PROACTIVE FOCUS

20. Circle of Concern
We have a wide range of
concerns, but not all of them
fall into our circle of influence
Circle of influence

21. “Proactive people focus on their efforts in their circle of
influence, causing the circle of influence to increase
Reactive people focus their effort in the circle of concern.
The negative energy generated by that focus causes the
circle of influence to shrink”

22. “Anytime we think the problem is out there,
that thought is the problem”

23. You can choose your language
Reactive:
I must
If only
They made me
If I had
Proactive:
I prefer
I will
I choose
I can be

24. People who give up easily,
habitually say:
 It’s me.
 It’s going to last forever.
 It’s going to undermine
everything I do.
Those who resist giving in to
misfortune say:
 It was just circumstances.
 It’s going away quickly
anyway.
 Besides there’s so much
more in life.
Permanence
Pervasiveness
Personalization
from Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman

25. The last of human freedoms - the ability to chose one's attitude in a given set of
circumstances. Viktor Frankl
From various authors whose work is based on that of Beck and Ellis

26.  Negative view of the self (e.g., I’m unlovable, ineffective)
 Negative view of the future (e.g., nothing will work out)
 Negative view of the world (e.g., world is hostile)
From various authors whose work is based on that of Beck and Ellis

27. 1. I need love and approval from those around to me.
2. I must avoid disapproval from any source.
3. To be worthwhile as a person I must achieve success at whatever I do.
4. I cannot allow myself to make mistakes.
5. People should always do the right thing. When they behave obnoxiously, unfairly or selfishly, they must
be blamed and punished.
6. Things must be the way I want them to be.
7. My unhappiness is caused by things that are outside my control – so there is nothing I can do to feel any
better.
8. I must worry about things that could be dangerous, unpleasant or frightening – otherwise they might
happen.
9. I must avoid life’s difficulties, unpleasantness, and responsibilities.
10. Everyone needs to depend on someone stronger than themselves.
11. Events in my past are the cause of my problems – and they continue to influence my feelings and
behaviours now.
12. I should become upset when other people have problems, and feel unhappy when they’re sad.
13, I shouldn’t have to feel discomfort and pain.
14, Every problem should have an ideal solution.
From various authors whose work is based on
that of Beck and Ellis

28. Effective People Ineffective People
BE PROACTIVE BE REACTIVE
Proactive people take responsibility for
their own lives. They determine the
agendas they will follow and choose their
response to what happens around them.
Reactive people don’t take responsibility
for their own lives. They feel victimized, a
product of circumstances, their past, and
other people. They do not see as the
creative force of their lives.

29. Habit 2:
Begin with the end in mind

31. The key to the ability to change
is a changeless sense of who you are,
what you are about and what you value

32. Is the script you are living in, in harmony with your
values?

33. Effective People Ineffective People
BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND BEGIN WITH NO END IN
MIND
These people use personal vision, correct
principles, and their deep sense of
personal meaning to accomplish tasks in
a positive and effective way. They live life
based on self-chosen values and are
guided by their personal mission
statement.
These people lack personal vision and
have not developed a deep sense of
personal meaning and purpose. They
have not paid the price to develop a
mission statement and thus live life based
on society’s values instead of self-chosen
values.

34. Habit 3:
Put first things first

36. The key to time
management is not to
prioritize what’s on
your schedule but to
schedule your
priorities

37. Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.
Viktor Frankl
From The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Stephen Covey (1989)

38. Money
Principles
Work
Possessions
Pleasure
Friend
Enemy
Church
Spouse
Self
Family

39. Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his
personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human
being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and
features in the beloved person: and even more, he sees that which is potential him,
which is not yet actualised, but yet ought to be actualised. Furthermore, by his
love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualise these potentialities.
By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes
these potentialities come true.
Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl
The more one forgets himself-by giving himself to a cause to serve or another
person to love – the more human he is and the more he actualises himself. What is
called self-actualisation is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that
the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-actualisation
is possible only as a side effect of self-transcendence.
Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl

40. Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says
'I need you because I love you.'
If a person loves only one other person and is indifferent to all others,
his love is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or an enlarged
egotism.
Love is union with somebody, or something, outside oneself, under
the condition of retaining the separateness and integrity of one's own
self.
In love the paradox occurs that two beings become one and yet
remain two.
Erich Fromm

41. It’s almost impossible to say NO to the popularity
of urgent, non important matters, if you don’t have
a bigger YES burning inside

42. “Things which matter most should never be at
the mercy of things which matter least”
Goethe

43. Mission
Statement
Roles Goals
Roles Goals Plans
Schedule /
Delegate
Weekly Organizing

44.  Because goals are not timeless they should not be
included
 Should be based on unchanging core principles that
operate regardless of present realities or situations
 This changeless core will enable us to live with
changes inside other people and the environment
 As our consciousness grows and we mature, we
strengthen, deepen, and improve our mission
statement
 We should always initially write our mission statement
as if it will never change

45.  Ends – what we are about
 Means – how we go about achieving those
ends
 Principles – what we implement to achieve
those ends
 Ends and means are inseparable
 Ends preexist in the means
 “you will never achieve a worth end through
unworthy means.”

46.  To live – our physical and economic needs
 To love and to be loved – cultural and social
ends
 To learn – to grow, develop, be recognized
and be useful
 To leave a legacy – spiritual needs for
meaning, for feeling that life matters, that we
add value and make a difference

47.  Parent, teacher, manager, neighbor
 Internalizing mission statements helps us to get
a clear understand of what is truly important
 “things which matter most must never be at the
mercy of things which matter least.” Goethe
 Every time we say yes to something that is of
little importance, we are saying no to something
that is more important.
 We must learn how to say no at appropriate
times.

48. Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to
“be happy.” Once the reason is found, however, one becomes happy
automatically. As we see, a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness
but rather in search of a reason to become happy through actualizing the
potential meaning inherent and dormant in a given situation. Once an
individual’s search for a meaning is successful, it not only renders him
happy but also gives him the capability to cope with suffering-to express it
in plain words, to become aware of what can be done about a given
situation
Man’s Search for Meaning -Viktor Frankl
.

49. 49
Urgent Not Urgent
I II
. Crisis
. Pressing problems
. Deadline-driven projects,
meetings, preparations
. Preparation
. Prevention
. Values clarification
. Planning
. Relationship building
. True re-creation
. Empowerment
III IV
. Interruptions, some
phone calls
. Some mail, some reports
. Some meetings
. Many proximate,
pressing matters
. Many popular activities
. Trivia, busywork
. Some phone calls
. Time wasters
. “Escape” activities
. Irrelevant mail
. Excessive TV
Not Important Important

50. Effective People Ineffective People
PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST PUT SECOND THINGS FIRST
These people exercise discipline, and
they plan and execute according to
priorities. They also “walk their talk”.
These people are crisis managers who
are unable to stay focused on high-leverage
tasks because of their
preoccupation with circumstances, their
past, or other people. They are caught up
in the “thick of thin things” and are
driven by the urgent.

51. Habit 4: Think Win/win

52. “You can only achieve win/win solutions
with win/win processes”

53. It’s not your way or my way, it’s a better way

54. 54
Lose/Win
Low High
Win/Win
Lose/Lose Win/Lose
CONSIDERATION
Low High
COURAGE

55.  The habit of mutual benefit
 Win-Win means seeking solutions that allow every one to win.
 Successful relationships are built on a win-win foundation. A Win-Win
character consists of three traits: Integrity, Maturity & Trust
 Emotional Bank Account:
1. Understand the individual; show empathy
2. Attend to little needs; show kindness
3. Keep commitments & promises always
4. Clarify expectations
5. Show personal integrity and loyalty
6. Apologize sincerely when you make a withdrawal.
From The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Stephen Covey (1989)

56. Treat others
Kindly
Apologize
Clarify
Expectations
Keep
Promises
Understand
Others
Loyalty to
the Absent
Emotional Bank Account

57. Respectful (compromise)
Cooperation
Trust
Low High
High
Low Defensive (win/lose or lose/win)
Synergistic (win/win)

58. Effective People Ineffective People
THINK WIN-WIN THINK WIN-LOSE OR LOSE-WIN
These people have an abundance
mentality and the spirit of cooperation.
They achieve effective communication
and high trust levels in their Emotional
Bank Accounts with others, resulting in
rewarding relationships and greater
power to influence.
These people have a scarcity mentality
and see life as a zero-sum game. They
have ineffective communication skills and
low trust levels in their Emotional Bank
Accounts with others, resulting in a
defensive mentality and adversarial
feelings.

59. Habit 5:
Seek first to understand,
then to be understood

61. “We have such a tendency to fix things up with
good advice, but often we fail to take the time to
diagnose, to really deeply understand another
human being first”

62. Reading your own autobiography
into other people’s lives
is nót (even close to) listening

63.  To truly understand, we must listen to more than words.
 Empathy is listening with the eyes and the “heart.”
 Empathic listening is deep, active, reflective listening, and showing the person that you
are following, understanding and participating in his feelings besides his words.
 Empathy is not sympathy or pity and never manipulative.
 You have to really care; false or put on empathy sucks and people realize immediately.
Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and
resolution.
Kahlil Gibran
We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young
teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it's like to be poor or African-American or gay or
disabled or old - and that's the criterion by which I'll be selecting my judges.
Barack Obama

64. Effective People Ineffective People
SEEK FIRST TOUNDERSTAND THEN TO BE
UNDERSTOOD
SEEK FIRST TO BE UNDERSTOOD
Through perceptive observation and
empathic listening, these non-judgmental
people are intent on learning the needs,
interests, and concerns of others. They
are then able to courageously state their
own needs and wants.
These people put forth their point of view
based solely on their auto-biography and
motives, without attempting to
understand others first. They blindly
prescribe without first diagnosing the
problem.

65. Habit 6:
Synergize
“The whole is greater
than the sum of its parts”

66. “When we are left to our own experiences,
we constantly suffer from a shortage of data”

67. “The person who is truly effective has the humility to recognize his own
perceptual limitations and to appreciate the rich resources available
through interaction with the hearts and minds of other human beings”

68. In order to have influence,
you have to open yourself up
to bé influenced

69. Effective People Ineffective People
SYNERGIZE COMPROMISE, FIGHT OR FLIGHT
Effective people know that the whole is
greater than the sum of the parts. They
value and benefit from differences in
others, which results in creative
cooperation and team-work.
Ineffective people believe the whole is
less than the sum of the parts. They try
to “clone” other people in their own
image. Differences in others are looked
upon as threats.

70. Habit 7:
Sharpen the Saw

71. Read, write, relax, exercise, play, love, get involved, meditate …

72. “Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from
little things … I am tempted to think … there are no little things”
Bruce Barton

73. 73
Physical
Exercise, Nutrition,
Recreation and Fun as an
individual, couple and family
&
Stress Management
Social/Emotional
Family Sharing, Couple
Sharing,
meaningful relationships and
activities,
Service, Empathy
Mental
Reading, Learning,
Visualizing
Planning, Writing
Have fun in your command. Don't
always run at a breakneck pace.
Take leave when you've earned it:
Spend time with your families.
Colin Powell
Spiritual
Value Clarification
& Commitment, Study
From The 7 Habits of Highly Effective & Prayer and Meditation
People. Stephen Covey (1989)

74. Effective People Ineffective People
SHARPEN THE SAW WEAR OU T THE SAW
Effective people are involved in self-renewal
and self-improvement in the
physical, mental, spiritual, and social-emotional
areas, which enhance all areas
off their life and nurture the other six
habits.
Ineffective people fall back, lose their
interest, and get disordered. They lack a
program of self-renewal and self-improvement
and eventually lose the
cutting edge they once had.

75. Live the Seven Habits
Spend time
in Quadrant II
Follow correct
principles
Control own life
Maintain high
Emotional Bank
Account with self
and others
Duplicity
Maintain reserve
capacity
Be resilient
Empower and
serve others
Communicate
Empathically
Synergize with
others using a
win-win approach
Unkindness
Violated
expectations
Outside stress
and pressures
Time wasters
Interruptions
Pressing
problems
Crisis

76. Motivation is
what gets you
started.
Habit is what
keeps you going.
Jim Ryun

77.  See and hear what you see and hear, rather than what you are supposed to see and hear.
 Think what you think, rather than what you are supposed to think.
 Feel what you feel, rather than what you are supposed to feel.
 Want what you want, rather than what you are supposed to want.
 Imagine what you imagine, rather than what you are supposed to imagine
 Seek to avoid being created by others in their image and to create others in your image.
 Avoid judging others
 Be there for people when they need you, not for the purpose of giving advice or for being
appreciated, but just to be there for them.
 Enjoy the validation and support from others when it comes to you, but do not expect it or
be disappointed if it does not happen.
 Practice sharing your genuine thoughts and feelings, your joys and your successes, your
concerns, and your fears with the people your trust and love, and who embrace the same
values as you. You will be amazed how your life will be enriched.

78. Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

79.  “Never give in, never give in, never; never; never;
never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty -
never give in except to convictions of honor and
good sense”
Winston Churchill