1. Be Proactive: Focus on things you can actually do something about. Proactive people work on their Circle of Influence and do not blame genetics, circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior.
2. Begin with the End in Mind: Start with a clear destination in mind. Covey calls this the “habit of personal leadership” leading oneself that is, toward what you consider your aims. By developing the habit of concentrating on relevant activities you will build a platform to avoid distractions and become more productive and successful.
3. Put First Things First: Prioritize, plan, and execute your week’s tasks based on importance rather than urgency. Evaluate whether your efforts exemplify your desired character values, propel you toward goals, and enrich the roles and relationships that were elaborated in Habit 2.
4. Think Win-Win: Genuinely strive for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your relationships. Valuing and respecting people by understanding a “win” for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten their way.
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood: Use empathetic listening to be genuinely influenced by a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you. This creates an atmosphere of caring, and positive problem solving.
6. Synergize: Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals no one person could have done alone. Get the best performance out of a group of people through encouraging meaningful contribution, and modeling inspirational and supportive leadership.
7. Sharpen the Saw: Balance and renew your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle. It primarily emphasizes exercise for physical renewal, prayer (meditation, yoga, etc.) for spiritual renewal, reading for mental renewal, and service to society for emotional renewal.
These habits aim to help individuals become more effective in achieving their goals and improving their work/life balance.
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