Weekly Round Up #9 – Looking back at the 7 Habits
I thought I’d take a step away from our regular weekly round up series to take a final look at the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (affiliate link) posts I’ve been running throughout February. I first looked at the 7 Habits back in 2008, at this point I was just really starting my self-improvement journey and thought that the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People would be a good place to start.
I thought I’d take a step away from our regular weekly round up series to take a final look at the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (affiliate link) posts I’ve been running throughout February.
I first looked at the 7 Habits back in 2008, at this point I was just really starting my self-improvement journey and thought that the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People would be a good place to start.
It was interesting to take a look back at the 7 Habits, especially as they’re still some of the most popular articles on this blog.
You can view the posts in my new series below:
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Redux : Overview An overview (really!) of what that 7 habits are
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Redux: Habit 1 – Be Proactive What is being proactive, why is it important and how will it help us interact with others?
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Redux: Habit 2 – Begin with the end in mind – We need to know what we want to achieve before we set to to get it
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Redux: Habit 3 – Put First Things First Once we know what we want, we need to know the steps to take in order to attain it
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Redux: Habit 4 – Think Win/Win Compromise is key when dealing with other people
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Redux: Habit 5 – Seek first to understand then to be understood In order to communicate with people you have to listen empathically to them rather than just listening
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Redux: Habit 6 – Synergize Bring all of the first 5 habits together and you create a relationship that is strong and built on trust
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Redux: Habit 7 – Sharpen The Saw We need to look after ourselves as well as other people
What did I learn from revisiting the 7 habits?
I learnt that I was still practicing being proactive quite well, and more often than not I was trying to practice empathic listening. I certainly try to achieve a win/win outcome if it’s at all possible.
I think the issues that I’m having with the 7 Habits revolve around habits 2 and 3. I don’t necessarily know what I want and therefore don’t really “put first things first”. I think maybe this is because I haven’t develed as deep into myself as Covey wants us to go (Hey, I’m English so I’m allowed to be repressed, okay?!) so I think that this is something I really need to work on and re-reading The 7 Habits has helped me to realise this.
Overall I still think the book is relevant even though it’s over 20 years old. Unlike some personal management books, the 7 Habits still stands the test of time and can help parents, spouses, children, employees and managers (amongst others) with their relationships with others and themselves.
If you would like to read my 2008 series on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People* you can do so here.
If you’d like to read the 7 Habit Of Highly Effective People you can buy it from Amazon here (affiliate link)