A 6-minute summary of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

Habit 1: Be Proactive

The common idea of proactivity is to take initiatives for the problems presented to you whether it is your own problems or problems found in a group of people which you are a part of. In the book however, it brings a clearer meaning about being proactive by first defining what reactivity means. A person that is reactive is someone that is affected by the conditions and circumstances that he is forced into, basically reacting to the situation presented. He only blames his shortcomings on events or people he feels are responsible for it, not himself. So a proactive person is just the opposite of a reactive person. As simple as that. Refrain from complaining and find a solution for the matter at hand. If the situation can't be changed for the better, learn from the experience.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Imagine you are to attend someone's funeral soon, but you don't know who it is yet. So you get into your car and soon arrive at the funeral hours later. After some time, you and the others are to approach the coffin to pay respect, but to your surprise, it's you in the coffin, it's your funeral! I know this is uncomfortable for some of you but bear with me for a moment. The point of this mental exercise is that people will eventually give speeches about you. So the question is, how do you want to be remembered by them? As a warm, kind and loving person? As a financially successful person? It's entirely up to you what kind of ending you want to give to your life's movie before the credits roll. This helps you to determine what kind of person you want to be, what you want to achieve in life and to have long term goals. After all, basketball is pointless if there is no hoop to shoot the ball.

Habit 3: Put First Things First

This habit revolves around prioritization. It's simple to know what is considered important and not important. People tell you to attend to important things and ignore unimportant things. But what people don't consider is the urgency of the matter. Considering that you know what is important, you have to differentiate what is urgent and not urgent. Many of times we only lay our eyes on important and urgent matters only. This is a common mistake we are all guilty of. The point is, we also have to consider the matters that are not urgent but are important. This is to ensure that matters which are not urgent does not become urgent which will eventually consume you from the inside out, eg. taking care of your health now so that you don't have to be billed by the thousands by your hospital later in life.

Habit 4: Think Win/Win

It seems that we all live in a very competitive environment in today's world. There will always be winners and losers, right? Not really surprisingly. Many of us believe that for you to win, I have to lose. We are conditioned to live in terms of Lose/Win or Win/Lose. The book proposes another alternative, which is the Win/Win. You may think a Win/Win outcome only happens in theory. In fact, it can be done in reality. Here is an example for clarity. Let's say your spouse wishes to have a pet dog at home but you don't seem keen on that because you are allergic to dog fur. You will most probably quarrel with your spouse, resulting in either not having the pet but making your spouse upset or having the pet but making you sick often. A Lose/Win or Win/Lose situation seems to be appropriate. However, a Win/Win solution is possible. So you begin instead by understanding why they wanted a pet dog in the first place. You soon find out that he/she used to have a pet dog as a child and that they have many happy memories associated with the pet. You now know that its not that they want a pet dog to be physically at home but to be able to spend time and have fun with a pet. So a solution would be to bring them to an understanding friend's home that does have a pet to let them have fun with the pets regularly. You no longer have to suffer from allergies and your spouse is able to reconnect with their childhood memories.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

This habit is probably the most cliché advice ever given to anyone in the history of mankind. But this is also probably the MOST IMPORTANT advice ever given to anyone in the history of mankind. There is some truth in the old saying that goes, "We have 2 ears and 1 mouth so that we can listen more than we speak." Many of us are guilty of being self-indulged in our own opinions which cause us to be confined in our own realities. This happens very often in our daily life. You have probably witnessed an argument between two parties where each party only expresses their concerns and opinions about the opposing party. How often do these kinds of interactions ever get resolved? Slim to none. They never try to understand the opposing parties point of view and think their own opinion is always right and infallible. For example, the number "six" can be seen as either "6" or "9", which shows that its all a matter of perspective and that both parties can have good solutions. The point of this habit is to bring harmony instead of conflict into a situation and to understand there are more than 1 solution to a particular problem.

Habit 6: Synergize

What is 1+1 equal to? 2? Well of course, it's 2. But in terms of synergy, the answer to that question can actually be 1 or 3. The situation that results in 1+1 = 1 is called negative synergy, where the cooperation between two or more parties produces results in an outcome less favorable as compared to if the parties worked independently. The situation that results in 1+1=3 is called positive synergy, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Certain things in life can't be achieved independently. A marriage won't succeed where only one partner loves but the other does not. A restaurant cannot function with just cooks without waiters or waitresses. So it is important to develop interdependent relationships with other people to achieve great things, but to keep in mind that negative synergy also exists, therefore try to avoid it.

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

A man is trying to saw a tree for hours on end and can't seem to successfully saw the tree down.
Another man comes by and says, "Why not you sharpen your saw before continuing?"
The other man replies, "That would take too much time!"

We often try to achieve success without sharpening our saws. We try to get an A on a history exam without studying. We try to operate a machine without reading its instruction manual. Too often we jump right at things without equipping ourselves with the necessary skills and knowledge to tackle the matter, wanting to achieve results without effort. So the next time you come across a task, make sure your saw is sharp enough.