Part Four

Summary of Steven Covey’s

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

SUMMARY OF THE SEVEN HABITS

Habit 1:  Be Proactive

Change starts from within, and highly effective people make the decision to improve their lives through the things that they can influence rather than by simply reacting to external forces.

Habit 2:  Begin with the End in Mind

Develop a principle-centered personal mission statement. Extend the mission statement into long-term goals based on personal principles.

Habit 3:  Put First Things First

Spend time doing what fits into your personal mission, observing the proper balance between production and building production capacity. Identify the key (1) roles that you take on in life, and make time for each of them.

Habit 4:  Think Win/Win

Seek (2) agreements and relationships that are mutually beneficial (3). In cases where a “win/win” deal cannot be achieved (4), accept the fact that agreeing to make “no deal” may be the best choice. In developing an organizational culture, be sure to reward win/win behavior among employees and avoid inadvertently (5) rewarding win/lose behavior.

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

First seek to understand the other person, and only then try to be understood. Stephen Covey presents this habit as the most important principle of interpersonal relations. Effective listening is not simply echoing (6) what the other person has said through the lens of one’s own experience. Rather, it is putting oneself in the perspective of the other person, listening empathically (7) for both feeling and meaning.

Habit 6:  Synergize

Through trustful communications, find ways to leverage (8) individual differences to create a whole that is greater than the sum of the pars. Through mutual trust and understanding, one often can solve conflicts (9) and find a better solution than would have been obtained through either person’s own solution.

Habit 7:  Sharpen (10) the Saw

Take time out from production to build production capacity through personal renewal of the physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual dimensions (11). Maintain a balance among these dimensions.

DICTIONARY

(1)    Key                                                                    Basic

(2)    Seek                                                                  Search for

(3)    Beneficial                                                         فيها فائدة متبادلة

(4)    Achieved                                                          Reached

(5)    Inadvertently                                                   Unintentionally, By mistake

(6)    Echoing                                                             صدى ل

(7)    Empathically                                                   بتعاطف                        

(8)    Leverage                                                           Influence, Control

(9)    Conflicts                                                           Clashes

(10)  Sharpen                                                            يشحذ

(11)  Dimensions                                                      ابعاد روحانية