Key themes of Proactivity Setting and following priorities Re-scripting according to principles Win-Win Listening to understand others Synergy and Renewal are fundamental, timeless and universal. This is one of my top ten books of all time for lifelong contemplation. BTW - some reviews mention chapter ordering issues that seem to have been fixed. Some may find the folksiness a bit slow and boring, try speeding it up. The writing and narration is quite clear, folksy, and pleasant, and far from the exuberance of some books in this genre. Of course doing all the things the author suggests is non-trivial, but they are generally good suggestions for making progress once you are committed to change. This does not mean an abundance of stuff, but noticing that many situations are not zero-sum, and that win-win net-positive situations are often, if not almost always, possible. This system goes beyond having a "open mindset" to having an "abundance mindset". It is more realistic than most self-help books and does not promise a quick fix, or riches, or power, it instead suggests an effective pattern for somewhat steady improvement. The Seven Habits (plus the new eighth one) are: Be Pro-Active, Set Goals, Prioritize, Think Win-Win, Listen, Synergize, Maintain, & Inspire This list seems a bit trite, but the author takes care to build each concept upon another. Mostly it is detailed, ordered, steps to, over time, improve your effectiveness. There is a tiny bit of faith-based stuff in the afterward, but it strives to be any-god-will-do. I generally find the self help genre weak and I expected this title to be one more christian based positive thinking book. I really did not expect to like this book. I just wish they'd hired a professional to read it. But there can be a solid approach to controlling our lives, and that's what this book is all about. We are dealing with human emotions, and there's nothing rational about emotions. We aren't solving sudoku or splitting atoms. But as I've grown and reread the book, I've discovered how deep it goes. The first time I read it I didn't realize how far away from the objective I was. And a lot of people simply are not ready for the implications. It all has to come from within - that is, your character, who you are. The point of this book is that you will never be content in your life if you are looking for contentment OUTSIDE OF your life. And yes, the part about being honest could be seen as morality, but considering the whole point is that honesty is a requirement for having people trust you, it strikes me that many of these negative reviews may be written by people who wanted a quick fix, a set of numerical steps on how to be successful. Now, I guess you could say some parts talk about morality, but not in the sense of "you must love your neighbor" or whatever. But is The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg religious, or even spiritual? Because that's by far the primary principle in the book. He also mentions that all enduring religions AS WELL AS all enduring philosophical systems agree on certain principles of human maturity and interaction, and those are the principles he bases the book on. That takes up approximately 2 sentences in the entire book (though he says a little more in the afterword). He clearly states that he believes in God. Too religious? Irrational? Morality? What book are these people reading? Does the author mention religion? Yes. The only thing annoying in the presentation was that awful little jingle/harmony they played between sections. His voice tone wasn't dreary, was clear and even calming, and I could easily listen to him narrate other of his works. I found Covey's reading to be top-notch though. It came off as a little preachy in parts and while Covey is free to have one, religion doesn't really need to be in this book and all of these principles are 100% achievable without it. If you dont want to listen to 13 hours of this, Covey summarizes the content on his website, freely available to read through in about 20 minutes. On some occasions though, I feel he made far to much explanation and the end product could have been a much shorter piece of work while still maintaining its effectiveness. What Covey did do well was arrange the principals into an easy to understand framework and relate it to every day life. None the less, the principles covered are important life skills and everyone should learn them from somewhere - which may or may not be this book. Maybe my opinion would be different if I read/listened to this when I was younger and still finding my place in the world. I dont think Covey presented anything life changing and as he admits within this book - he didn't actually invent anything. Quite frankly, I wasn't blown away by this book.
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