The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: The Infographics Edition

by Stephen R. Covey

UNDERSTANDING AND PERCEPTION As you learn to listen deeply to other people, you will discover tremendous differences in perception. You will also begin to appreciate the impact that these differences can have as people try to work together in interdependent situations.

You may look at the world through spouse-centered glasses; I see it through the money-centered lens of economic concern.

Our perceptions can be vastly different. And yet we both have lived with our paradigms for years, thinking they are “facts,” and questioning the character or the mental competence of anyone who can’t “see the facts.”

Habit 5 lifts you to greater accuracy, greater integrity, in your presentations. And people know that. They know you’re presenting the ideas that you genuinely believe, taking all known facts and perceptions into consideration, which will benefit everyone.

Habit 5 is something you can practice right now. The next time you communicate with anyone, you can put aside your own autobiography and genuinely seek to understand.

Spend time with your children now, one on one. Listen to them; understand them. Look at your home, at school life, at the challenges and the problems they’re facing, through their eyes. Build the Emotional Bank Account. Give them air.

Go out with your spouse on a regular basis. Have dinner or do something together you both enjoy. Listen to each other; seek to understand. See life through each other’s eyes.

Make the human element as important as the financial or the technical element. You save tremendous amounts of time, energy, and money when you tap into the human resources of a business at every level.

Habit 6: Synergize

PRINCIPLES OF CREATIVE COOPERATION I take as my guide the hope of a saint: in crucial things, unity—in important things, diversity—in all things, generosity. INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT GEORGE H. W. BUSH

When properly understood, synergy is the highest activity in all life—the true test and manifestation of all of the other habits put together.

Synergy is the essence of principle-centered leadership. It is the essence of principle-centered parenting. It catalyzes, unifies, and unleashes the greatest powers within people.

What is synergy? Simply defined, it means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It means that the relationship which the parts have to each other is a part in and of itself.

Synergy is exciting. Creativity is exciting. It’s phenomenal what openness and communication can produce.

Because they listen empathically and seek first to understand, they create within themselves and between them a comprehensive picture of the values and the concerns that need to be taken into account in making a decision.

How much negative energy is typically expended when people try to solve problems or make decisions in an interdependent reality? How much time is spent in confessing other people’s sins, politicking, rivalry, interpersonal conflict, protecting one’s backside, masterminding, and second guessing?

And instead of getting a foot off the brake, most people give it more gas. They try to apply more pressure, more eloquence, more logical information to strengthen their position.

One of the very practical results of being principle-centered is that it makes us whole—truly integrated.

Valuing the differences is the essence of synergy—the mental, the emotional, the psychological differences between people. And the key to valuing those differences is to realize that all people see the world, not as it is, but as they are.

The person who is truly effective has the humility and reverence to recognize his own perceptual limitations and to appreciate the rich resources available through interaction with the hearts and minds of other human beings.

So when I become aware of the difference in our perceptions, I say, “Good! You see it differently! Help me see what you see.”

By doing that, I not only increase my own awareness; I also affirm you. I give you psychological air. I take my foot off the brake and release the negative energy you may have invested in defending a particular position. I create an environment for synergy.

Ecology is a word which basically describes the synergism in nature—everything is related to everything else. It’s in the relationship that creative powers are maximized, just as the real power in these Seven Habits is in their relationship to each other, not just in the individual habits themselves.

Synergy works; it’s a correct principle. It is the crowning achievement of all the previous habits. It is effectiveness in an interdependent reality—it is teamwork, team building, the development of unity and creativity with other human beings.

When you see only two alternatives—yours and the “wrong” one—you can look for a synergistic third alternative. There’s almost always a third alternative, and if you work with a Win/Win philosophy and really seek to understand, you usually can find a solution that will be better for everyone concerned.

Part Four: Renewal

Habit 7: Sharpen The Saw - Principles Of Balanced Self-Renewal

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things… I am tempted to think… there are no little things. BRUCE BARTON

Habit 7 is taking time to sharpen the saw. It surrounds the other habits on the Seven Habits paradigm because it is the habit that makes all the others possible.

Habit 7 is personal PC. It’s preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have—you.

It’s renewing the four dimensions of your nature—physical, spiritual, mental, and social/emotional.

Personal P/C must be pressed upon until it becomes second nature, until it becomes a kind of healthy addiction.

This is the single most powerful investment we can ever make in life—investment in ourselves, in the only instrument we have with which to deal with life and to contribute.

The Physical Dimension The physical dimension involves caring effectively for our physical body—eating the right kinds of foods, getting sufficient rest and relaxation, and exercising on a regular basis.

Ideally you should try to raise your heart rate to at least sixty percent of your maximum pulse rate, the top speed your heart can beat and still pump blood through your body.

Your maximum heart rate is generally accepted to be 220 less your age. So, if you are 40, you should aim for an exercise heart rate of 108 (220 – 40 = 180 × 0.6 = 108). The “training effect” is generally considered to be between 72 and 87 percent of your personal maximum rate.

Flexibility comes through ...

“Almost all the benefit of the exercise comes at the very end, Stephen,” he replied. “I’m trying to build strength. And that doesn’t happen until the muscle fiber ruptures and the nerve fiber registers the pain.

Then nature overcompensates and within 48 hours, the fiber is made stronger.”

could see his point. It’s the same principle that works with emotional muscles as well, such as patience. When you exercise your patience beyond your past limits, the emotional fiber is broken, nature...

Probably the greatest benefit you will experience from exercising will be the development of your Habit 1 muscles of proactivity.

As you act based on the value of physical well-being instead of reacting to all the forces that keep you from exercising, your paradigm of yourself, your self-esteem, your self-confidence, and your integrity will be profoundly affected.

The Spiritual Dimension Renewing the spiritual dimension provides leadership to your life. It’...

Immersion in great literature or great music can provide a similar renewal of the spirit for some.

The great reformer Martin Luther is quoted as saying, “I have so much to do today, I’ll need to spend another hour on my knees.” To him, prayer was not a mechanical duty but rather a source of power in releasing and multiplying his energies.

He meditated early in the morning and for the rest of the day, he carried the peace of those moments with him in his mind and heart.

The idea is that when we take time to draw on the leadership center of our lives, what life is ultimately all about, it spreads like an umbrella over everything else. It renews us, it refreshes us, particularly if we recommit to it.

The Mental Dimension Most of our mental development and study discipline comes through formal education.

Wisdom in watching television requires the effective self-management of Habit 3, which enables you to discriminate and to select the informing, inspiring, and entertaining programs which best serve and express your purpose and values.