Book Review #1: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

I recently finished ‘reading’ (via audio book, thanks to The Dayton Public Library) Stephen R. Covey’s highly touted book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  I’d heard a lot about the book, as I think most everyone has, thus I had high expectations for its contents.

Let me first introduce you to the 7 habits.  As defined in his book, Mr. Covey’s 7 habits are:

1. Be proactive
2. Begin with the end in mind
3. Put first things first
4. Think win/win
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the saw

Of course, there’s much more to these ‘rules of living’–an entire book’s worth actually!

In my opinion, 7 habits is a book comprised of 75% common sense and 25% Mr. Covey’s inventive thinking.  Now, don’t get me wrong–I see or hear of people every day who are in need of a good dose of common sense.  And in my opinion there is plenty of room for a self help book based primarily on integrating common sense into one’s routine, thus forming habits.  However, I myself found the book a bit of a letdown.  After all the hype, I was expecting something profound in 7 Habits.  While Mr. Covey was quite ingenious, and has developed said ‘common sense’ quite extensively to get to his 7 habits, I found the WOW factor lacking.  While the book gives everyday examples and solutions, I found that the solutions given were methods that I already know and use.  Thus, nothing profound. 

I read a review that stated, “If you were paying attention in life, you already  know the Seven Habits,” and I agree.  My feeling is that those who are at a level of comprehension and understanding to be reading self help books are probably above the “common sense” level that the book covers.  For the rest of America, this book could be quite helpful.

As an aside, the gentleman who reads the book for the recorded version has an intriguing accent!