Thinking books · Leadership & character · Stephen Covey, 1989
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — the big ideas
A framework for personal and interpersonal effectiveness built on character rather than technique.
Free — no account needed to read
The big ideas
Circle of influence and circle of concern: effort spent on what you cannot affect shrinks what you can, and the reverse is also true.
"Seek first to understand, then to be understood" is the interpersonal core, and most people invert it while believing they do not.
Important against urgent: the important and non-urgent quadrant is what actually changes a life, and it is the one that never demands attention.
Begin with the end in mind: deciding what you are working towards before optimising how fast you go.
Practise it — no need to have read it
List what occupied your attention this week. Mark each as inside or outside your influence, and urgent or important.
A hint: Note how much time went to urgent-and-outside.
Where it shows up in real life
- Time and attention
- Listening better
- Deciding priorities
Described in our own words with the source named — never quoted, and not a substitute for reading the book.
Thinking methods from this book
- Sort by what is up to you — Separating the part of a situation you control from the part you do not.
The thinking it builds
- Reflective Thinking — Examine your own reasoning
- Strategic Thinking — Think beyond the immediate next step