Book Review: The 7 habits of highly effective people

I am sure many of you have been wanting to read this book while others have already read through it. I even heard many civil servants have officially undergone a workshop/course related to this book. Many lives, personally and professionally, must have been transformed by the legacy of the late Stephen R Convey.

I have a tendency to read two books in a day. The one which would trigger the day and another that ends my day. By any means, I spend the first 30 minutes reading a book before beginning office hours. This book has been one of the most fantastic reads to start the day, and it guided me to search inside for the true essence of myself, although I could not muster any of the 7 habits so far. 

Let me summarise the whole book in a sentence. It is a self-help book which fundamentally believes that good habits are necessary for success, personally and professionally. There are seven habits he has focused on. But in essence, I understood that the way we react to any stimulus is based on our perceptions and paradigms. To change the situation and its outcomes, we need to change ourselves. To change the latter, we need to alter our perceptions.

Therefore, the first 3 habits reveal "HOW" to bring personal development in perceptions, attitudes, character and behaviour. 

1. Be proactive- Principles to personal vision
2. Begin with the end in mind- Principles to personal leadership
3. Put first things first- Principles to personal management

These are the habits to gain the private victory of personal effectiveness that enhances our mindset, accountability of the result and independence.

Habits 4-6 aim to establish interdependency with other people where we can effectively work together to achieve common goals.

1. Think win/win- Principles of interpersonal relationships
2. Seek first to understand, then to be understood- Principles of empathetic communication
3. Synergies- Principles of creative cooperation

These are the habits to secure the public victory of interpersonal cooperation and camaraderie within the organisation and society at large

But, long story short? we can only achieve public victory after private triumph.

The last habit, Sharpening the saw, is a principle of balanced self-renewal, which would help in continually honing our personal development through deliberate actions that renew and recharge our energy. It basically involves repeating the earlier 6 habits to develop the four dimensions of our life. Physical, social/emotional, spiritual and mental.

In true essence, this book is a principle-centric framework which pitches the indispensable need of developing these 7 habits in general. But to develop it, we need to know and engineer our perceptions, attitudes and intrinsic values. Stephen provides a manual for this transformation.

Written in 1989 but still relevant. It is one of the best books on personal development I have ever read. I found it stimulating, realistic and compelling to scrutinise and reshape my principles. Indeed, to develop healthy habits. In 2025, I commit to cultivating a habit of free-thought-jotting once every fortnight on this blog.

**Have a happy reading**

Book Review: The Monk Without Dharma by Thukten Yeshi

This is the story of two young men, Kathog and Tompo. Kathog was a brilliant son of a powerful landlord while Tompo was a bondservant to Kathog’s family. One day, reluctantly, they were sent to pursue dharma in a monastery, far far away. 

Kathog was a dharma prodigy. In no time, he rose to the golden seat of a Lama due to his unchallengeable mental prowess in learning spiritual dharma texts. Tompo was otherwise. Firstly, he was denied monkhood since he had nothing to offer to lama and was made to run errands instead. But he was sincere, hardworking and virtuous and worked with utmost dedication. He wanted to exhaust the bad karma that was barring him from pursuing dharma.

Mysteriously, the wind would cease to blow leaves on the courtyard, weeds would not grow and pastureland would easily become lush green as he led the cattle.

However, despite his purest heart and unwavering faith in the dharma, he could never grasp even the simplest concept. His dumbness infuriated his gurus. He flees the monastery out of anguish, and tries to kill himself off the cliff as he says, “I am the poor monk without dharma and an orphan without a home”

As his karmic tapestry of fate unfolds, he surrenders robes to become a layman only to be ridiculed by the local people. Yet again, upon Jadelma’s insistence, he was enrolled in a monastery but his dull-wittedness continued

Completely dejected by the death of his guru, thinking that it was due to his bad karma, he gave up the pursuit of dharma once again. But his muse Dakini Jadelma would not listen. Soon he saw himself wandering through the mountains and valleys towards the North against cold, shine and rain for years. 

Worn out, but one day, he reached an unusual monastery and a different sense of feeling started to engulf him. At the same time, rainbows began to appear, birds began to hover and flowers of rain began to shower at the monastery. 

Soon, he was ushered into the shrine room by the Rinpoche of the monastery. Everything began to change in him immediately. He could understand every teaching and even could comprehend the highest level of the dharma, the ultimate realization.

Returning back to the village, Kathog became a famous Lama and his fame spread widely while Tompo still was ridiculed, disapproved and mistreated by the people, unaware that he had now become the greatest Tokdhenpa, until one day. 

The last part is for you to explore. 

For me, this book shows the essence of dharma in simplest terms, written for layman's understanding. The story of Tompo demonstrates that Dharma is a path that leads to Buddhahood and we can attend it even without this path as long as we have a bodhisattva heart and mind. A man needs no robes and volumes of dharma texts if one has pious intentions, aspirations and actions.

Disclaimer: This book review is the original story of the author but every detail is not covered. So, this review would not sufficiently do justice in understanding the whole content of the novel, especially the religious excerpts and their meanings. Therefore, please grab and copy and start reading yourself. it is a moderate read and would not take long.

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