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**