7 habits of highly effective people - Stephen Covey

Desire to be enlightened and continuous seeking for time for reading made me to listen to listen smart audio books. The first was "The 4-Hour Workweek" by Tim Ferrys and I've chosen as the second "7 habits of highly effective people" by Stephen Covey.

As usual, book in audio format and listen on the run.

First 30km of listening remembered me my childhood. That time, on saturdays afternoon, when I wanted to watch cartoons and my parents - movies, preacher was speaking, monotonically describing different topics from bible. The same feelings I had in university, sitting in a large audience and listening for two hours for not the most eloquent teacher. I mean you better don't start it if you are in rush or didn't sleep well :)... The same with this book.

Lot's of times I was running and listening, than switched to my own thoughts, than back to book and realized that the author is providing ninth example of the same, and I've heart first 4, so I missed nothing - as with Brasillian TV series.



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Seek first to understand! This phrase served as a core for next 10 km of listening. For each provided example (and there were lots of them) I could remember similar from my experience. Actually, seeking first to understand is very strong skill which hardly can be over estimated.

I was touched by example of father and son discussion, where son shares his disappointment in high-school, and father, with strong desire to help, makes things worse. You know, I'd behave in the same way. It sounded perfectly logical, the same as consequences... And now I know about REFLECTION, how to use it, what it brings and how useful can be in communication with family and friends.

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I decided to use all aspects of this book even the fact that it is monotonic - now I fall a sleep listening to Stephen Covey :).

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Long run, falling a sleep, public transport and another audio book is done. The goal of this book was to inject into my DNA following 7 habits:

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

Something I knew, something I remembered and will try to use, everything else, hopefully, will come later. Generally speaking I do not regret listening this book. In the middle of it I accepted the fact that Stephen Covey is not Tim Ferrys. The moment you realize it, the book becomes more interesting and less monotonic. Recommend!

Русская версия.