Covey - The 7 habits of highly effective people personal workbook

I N THESE CHALLENGING TIMES , we see rapid change all around us. Some changes are for the better, compelling us to alter or adapt the way we think or the way we live. But other changes may leave us feeling unsettled, confused, and ineffective. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People provides an anchor for our livesenabling us to live with a sense of constancy amid changebecause the habits are based on timeless, universal, self-evident principles of human effectiveness.

This companion workbook to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People will provide you with application exercises as well as the opportunity to make notes, record your thoughts, score yourself on self-assessments, and answer questions designed to provoke thought and encourage deeper insights into the reading material. At the beginning of each section you will be asked to read or reread specific chapters in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Personal Workbook are designed to be companions. Use them and reuse them!

If you are willing to pay the price to truly understand and apply the habits and principles taught in the book and this workbook, you will reap powerful benefits. You will find your time and activities increasingly becoming a matter of your choices, and that you can truly live a richer, happier, and more fulfilling life. You will notice an acceleration of personal development and improvement, and will also discover increased emotional strength and greater self-discipline. You will see an increase in the quality and effectiveness of your relationships on every level.

We hope your experience with this workbook will be both empowering and enjoyable as you learn and relearn these timeless principles of effectiveness. Give yourself the opportunity to really dig into the material presented in this workbook. Be honest with yourself and with others as you share your insights and the things youve learned. Make this material work for you!

PART ONE

PARADIGMS AND PRINCIPLES

Before you begin this section of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Personal Workbook, read pages 1562 in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Our paradigms, correct or incorrect, are the sources of our attitudes and behaviors, and ultimately our relationships with others.

S TEPHEN R. C OVEY

A STORE MANAGER HEARD one of his salespeople say to a customer, No, we havent had any for some weeks now, and it doesnt look as if well be getting any soon. The manager was shocked to hear these words and rushed to the customer as she was walking out. That isnt true, he said, but she just gave him an odd look and walked out. He confronted the salesperson and said, Never, never say we dont have something. If we dont have it, say weve ordered it and its on its way. Now, what did she want?

Rain, said the salesperson.

How many times have you made assumptions similar to the store managers? Its easy to do, because we all see things in different ways. We all have different paradigms or frames of referencelike eyeglasses through which we see the world. We see the world not as it is, but as we areor sometimes as we are conditioned to see it.

The more we are aware of our basic paradigms, or assumptions, and the extent to which we have been influenced by our experiences, the more we can take responsibility for those paradigms, examine them, test them against reality, change them if necessary, and listen to others and be open to their perceptions.

It becomes obvious that if we want to make relatively minor changes in our lives, we can focus on our attitudes and behaviors. But if we want to make significant quantum changes, we need to work on our basic paradigmsthe way we view ourselves and the world around us.

Have you ever had an experience where you made an assumption, only to find that you had jumped to a conclusion too quickly? Describe the experience below.

What was the assumption you made?

Think about some other assumptions you may have made. What will you do this week to work on one of them?

Have you ever been to a different country or even to a different region in your country? What was strange to you?

Did people act the way you expected them to? What did you think about their actions?

Looking back on your travel experiences now, what do you think people thought about you? Do you believe their thoughts about you were probably similar to your thoughts about them?