As I’ve blogged about before (Considering How I Read to Help Inform How I Write), I “read” different types of books using different technologies with my car CD player being mostly used for self-help-type content.
Well, in this category one of my favorite audiobooks is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Steven Covey. As the well-worn packaging of the audiobook CD set demonstrates, this is one book I have periodically listened to for years, and it’s one I highly recommend.
The Seven Habits are well known, and part of the modern business lexicon:
- Be Proactive
- Begin with the End in Mind
- Put First Things First
- Think Win-Win
- Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
- Synergize
- Sharpen the Saw
But, to fully understand how to apply them, I think one has to read ( and in my case, reread several times!) the book.
Mr. Covey present this habit set as a paradigm shift from typical personality-driven thinking. Now, although I think he overstates what a paradigm actually means ( for that one has to read Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions), his character-driven approach on to how to best live one’s life deeply resonates with me.
Anyway, if you haven’t read The Seven Habits in some form or other, then it is well worth a read in any format, and if you have read it, then it’s likely you already know that it’s worthwhile to read again.
(Addendum: The fifth habit—seek first to understand, then be understood—is particularly relevant in today’s trying times!).