Since one meets this book, he knows that it is not one more book. It is not a conventional book with beginning and end. There is a pre-set order to read and apply, but one can (and should) permanently return to your pages. A work to keep on hand always.

Like every best seller, there are countless references, critiques, summaries, interpretations and experiences about it. We will try to take a different approach. Many will wonder, if they came here through our space, what this work has to do with the theme of quality. We can say that much. Throughout its pages, there are many concepts based on principles, where continuous improvement is the leitmotiv. In one of their habits (and we will delve into each one of them) the need to set a goal for all areas of our life is established: what we want to be as people, as spouses, as parents, as children, as members of some group Or society. Setting a goal allows everything we do, from there on, to be aligned with it. How we manage our time, our energy, our priorities. Seeing the complete method one can realize that every concept of the author, every step, every habit, is in an astonishingly natural order that could not have been otherwise.

Almost 30 years have passed since its first edition, and the work is practically intact. Little did the author to modify it with some examples of application. It really was not that necessary. Covey made other publications, but they all revolved around the essence of this book. Spanish speakers have the advantage of having a well-established and consistent Spanish version, which faithfully conveys the ideas of the edition in its original language.

Before beginning our free interpretation of the work, we will clarify that it is not a book of self-help, as many believe, since the concepts in it can be applied to people, groups of people or to complete organizations. Nor is it a book of ‘quick fixes’, as the author makes clear. The seven habits are carefully selected and analyzed, and are based on solid, indisputable and universal principles. Principles with values ​​should not be confused. They may be aligned, but our values ​​are not necessarily based on principles: Hitler had values. If our values ​​are in accordance with the fundamental principles, the use of both terms is indistinct.

At the beginning of this publication we clarify that this is not a conventional book. One can read it completely to the first, but he will not be able to parallel his concepts to real life. The personal and interpersonal development to which the author points is a gradual and time-consuming process. Maybe years. It implies breaking down entrenched paradigms, requiring a rethinking of our vision and priorities. Through what Covey defines as the ‘continuum of maturity’, a person who develops and grows in a systematic and sustained way passes through three states. The basic state is dependency, where everything we do in our life needs the help or acceptance of the other. For example, when we are children and we need our parents to meet our basic needs, such as food or sanitation. But there are other types of dependence that can last longer, even years or all of life: emotional dependence (our mood depends on the mood or the conditions of the environment), economic dependence (we are not able to self-sustain Economically and live at the expense of another) or mental dependence. Here appears what the author calls the ‘social mirror’. We live based on what the environment shows us who we are and not what we really are or want to be. The next step is independence. It is a more evolved stage, but not for that the optimal one. We can become independent emotionally or economically. Our actions depend on our decisions and are not conditioned to the environment. Most people reach this state during their adulthood, and live with it for the rest of their days. But there is an even more advanced degree of maturity, interdependence. The interdependence is to understand that in addition to being able to make my own decisions, I can unite my capacity with yours. The result obtained will be greater than the sum of the parts that we would contribute separately. It is important to emphasize that there are no shortcuts, we can not go from being dependent to interdependent without getting fully independent. Covey makes reference to the ‘law of the harvest’, a natural law that prevents us from ‘cheating nature’ by cheating and avoiding the proper steps. Sooner or later we ended up paying the price. The transition from dependency to independence.

This is what Covey calls private victory; Is the personal achievement of becoming beings who act free from outside influences. The first three habits seek private victory, effectiveness with ourselves. This is a prior and necessary step to move on to the next stage, public victory, the ability to be interdependent. The following three habits are responsible for developing these requirements. The last habit is the constant and systematic maintenance of the six previous habits. The real effectiveness is here. Generally it is thought that if we are really independent we are effective, but we live in an interdependent world. It would be impossible to abstract ourselves from the context and, furthermore, we would be wasting the possibility of combining our potential with that of other people and thus achieving extraordinary results and impossible to obtain individually. But … what is a habit ?. A habit is the intersection between knowledge (the ‘why’), ability (the ‘how’) and desire (the ‘I want’). Effective Habits.FUENT: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R We will briefly describe the fundamental steps to achieve full independence, private victory, personal effectiveness. The first habit (‘Be Proactive’) shows us that between a stimulus and our response there is something that is as obvious as difficult to put into practice, the inner freedom to choose. If I choose to respond poorly to a stimulus charged with negativity, I can choose otherwise. In short, the problem is not in what happens to us, but in how we react to what happens to us. Proactivity is precisely that, to have the ability to choose our response to what happens to us and that we can always learn from it. Exemplified by an extreme case such as that of Viktor Frankl, the author invites us to see as trivial an infinity of day-to-day situations in which we usually react in a pre-established way, worsening the problem or leaving us in a situation of paralysis.

“The way we look at the problem is the problem.” STEPHEN R. COVEY The opposite of proactivity is reactivity, the major obstacle to growth and growth. Continuous improvement. To be reactive is to act on stimuli only by reflex, or in a defensive way. In addition to our unwise way of reacting to what happens to us, we often spend energy in solving problems or worrying about things that are beyond our reach. The only thing we achieve in this way is to frustrate us. Effective people work only on what has influence, on their circle of influence. Everything that concerns us, what occupies our mind, is located within our circle of concern. Changing from reactive to proactive focusFUENTE: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey (1989) – Paidós If we act positively and proactively, our circle of influence will grow and try to be superior to that of concern. In that instance, we will be concerned only with what we have influence, what we can act upon and modify. The following habit (‘Start with an end in mind’) is based on the natural principle that everything is created twice. To create something concrete, palpable, previously we must create it mentally, plan it, imagine it.

At this stage we must define our goal and clearly visualize where we want to be in each role of our life. If we were to meet at our own funeral, how would we like to be reminded of the people? What kind of father do we want our children to remember, what kind of friend our friends. This habit proposes to write the script of our lives, the personal mission. This mission must be unique and must contemplate all aspects and all the roles we play in this world. We must be unconditional, and perform our acts aligned with this mission, with the principles that underlie. A personal mission worthy of it must be accessible at all times to review, reinforce and improve it. It is our constitution. It allows for amendments, but the essence must always be the same, that governs our actions and allows us to detect deviations and errors, in order to work on them.

The first step in writing a personal mission is to determine where our current circle of influence is centered. Our actions may be self-centered (egocentrism), our spouse (emotional dependency), our work, money, friends, enemies, religion. Our reality may have a combination of them, or have a well defined center. In all cases, this is surely affecting our effectiveness and we must move intelligently to a state of harmony and balance, yes.

Oriented towards the fulfillment of our personal mission. “What matters most should never be at the mercy of what matters least.” GOETHEEn the Third Habit (‘Put First Things First’) Covey teaches us how to manage our time and priorities. It shows us the importance that everything we do is based on our personal mission. ‘Putting first things first’ means that we must give priority to what is really important, in a world governed by urgencies. Here appears one of the most enriching contributions of Covey, the Time Management Matrix. All the tasks that we accept must pass through this filter, which links importance and urgency. In quadrant I are the important and urgent things, the so-called crises.

They are important, we must realize them because something related to our mission is at stake, but it must already be. For example, cater to a major customer who had a problem and can put into play the continuity of the business relationship. But they should not be a constant, we can not live ‘putting out fires’. In quadrant II appear things that are important but are not urgent. They are those that are strongly related to our mission, but there are no dates. Here are the really important things: planning, developing new relationships, rebuilding damaged relationships, time spent on physical exercise, spirit, learning. Quadrant III covers all things that are urgent, but not important: unproductive meetings, calls or interruptions we did not expect. The fourth quadrant, finally, is the worst of all. Everything in this quadrant is a total waste of time: watching TV longer than usual, just out of boredom, oversleeping, trivial activities, etc. Fourth Generation Time Management MatrixFUENT: The 7 habits of the Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey (1989) – Paidós The Secret: Increase the Time We Give to Quadrant II. This will cause crises and emergencies (quadrants I and III) to occur less frequently. For this we must use the time badly exploited in quadrant IV, which must disappear completely. Many think that leisure and recreation belong to Quadrant IV, but it is not correct.

The leisure and recreation healthy, that renews energy, that enriches, that foments relations, belongs to the important thing and not urgent. That is, the quadrant II. Correct handling of personal delegation is vital for the development of our life in Quadrant II. We must lead people and manage things, not the other way around. Public VictimWhen achieving private victory, we are able to work on our relationships with others, in search of interdependence. The fourth habit (‘Think of win-win’) comes to break the paradigm that when you win another you inevitably have to lose. In any deal, in any negotiation of life, there is the possibility of choosing the best possible answer: that we both win. Usually we tend to want to win in such a way that the other has to lose, or we are submissive and to let another win (because, for example, we have a moral debt to him) we must lose. There are two possible options, as stated by the author.

Or we look for a better solution, so that we both win in the most optimal way (‘win-win’), or we directly agree that we can not achieve that solution: ‘no deal’ is this second option. And each one by his side. Then we have the fifth habit, the most difficult to implement, as Covey could determine during the infinity of lectures he gave around the world spreading his concepts. This habit (called ‘Seek first to understand and then to be understood’) reveals one of the great defects of mankind. Most of us do not listen to the other to understand, listen to go arming their answer. That prevents us from achieving enough empathy to understand the other person’s perspective and to make the most of any differences that may exist.

The sixth habit (‘Synergice’) tells us that the sum of the contributions of two people always gives a result superior to the one that would give if we add the contributions of each one separately. That is, one plus one always gives more than two, and has no upper limit. Synergy is the mainstay of all work teams.

The seventh habit: Sharpen the saw.

The seventh habit is, in itself, the habit of continuous improvement.

We can not limit ourselves to having achieved a solid interdependence. We must nourish ourselves permanently so that it is sustained in time and allows us to improve day by day. How many of us do not stop to load fuel for being busy driving? This permanent renewal covers four dimensions: The physical dimension: through healthy nutrition, systematic physical exercise.

Role of stress. The spiritual dimension: through meditation and fulfillment of commitments aligned with our mission. The emotional and social dimension: through empathy, positive communication and synergy. The mental dimension: through the Planning and lifelong learning. It is clear that all of the aforementioned activities of renewal in any dimension belong to Quadrant II. In short, this book is an endless source of concepts that can really change our lives.

It opens our minds to a different world, with ideas sometimes seem so trivial and easy to understand as complex to put into practice. Ideas that seek balance and harmony in all aspects of our life, in an effective and principled way. If you have not yet had a chance to read it, this is a good time to start. If they have already done so, it is time to rediscover it, to always see it from different perspectives and to act. That is why it should be available for permanent consultation.

Taking the first step is difficult, because it has to do with recognizing mistakes that we have committed a lifetime, but it is the most important step.

Effective professionals in XXI century

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