7 Habits Overview

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a book written by Steven Covey that I have introduced in previous posts. Reading the earlier posts will help gain a better understanding of some of the terms used here.

• Introduction to Effectiveness
• Habit 1 - Be Proactive
• Habit 2 - Begin With the End in Mind
• Habit 3 - Put First Things First
• Habit 4 - Think Win/Win
• Habit 5 - Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood
• Habit 6 - Synergize

In the first post, we defined effectiveness and achieving the Production vs. Production Capability (P / PC) balance. The P is the production (the output) from a process or a relationship that needs to be balanced with our PC (our capability to produce). The first 6 habits help us to achieve this balance. The first three are inwards looking (private victories) and the next three are outwards looking (public victories). Habit 7 focuses on strengthening our PC.

Prelude to Habit 7

To illustrate Habit 7, I am going to go back to the story from the introduction, the fable of the golden goose.

A poor farmer bought a goose that happened to be a magical goose that lays a golden egg. At first, the farmer didn't believe it was real but when another one is laid by the goose the next day the farmer authenticates the gold. From then on, every day he waits for the goose to lay him another golden egg and he becomes richer and richer.

After a while, greed kicks in and he becomes impatient waiting for the goose to lay another egg and he decides he will kill the goose so that he can get all the eggs from inside the goose at once. However, there are none inside because it was the goose producing the golden eggs. The farmer has now destroyed the production capability and no more eggs will be produced.

Habit 7 - Sharpen the Saw

Habit 7 is about renewal. We need to stoke the fire, otherwise, the fire will go out. The habit is about building the production capability that we introduced in the introduction post. It means we take care of and look after the goose as, without the goose, we won't receive the golden eggs.

The greatest asset that you have in life - is you! And you need to look after yourself otherwise how could you ever become highly effective?

"Renewal is the principle—and the process—that empowers us to move on an upward spiral of growth and change, of continuous improvement. "

Dr. Stephen R. Covey

We need to keep sharpening the saw so that we can keep on putting the other six habits into practice. If we don’t implement renewal in our lives we become weak and stagnant. We will not be all fired up and at our best to perform our tasks. We will be a blunt instrument.

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."

Abraham Lincoln

Four Pillars of Renewal

Renewal needs to look after four different areas.

To implement Habit 7, we need to go back to Habit 1. We need to be proactive, renewal just doesn't happen, we need to work at it. You can sit on the sofa and worry about your weight, or you can get up and exercise. You can rush around in life absolutely oblivious to your spiritual wellbeing, or you can treat yourself to your most enjoyable form of relaxation and stress relief. You can overindulge in fatty and sugary foods, or you can choose today to eat more healthily.

"We must never become too busy sawing to take time to sharpen the saw."

Dr. Stephen R. Covey

So don't just sit there procrastinating, get up and take care of your most important asset - you!

Next Post

I have now introduced all of the 7 Habits that will help you become highly effective. I still have a couple of tricks up my sleeve. First, a bit of a deeper dive on bringing one of the habits into your life and then finally, I will summarise and show how the 7 habits relate to and support each other.