The seven habits of
highly effective
people
Powerful lessons of personality
change.
From the book of Stephen Covey
“We are what we
repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is
not an act, but a
habit.” – Aristotle
Habits are powerful factors in our
lives. Because they are
consistent, often unconscious
pattern, they constantly, daily,
express our character and
produce our effectiveness… or
ineffectiveness.
“Habits” Defined
We define a habit as the intersection of
knowledge, skills and desire.
Knowledge, is the theoretical paradigm,
(pattern) the what to do and the why.
Skill is the how to do.
Desire is the motivation, the want to do.
In order to make something a habit in our lives, we have
to have all three.
It’s sometimes a painful process.
It’s a change that has to be
motivated by a higher purpose,
by the willingness to subordinate
what you think you want now for
what you want later. But this
process produces happiness.
Happiness can be defined,
in part at least, as the fruit
of the desire and ability to
sacrifice what we want now
for what we want
eventually.
CAN WE TELL THAT OUR
HAPPINESS IS THE SAME WITH
OUR PASSION?
The Maturity Continuum
The seven habits are not a set of separate
or piecemeal psych-up formulas. In
harmony with natural laws of growth, they
provide an incremental, sequential, highly
integrated approach to the development of
personal and interpersonal effectiveness.
They move us progressively on Maturity
Continuum from dependence to
independence to interdependence.
Dependence
We each begin life as an infant,
totally dependent on others. We are
directed, nurtured and sustained by
others. Without this nurturing, we
would only live for few hours or few
days at most.
Independence
Then gradually, over the ensuring
months and years, we become
more and more independent –
Physically, mentally, emotionally,
and financially – until eventually
we can essentially take care of
ourselves, becoming inner-
directed and self-reliant.
Interdependence
As we continue to grow and
mature, we become
increasingly aware that all
of nature is interdependent,
that there is an ecological
system that governs nature,
including society.
Dependence is the paradigm of YOU –
•YOU take care of me
•YOU come through for me
•I blame YOU for the results.
Independence is the paradigm of I-
•I can do it
•I am responsible
•I am self-reliant
•I can choose
Interdependence is the paradigm of WE
•WE can do it
•WE can cooperate
•WE can combine our talents
and abilities and create
something greater together.
Dependent people need others to
get what they want. Independent
people can get what they want
through their own effort.
Interdependent people combine
their own efforts with the efforts
of others to achieve their greatest
success.
This Fable is a natural law, a principle –
the basic definition of effectiveness. Most
people see effectiveness from the golden
egg paradigm: the more you produce, the
more you do, the more effective you are.
But the story shows, true effectiveness is
a function of two things: what is produced
(the golden egg) and the producing asset
or capacity to produce (the goose).
Effectiveness Defined
Effectiveness lies in the balance
of P/PC balance. P stands for
PRODUCTION of the desired
results, the golden egg. PC
stands for production capability,
the ability or asset that produces
the golden eggs.
Assignment
On your own situation, how can you
explain your level of MATURITY
CONTINUUM?
Kindly identify your level of
dependency, independency and
interdependency.
