Book Summary.The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Stephen R. Corey

Name
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Corey
2017
Professor
Date
Book Summary
Stephen R. Corey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People talks about how to improve one’s self. The book outlines how most people tend to look for quick fixes when faced with a challenge in life. The solution however, relies entirely on our perceptions. Ideally, changing our own perceptions about things enable us to bring change to ourselves and ultimately gives us the ability to change the challenging situation that we might be facing. The book goes further to point out how to achieve real change, and this, he believes, is dependent on changing ourselves entirely, and not just basing on the surface level changes such as behaviors and attitudes. People who reach this level are what he terms as the highly effective people and they are identified using the seven habits. These include being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, putting first things first, think win-win, seeking to understand first and then to be understood, synergy, and sharpening the saw. From Corey’s ideas on perception and the seven habits, this book has several key points that are worth looking into.
Perception Formation
“We must look at the lens through which we see the world, as well as at the world we see, and that the lens itself shapes how we interpret the world,” (Corey,14). From this Corey’s quote, it is quite clear that our own perceptions determine how we see the world and how we respond to the challenges of life. This thought really resonates with me since it means that we all have the capability of changing and dealing with any situation and changing ourselves if only we make changes to how we perceive things and the world in general. Failure to change our perceptions will only lead to situation that the author describes whereby individuals achieve much success that can be seen from the outside but their inner needs are unfulfilled because of their wrong perceptions. This idea makes more sense to me because it emphasizes the fact that any change that we hope for in life, should always begin from the inside before it is reflected on the outside. This key point is very much applicable to the classroom situation. For example, some learners in any classroom setting have some preconceived negative notions about certain courses and subjects. Holding these kind of notions or perceptions often make to fail or achieve poorly in such areas. However, just as Corey suggests, these students need to change the lens through which they look at such subjects or courses because this will reshape their view of the subjects and potentially help them succeed in them.
Having a Clear Destination
“It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busyness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it’s leaning against the wrong wall,” (112). Corey uses this quote in his second habit of an effective person, which states, ‘begin with the end in mind.’ Accordingly, the habit requires that before one embarks on any work or mission, he or she should know exactly what they aim to achieve in the end. In other words, one sh...