FOCUS Adventure Pte Ltd

Media Login - photos here!

Review: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
By Joey Ng

‘Common sense does not mean common practice.’ This has to be one of the simplest and yet most powerful statement I have ever come across: A statement that is understood by most, and more significantly, applicable to all.

7 Habits has consistently been ranked among the ‘Top 10 Business Books’ by many and
after reading it, I have to agree it fully deserve its recognition. This book has been around
for donkey years and I’d never found the urge to read it because the 7 Habits seems so…
common sense.

1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the End in Mind
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win/Win
5. Seek First to Understand… Then to be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

Just by the term alone, we are able to make out what each habit describes. But boy, it was
only after reading this book, the phrase ‘the more you know, the more you don’t know’
hits home. Again.

Here’s a nutshell of my understanding of each Habit.

1. Be Proactive
To understand Proactive, you first have to understand Reactive. Someone who is
Reactive is greatly affected by the environment. Proactive is the opposite. Someone who
is Proactive believes that he has control over how things turn out. The Proactive Model
describes how a Proactive person widens his gap between stimulus and response. The
wider the gap, the more freedom a person has over the choice of his actions and
responses.

2. Begin with the End in Mind
All things are created twice. The first is a mental creation, the second, a physical creation.
Mental creation sets the destination. With a destination, the physical creation can then be
better align, adjust or adapt to reach the end. Fundamentally, the End serves as a check
for the current actions.

3. Put First Things First
Urgent Vs Important. Many times, we are so preoccupied with the urgent(s) that we
neglect the important(s), that is, if we are even able to differentiate these 2. The mantra of
this Habit is on personal management. To be effective, is to address the important. It is
because of the non-attention to the important, that they become the urgent down the road.

4. Think Win/Win
What got my most attention on this habit is the No Deal approach. Along with Win/Win,
any other approach will end up with all parties losing in the long run. No Deal is the only
alternative to Win/Win. No Deal does not maintain trust and relationship, it betters them.
By saying No, it communicates to the other party their interest is just as important to us,
thus, non delivery is better than questionable delivery.

5. Seek First to Understand… Then to be Understood
Before the person even finishes his sentence, you are already thinking of your respond.
We do this all the time. The 5th Habit is very much on communication – listening, to be
precise. The four most basic type of communication are – writing, reading, speaking and
listening. The last one, the one we spend the least effort honing. By seeking to understand
others first, it will prevent us from imposing our views on the matter. When our views are
imposed, the focus inevitably turns inwards.

6. Synergize
The third alternative. It is only through valuing differences that one is able to find the
third alternative – one that is better than yours and mine. In other words, it is getting
more than what I can achieve alone. It is more than WIN/WIN, more than 1 + 1 = 2. It is
the crowning achievement of all the previous Habits.

7. Sharpen the Saw
By renewing any of the habits, you are renewing the rest. Such is the link between the 7
Habits. The best way to ‘Sharpen the Saw’? Live it!

7 Habits of the Highly Effective People is very well put together. The interconnectedness
of the Habits gives a very holistic view of our relationship with others as a system and
also, where leverage can be found. The ‘common sense’ approach the habits are based on
makes turning them into ‘common practice’ feasible. A bible we should have all have
around.

Which habit does writing book reviews fall under?