The 7habits of Highly Effective People

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Covey has an excellent example of a paradigm shift as he recalls when he traveled in a subway . There he saw a man getting in with his two sons He observes the sons ' behavior as they bothered people around them causing a commotion until he finally asks the father why their behavior are just tolerable for him and why he does not do anything to stop them from bothering other people . The father replies "We just got back from the hospital where their mother died . I

don 't know how to handle it and I guess they don 't either " This is when one sees the same scenario in a different way . This is the power of a paradigm shift . The very same kids in another situation may irritate a person but in that situation , one understands the cause for their misbehavior

This is just one of the numerous scenes that one gets from the book of Stephen Covey on The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People . The main theme of the book is that the author wants the readers to see how they can base their behavior on a paradigm of the world which is focused on one 's unchanging principles instead of being centered on what happens in the world , or what others do , or how one feels and how the external environment behaves . Empowering in a lot of aspects , the author takes the reader to several principles and walks them to seven habits that will be helpful in making them understand why some people are effective in what they do . This is important because one 's behavior results from one 's paradigms of the world

Covey supports his main thesis by giving an example of a young woman and an old woman picture where one can either see an old woman or a young woman as one looks at the picture more closely . Depending on what one sees , one is going to describe the picture in that particular way . He does this several times in the book

Different theories emphasize different areas or aspects of development Each theory makes a particular set of assumptions about human nature and the causes of development . For example , there are those who stress that humans are cognitive beings - active information processors - who unlike animals , are likely to think about the relationships between their behavior and its consequences . Therefore , they are often more affected by what they believe will happen than by the events they actually experience . This is highlighted in observational learning as a central development process . Observational learning is simply learning that results from observing the behavior of other people (called models . Covey wants to imply that people must know how effective people behave so that they can also be effective leaders

Some say that behavior change is simply symptom change . But real and lasting change comes when the client develops new perceptions about self , significant others , and about life . Further , some counselors...