The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey is a well organized and thought out book. The beginning of the book teaches everything one needs to know about the rest of the book. The seven habits are vital to be successful. Habits one, two, and three are have to deal with the physical, spiritual, and mental dimensions of a person which are centered on the principles of personal visions, leadership, and management. While habits four, five, and six deal with the emotional and social dimensions of a person that have to do with principles of leadership, empathic communication, and creative cooperation. Habit seven is a little different from the rest, and will be covered later in the paper.
In Covey's overview of the seven habits, he defines what habits are. First, he puts an excellent quote by Aristotle at the top of the page; "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."" This sets off the tone for his book, and goes on to write, "Habits are powerful factors in our lives. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily express our character and produce our effectiveness or ineffectiveness."" Covey is saying that habits can either be good or bad, depending on what they are. They could be efficient and effective or useless and unproductive. What he wants to do is change peoples habits, or create new, more positive ones. It does not make sense to obtain a habit that is not effective in any way, nor does it make sense to keep a negative habit. .
The first habit described by Covey is, "Be Proactive."" Proactive is defined as being anticipatory; acting in advance to deal with a specific difficulty. Being proactive means much more than just being prepared. One has to be responsible, take initiative, and not be affected by outer distractions. First, a person must have responsibility in order to be proactive.
