The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Paperback – Special Edition, November 19, 2013

This is, hands down, one of the best and most powerful books I've ever read in my life. I have recommended it to countless people. The fact that you're seeking it out says volumes about your level of self-awareness as it is and this book builds on that. Very seldom do books really make me get involved when I read them, but this book made me break out my highlighter and notepad. There was so much good stuff I just had to take notes I could quickly reference. You know how some books make you say things out loud? You'll read something and say, "YES! EXACTLY!" or read something profound and just sit dumbfounded, going "Wow," and you have to take a moment to reflect on it? This book is full of moments like that.

There is a lot of practical stuff in here, too. Challenges for you. Ways you can start to shift your thinking by taking an emotional inventory of your life and what you're doing/feeling every day. Just writing about it makes me want to go back and read it again. If you're here looking for a book that will help you harness that little spark inside of you that's saying, "You can be better" then this book is it. You're not an animal. Life doesn't condition you like a dog. This book is about the untouchable part of your human spirit that no one besides you controls. This book is about carrying sunny weather with you where ever you go, learning how much a proactive attitude benefits you, and really how sad and wasteful it is to walk through life allowing things to ruin your day. Things don't ruin your day. YOU ruin your day. You are always in control.

Seriously, read this book. You won't regret it.

I rarely if ever leave reviews on purchases, but I felt the need to share this one. I've spent the past several years trying to figure out what I was doing wrong when it came to happiness. I had every reason to be happy, but yet felt this deep hollowness inside. I've tried all the positive thinking quick fixes, meditation, law of attraction, etc. Nothing seemed to click or "cure" this aching inside. It wasn't until I read the 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, that the fog finally lifted. This book taught me why all those quick fixes don't work and how my happiness depended on my own internal work and efforts. I encourage anyone who is struggle with a similar situation or everyone for that matter to read this book. It'll change your perspective on life!

Change is hard. How can I change? I suggest two practices for making changes in your life. The first is to follow your conscience. I speak a lot about the idea that between stimulus (what happens to us) and response (what we do about it) is a space to choose, and what we do with that space ultimately determines our growth and happiness. In this space lie the four human endowments of conscience, imagination, self-awareness, and independent will. Of the four, conscience is the governing one. Often, when we are not at peace in our lives, it is because we are living lives in violation of our conscience and deep down we know it. We can tap into conscience simply by asking ourselves questions and pausing to “hear” the answer. For example, try asking yourself the following questions: What is the most important thing I need to start doing in my personal life that would have the greatest positive impact? Think deeply. What comes to mind? Now, ask yourself another question: What is the most important thing that I need to start doing in my professional life that would have the greatest positive impact? Again, pause, think, and go deep inside yourself to find the answer. If you’re like me, you’ll recognize those most important things by listening to your conscience—that voice of wisdom, self-awareness, and common sense within you. Another great question to ask yourself is: What is life now asking of me? Pause. Think carefully. You may sense that you’ve been unfocused and need to be far more careful with the way you spend your time. Or you may decide that you need to start eating better and exercising because you’re constantly tired. Or you may sense that there is a key relationship you need to repair. Whatever it is, there is great strength and power in following through with a change that is endorsed by your conscience. Without deep conviction, you won’t have the strength to follow through with your goals when the going gets tough. And conviction comes through conscience. We all have three different lives: a public life, a private life, and an inner life. Our public life is what others observe. Our private life is what we do when we are alone. Our inner life is that place we go to when we really want to examine our motives and our deepest desires. I highly recommend developing this inner life. This is the place where our conscience can be most instructive because while here we are in the best frame of mind to listen. A second key to change is to change your role. As I’ve always said, if you want to make incremental changes in your life, change your behaviors. But if you want to make significant change, work on your paradigms, the way in which you see and interpret the world. And the best way to change your paradigm is to change your role. You may get promoted to be a new project manager at work. You may become a new mother or a new grandfather. You may take on a new community responsibility. Suddenly your role has changed and you see the world differently and better behaviors naturally flow out of the changed perspective. Sometimes role changes are external events, such as a change in a job responsibility. But other times we can change our role just by changing our mindset or our perception of a situation. Let’s say, for example, that you are seen as a control freak at work and that you know you need to start trusting others and letting go. Well, perhaps you could see yourself differently and redefine your role from one of “supervisor” to one of “advisor.” With this change of role, this mental shift, you would start to see yourself as an advisor to your team members who are empowered to make decisions and seek your counsel when doing so instead of being the one who has to own everything and constantly follow up. I’m often asked, Which of the 7 Habits is the most important? My answer is: The most important habit is the one you are having the most difficult time living. Use your endowments of self-awareness and conscience to help you sense which habit you may need to focus on. Often the best way to change is to pick the one thing, the single habit, and to make small commitments to yourself related to that habit and keep them. Little by little your discipline and self-confidence will increase.