The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

By: Stephen R. Covey

Narrated by: Stephen R. Covey

Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller - over 40 million copies sold

The number one Most Influential Business Book of the 20th century

One of the most inspiring and impactful books ever written, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has captivated listeners for nearly three decades. It has transformed the lives of presidents and CEOs, educators and parents - millions of people of all ages and occupations. Now, this 30th anniversary edition of the timeless classic commemorates the wisdom of the 7 Habits with modern additions from Sean Covey.

The 7 Habits have become famous and are integrated into everyday thinking by millions and millions of people. Why? Because they work! With Sean Covey’s added takeaways on how the habits can be used in our modern age, the wisdom of the 7 Habits will be refreshed for a new generation of leaders.

They include:

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Habit 3: Put First Things First

Habit 4: Think Win/Win

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

Habit 6: Synergize

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

This beloved classic presents a principle-centered approach for solving both personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and practical anecdotes, Stephen R. Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity - principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2004 Franlkin Covey (P)2004 FranklinCovey

Critic reviews

"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is by now one of the best-selling books of all time." (Fortune)

A Book America Needs To Read

Government, Wallstreet, Business Large and Small and Every Family need to read and practice the concepts of this book.

a different perspective...

an excellent book, I am going to read it again, it makes you examine yourself and reevaluate the things that society wrongfully teaches us..

An Essential Life Book

Where does The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This books has the ability to transform and develop a person in every area of their life.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People?

Sharpening the Saw

A lot to taken in.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I am wanting my pre-teen son to read this book. It is based on his values with boy scouts.

What other book might you compare The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to and why?

I can not compare this to another book but I can compare it to Woodbadge training. This books grows on the ideas in the training. Great additional course material.

What does Stephen R. Covey bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I won't want anyone else read it.

Life Changer.

Top 3 Self Development books of all time. Can't thank Stephen enough.

"We are not human beings, living a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings, living a human experience."

Listened Twice & It Was Worth It

The first time I listened through this book it wasn't very interesting for the first half. Around the second half I started to understand the concepts better and decided to listen again, this time learning a lot more.

I found it very helpful on many levels for interpersonal skills building, introspection, management, etc. Highly recommend.

well worth listening to....

What did you love best about The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People?

I really enjoyed hearing Covey's specific examples of tough situations solved with his practical 7 steps... the examples he gave were especially helpful in relating the material to my own life. His message is one that's practical and timeless. I found the audible book uplifting overall and something I could look forward to listening to for about 15 minutes at a time while driving.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I think breaking up the listening into small bites over a period of a week or two would be most recommended. There's a lot of material here to digest - too much for just one sitting!

Amazing. Explains The Success of My Mentors

I always wondered why the mentors who inspire me are able to achieve so much. Looking at it now, I understand they live the 7 principles and have been slowly training me to apply them in my own life.

My only regret is that I didn't read this earlier in life.

Picture yourself at your own funeral...

Where does The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I only have 2 books in my library and this is definitely #1, so far. I am also new to using audible but its really useful. I am a college student with a busy schedule reading all my school required school books so these kinds of books are books I have to schedule in when I am waiting for something, before I go to bed, etc.

What did you like best about this story?

This book is not a story per say... but he does tell stories in the book usually about his family and his work experiences but they are useful examples. One story in the book he mentions about not seeing eye to eye with one of his co-workers and how he manages to work things out to be successful at working together, the stories are just relatable.

Have you listened to any of Stephen R. Covey’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

A part in this book is he puts you in a scenario to picture yourself at your own funeral and asks you to think about who would be there, what would they say about you and so on (Definitely! gave me a new perspective on how I was living...)

I will always remember the part where he says some people prioritize there schedules (meaning we put our urgent problems at the top of the list in our day to day to do list) when in reality we should schedule our priorities (meaning we should make time in our schedule for our priorities, being proactive, planning ahead) and its true I never really looked at it this way.

Something else he mentions that I found really important he says relationships are more valuable than any job (basically anything materialistic) I realized I buy a lot of these business books but none have ever mentioned a relationship is more important than business transactions or at least not the way he puts it. Very good stuff!

-"Problems should be an opportunity to strengthen a relationship"
-"Begin with the end in mind"
-being Responsible -"response-able" (teaches about self-awareness and of how you respond to situations)

Any additional comments?

I will admit at times because of some new terminology it felt like I was reading a text book, However I easily pick up the meaning of the new words I heard because of the example stories he uses but this book definitely needs to be in everyones library.

Excellence!

I have listened to this twice now and plan to listen many more times. I believe it to be part of sharpening the saw.