The book, first published in 1989, has sold over 15 million copies in 38 languages since first publication.

A sequel to The Seven Habits is The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness published in 2004 and as such I thought I should help you to be more effective and publish summary of the book

The chapters are dedicated to each of the habits, which are represented by the following imperatives:

1. Be Proactive! Here, Covey emphasizes the original sense of the term “proactive” as coined by Victor Frankl. You can either be proactive or reactive when it comes to how you respond to certain things. When you are reactive, you blame other people and circumstances for obstacles or problems. Being proactive means taking responsibility for every aspect of your life. Initiative and taking action will then follow. Covey also argues that man is different from other animals in that he has self-consciousness. He has the ability to detach himself and observe his own self; think about his thoughts. He goes on to say how this attribute enables him: It gives him the power not to be affected by his circumstances. Covey talks about stimulus and response. Between stimulus and response, we have the power of free will to choose our response.
2. Begin with the End In Mind! This chapter is about setting long-term goals based on “true north” principles. Covey recommends formulating a “Personal Mission Statement” to document one’s perception of one’s own vision in life. He sees visualization as an important tool to develop this. He also deals with organizational vision statements, which he claims to be more effective if developed and supported by all members of an organization rather than prescribed.
3. Put First Things First! Here, Covey describes a framework for prioritizing work that is aimed at short-term goals, at the expense of tasks that appear not to be urgent, but are in fact very important. Delegation is presented as an important part of time management. Successful delegation, according to Covey, focuses on results and benchmarks that are to be agreed upon in advance, rather than prescribed as detailed work plans.
4. Think Win/Win describes an attitude whereby mutually beneficial solutions are sought that satisfy the needs of oneself, or, in the case of a conflict, both parties involved.
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood. Covey warns that giving out advice before having empathetically understood a person and their situation will likely result in rejection of that advice. Thoroughly reading out your own autobiography will decrease the chance of establishing a working communication.
6. Synergize describes a way of working in teams. Apply effective problem solving. Apply collaborative decision making. Value differences. Build on divergent strengths. Leverage creative collaboration. Embrace and leverage innovation. It is put forth that when synergy is pursued as a habit, the result of the teamwork will exceed the sum of what each of the members could have achieved on their own. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
7. Sharpen the saw focuses on balanced self-satisfaction: Regain what Covey calls “production capability” by engaging in carefully selected recreational activities. Covey also emphasizes the need to sharpen the mind.

I personally think that the book is great. I found myself repeating the same tasks over and over withour realizing that simple software solution can do it for me! Also the chapter on “clearing mind” was very eye-opening – I think anyone who find themselves “too busy” all the time or spending endless hours answering emails should read this.

This is perfect addition to my library in my quest to work smarter (=less), become “location-less” (=travel a lot and do the things I like) with passive income (= while getting paid)!

PS: You can check out the book here!

I very recently read Timothy Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Work Week and it very much changed my outlook on work and life in general.

I used to run an Internet marketing company and worked a lot – way too much – just because I thought that at some point in the future I will be able to sell the company, get rich and retite.

Timothy explains why this is completely false approach and introduces the “new rich” concept. The concept is simple; pay someone to do all the work so you can spend more time doing the things you would like to do. Tim Ferriss gives examples of business owners who work for no more than 4 – 10 hours per week whilst running multi million dollar companies.

Timothy speaks six languages and runs a multinational firm from wireless locations worldwide. He has been a popular guest lecturer at Princeton University since 2003, where he presents entrepreneurship as a tool for ideal lifestyle design and world change.

I tried several tips from the book including outsourcing parts of my personal life and it has been brilliant so far. My virtual personal assistant Raji is very helpful and actually likes to do tasks I don’t! She also pepared very imporatent presentation for me overnight while I was asleep.

The book also gives you tips to find your own source of passive income.

I found the book at exactly the right time in my life and it opened my eyes in many ways. The rat race really isn’t for me!