# The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

## Metadata
- Author: [[Stephen R. Covey]]
- Full Title: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
- Category: #books
## Highlights
- Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. GOETHE ([Location 2700](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2700))
- Management, remember, is clearly different from leadership. Leadership is primarily a high-powered, right brain activity. It’s more of an art; it’s based on a philosophy. You have to ask the ultimate questions of life when you’re dealing with personal leadership issues. ([Location 2724](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2724))
- But once you have dealt with those issues, once you have resolved them, you then have to manage yourself effectively to create a life congruent with your answers. The ability to manage well doesn’t make much difference if you’re not even in the “right jungle.” But if you are in the right jungle, it makes all the difference. In fact, the ability to manage well determines the quality and even the existence of the second creation. Management is the breaking down, the analysis, the sequencing, the specific application, the time-bound left-brain aspect of effective self-government. My own maxim of personal effectiveness is this: Manage from the left; lead from the right. ([Location 2726](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2726))
- Effective management is putting first things first. While leadership decides what “first things” are, it is management that puts them first, day-by-day, moment-by-moment. Management is discipline, carrying it out. ([Location 2742](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2742))
- One of my favorite essays is “The Common Denominator of Success,” written by E. M. Gray. He spent his life searching for the one denominator that all successful people share. He found it wasn’t hard work, good luck, or astute human relations, though those were all important. The one factor that seemed to transcend all the rest embodies the essence of Habit 3—putting first things first. “The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don’t like to do,” he observed. “They don’t like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.” ([Location 2748](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2748))
- That subordination requires a purpose, a mission, a Habit 2 clear sense of direction and value, a burning “yes!” inside that makes it possible to say “no” to other things. ([Location 2753](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2753))
- WHAT IT TAKES TO SAY “No” ([Location 2850](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2850))
- The only place to get time for Quadrant II in the beginning is from Quadrants III and IV. You can’t ignore the urgent and important activities of Quadrant I, although it will shrink in size as you spend more time with prevention and preparation in Quadrant II. But the initial time for Quadrant II has to come out of III and IV. You have to be proactive to work on Quadrant II because Quadrants I and III work on you. To say “yes” to important Quadrant II priorities, you have to learn to say “no” to other activities, sometimes apparently urgent things. ([Location 2852](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2852))
- I don’t mean to imply that you shouldn’t be involved in significant service projects. Those things are important. But you have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically—to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.” Keep in mind that you are always saying “no” to something. If it isn’t to the apparent, urgent things in your life, it is probably to the more fundamental, highly important things. Even when the urgent is good, the good can keep you from your best, keep you from your unique contribution, if you let it. ([Location 2864](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2864))
- We say “yes” or “no” to things daily, usually many times a day. A center of correct principles and a focus on our personal mission empowers us with wisdom to make those judgments effectively. ([Location 2880](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2880))
- Most people say their main fault is a lack of discipline. On deeper thought, I believe that is not the case. The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds. They haven’t really internalized Habit 2. ([Location 2885](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2885))
- There are many people who recognize the value of Quadrant II activities in their lives, whether they identify them as such or not. And they attempt to give priority to those activities and integrate them into their lives through self-discipline alone. But without a principle center and a personal mission statement, they don’t have the necessary foundation to sustain their efforts. They’re working on the leaves, on the attitudes and the behaviors of discipline, without even thinking to examine the roots, the basic paradigms from which their natural attitudes and behaviors flow. ([Location 2887](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2887))
- In the words of the architectural maxim, form follows function. Likewise, management follows leadership. ([Location 2895](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2895))
- It’s almost impossible to say “no” to the popularity of Quadrant III or to the pleasure of escape to Quadrant IV if you don’t have a bigger “yes” burning inside. ([Location 2898](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2898))
- A Quadrant II organizer will need to meet six important criteria. ([Location 2940](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2940))
- COHERENCE. Coherence suggests that there is harmony, unity, and integrity between your vision and mission, your roles and goals, your priorities and plans, and your desires and discipline. ([Location 2941](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2941))
- BALANCE. Your tool should help you to keep balance in your life, to identify your various roles and keep them right in front of you, so that you don’t neglect important areas such as your health, your family, professional preparation, or personal development. ([Location 2944](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2944))
- QUADRANT II FOCUS. You need a tool that encourages you, motivates you, actually helps you spend the time you need in Quadrant II, so that you’re dealing with prevention rather than prioritizing crises. ([Location 2949](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2949))
- A “PEOPLE” DIMENSION. You also need a tool that deals with people, not just schedules. While you can think in terms of efficiency in dealing with time, a principle-centered person thinks in terms of effectiveness in dealing with people. ([Location 2959](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2959))
- FLEXIBILITY. Your planning tool should be your servant, never your master. Since it has to work for you, it should be tailored to your style, your needs, your particular ways. ([Location 2963](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2963))
- PORTABILITY. Your tool should also be portable, so that you can carry it with you most of the time. ([Location 2965](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2965))
- Quadrant II organizing involves four key activities. ([Location 2975](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2975))
- IDENTIFYING ROLES. The first task is to write down your key roles. ([Location 2976](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2976))
- SELECTING GOALS. The next step is to think of one or two important results you feel you should accomplish in each role during the next seven days. These would be recorded as goals. ([Location 2987](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2987))
- SCHEDULING. Now you can look at the week ahead with your goals in mind and schedule time to achieve them. ([Location 2993](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=2993))
- If I were to summarize in one sentence the single most important principle I have learned in the field of interpersonal relations, it would be this: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. ([Location 4168](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00GOZV3TM&location=4168))