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Living the 7 Habits: Stories of Courage and Inspiration [Secure eReader (recommended)/Mobipocket/Microsoft Reader/Adobe]
eBook by Stephen R. Covey
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eBook Category: Self Improvement/Business
eBook Description:  Most self-help books are built not just on practical advice but on stories of real people whose experiences illustrate the principles the author is trying to convey. As Stephen Covey writes in his new book, Living the 7 Habits, he hasn't always been a big believer in their value--he's always been concerned that his readers or listeners might think he was prescribing the practice in the story rather than seeing the practice as an illustration of a principle. But Covey notes that his wife's most frequent criticism of his books, courses, and seminars has been his failure to include more stories that people can relate to--and over the years, he's come around to her point of view: Not only is a picture worth a thousand words, as the Far Eastern expression goes, but ... the picture created in the heart and mind of a person by a story is worth ten thousand. And so, ten years after the publication of his phenomenally successful book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey shares inspiring personal stories from readers, seminar attendees, and students who have applied the 7 Habits to overcome challenges, achieve success, and promote positive change in their lives. The stories are organized by the realm they to which they relate, including individual, family, community, and workplace, and then by theme, such as Courage to Change or Increasing Influence. Covey allows the people in Living the 7 Habits to tell their stories in their own simple words, and they relate experiences from choosing to step off the corporate ladder to pursue a happier balance of work and family to facing grief and loss, from resolving family conflicts to overcoming challenges managing employees. Covey introduces each story and provides a brief afterword to each that highlights the way one or more of the 7 Habits was applied. Covey writes in his preface that if you are already familiar with the 7 Habits, the stories will help you better understand them, renew your commitment to incorporating them into your life, and stir up new ideas for ways to apply them creatively. If you're not a 7 Habits reader, he writes, he hopes that the stories will inspire you, as they have me, with a sense of excitement and with recognition of your own freedom, potential, and power. Either way, Living the 7 Habits offers a compelling look into the lives of people who have found the courage and strength to change.
eBook Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc./Simon & Schuster Inc., Published: 2000
Fictionwise Release Date: August 2002
Available eBook Formats [Secure eReader (recommended)/Mobipocket/Microsoft Reader/Adobe - What's this?]: SECURE MOBIPOCKET FORMAT [603 KB], SECURE MICROSOFT READER FORMAT [428 KB] - Requires Microsoft Reader 2.1.1 for PCs, or Microsoft Reader 2.2.2 on Pocket PC 2002 handheld devices. Some older Pocket PCs can be upgraded. Learn More., SECURE EREADER (RECOMMENDED) FORMAT [333 KB], SECURE ADOBE FORMAT [1.5 MB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [654 KB]
Secure Adobe: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
Microsoft Reader ISBN, eReader (recommended) ISBN: 9780684871196
Adobe Acrobat Reader ISBN, MobiPocket Reader ISBN: 068487119X
 
Getting the Most Out of This Book
Living the 7 Habits is a book of stories-- stories about people from all walks of life dealing with profound challenges in their businesses, communities, schools, and families, as well as within themselves-- showing how they applied the principles of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to these challenges, and the remarkable things that resulted. What will these stories do for you? If you're already familiar with The 7Habits, they will likely renew your understanding and commitment to the Habits and, perhaps more important, stir up new insights into other creative ways to apply them to meet your challenges successfully. If you're not a 7 Habits reader, these stories will likely renew your faith in your own native abilities and wisdom. I believe these stories will enthrall and inspire you, as they have me, with a sense of excitement and with recognition of your own freedom, potential, and power. But before I go any further, I should probably make a confession. I've not always been big on the value of stories. My main concern has been that the reader or listener might think I was prescribing the practice in the story rather than seeing the practice as an illustration of a principle. For more than forty years my wife, Sandra, has heard hundreds of my presentations, and almost inevitably, in giving me feedback, she counsels me to use more stories, to give more examples that illustrate the principles and theories I am teaching. She simply says to me, "Don't be so heavy. Use stories people can relate to." She has always had an intuitive sense for these things and, fortunately, has had absolutely no hesitation to express it! Experience has taught me that Sandra was right and I was wrong. I've come to realize not only that a picture is worth a thousand words, as the Far Eastern expression goes, but that the picture created in the heart and mind of a person by a story is worth ten thousand. I cannot fully describe the respect and reverence I have for every person who has contributed a story, for their willingness to share their inward struggles to live by universal and self-evident principles. You can tell that all of them are rich human beings who should be respected for what they represent, for what they are trying to accomplish, and for what they have accomplished. Their stories are splendid illustrations of profound change. I feel humbled by their humanity and profoundly grateful for their sharing. But this is more than a storybook because there is a framework of thinking that permeates all of these stories. That framework is based upon the 7 Habits, which are in turn based upon universal, timeless, and self-evident principles. By universal I mean that the principles apply in any situation, in any culture, that they belong to all six major world religions, that they are found in all societies and institutions that have had truly enduring success. By timeless I mean that they never change. They are permanent, natural laws, like gravity. By self-evident I mean you can't really argue against them any more than a person can argue that you can build trust without trustworthiness. (A diagram of the 7 Habits and a brief definition of each Habit can be found on the inside of the front cover of this book for quick reference.) It may sound presumptuous, but I believe that all highly effective people live the principles underlying the 7 Habits. In fact, I'm convinced that the 7 Habits are increasingly relevant in today's turbulent, troubled, complex world of change. To live with change, to optimize change, you need principles that don't change. Let me reason with you for a moment. First, let's define effectiveness as getting the results you want in a way that enables you to get even greater results in the future. In other words, success that endures-- sustainable and balanced success. Second, the Habits are embodied principles, principles that are lived until they become habitual, almost second nature. Principles are simply natural laws that govern our life, whether or not we know them, like them, or agree with them-- again, like gravity. I didn't invent the principles. I simply organized them and used language to describe them. I've often been asked, particularly by the media, for examples and evidence. I've shared both extensively. But I find that the best examples and evidence come when I propose, and even challenge the questioners with, this task: "Think of any successful person or family or project or organization you've come to admire for his/her/its enduring success and there is your example and evidence." Whether the admired people are aware of the 7 Habits or not is irrelevant. They're living by proven principles. I've never had anyone seriously argue against one of the underlying principles. They legitimately may not like the language or the description of the Habits. That's okay. They may not relate to the stories at all. In fact, in their situation they may think of an opposite example of the same principle. But the principle of responsibility (Habit 1) is self-evident. So also are having purpose and values (Habit 2) and living by them (Habit 3). So are mutual respect and benefit (Habit 4), mutual understanding (Habit 5), creative cooperation (Habit 6), and the need for renewal and continual improvement (Habit 7). Principles are like the vitamins and minerals found in all kinds of foods. They can be concentrated, combined, time-sequenced, and encapsulated into a food supplement. So it is with the 7 Habits. The basic elements called principles are found in nature and can be expressed in many forms. Millions of people all over the world have found the time-sequenced encapsulation of the balanced set of principles in the 7 Habits useful. The "why" and "how" are shown in some of these stories. Give God or nature the credit for the source nutrients. Copyright © 1999 by Franklin Covey Co
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