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sa1twaterfish 's review for:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
by Stephen R. Covey, Jim Collins
5.0⭐ Second reading. Second review. Still essential, UNLESS...
I’ve been feeling out of balance lately, so I came back to this one hoping for a little church. Definitely got some.
Some notes on when this book can’t help a person
This book isn’t going to be valuable to someone missing essential resources. For example, if you want to apply yourself, body-mind-spirit, to a new career path, but you don’t have a car, or driver’s license, or any way to get to that job, 7 habit advice can’t help. I’m sure someone pedantic can jump on here and write a scenario where 7 habit advice is just perfect for such circumstances, but I promise, that would be reaching.
The self-help genre in general falls short on this sort of thing. You’ll see a lot of big talk and huge guarantees, but the fact is, you need livable wage, access to healthcare, mental wellness, and general resources to save your life—it's that simple, there’s absolutely no alternative.
7 Habits and books like it are about improving your life. You have to have a *stable* life to improve first.
I started pouring over self-help years ago, neck-deep in poverty and mental trauma. It gave me a lot of...enthusiasm, but I wasn’t in a good place to learn because I hadn’t established essentials in life. You know what saved me? A working vehicle. Prescription medicine. I say this to anyone that might hand the book off to a friend who seems like they’re in a downward spiral. Wrong book. Wrong kind of help. Paradigm shifts, am I right?
This book cannot help you if you don’t understand consciousness. I realize that sounds absurd—how can you understand anything without consciousness? To that I say, have you seen the planet? Plenty of people skittering about without self-awareness. Stephen Covey wrote a beautiful narrative speaking directly to conscious, self-aware action. He brought receipts for how to be the best kind of human, but that starts with understanding the self—the sovereignty of choice.
In my last review, I said that high school seniors should be taught courses on this book, but maybe that was short-sighted. I wish I’d been aware of these great habits/practices as early as high school, but I don’t think I came into a healthy self-awareness until my early 20’s. Everyone wakes to that consciousness based on their own life and circumstances. If I’d learned this in 12th grade, I probably would’ve ignored it. On the other hand, maybe it would’ve knocked me online? Who knows. I just know you’ve gotta be consciously aware to apply these techniques.
The biggest failure of this book is that while it preaches about left/right minded thinkers and their incredible differences of worldview, I can’t see it appealing to many right brain thinkers. It’s repetitive, graph/list/logic/ oriented, deeply formatted for a left brain thinker. Right brain thinkers, you’ll be bored to tears. Try the audio. I can do the audio, but I float the middle with a tendency toward left-brain. (yes, pedantic folk, I know we use both sides of the brain, using the left/right analogy to describe analytical thinkers vs. creative thinkers)
Finally, this book may be like jargon/repetition if you’ve been raised by wonderful, loving, humorous people, of if you’ve had a spiritually, emotionally, intellectually rich education, or community. The content may even sound offensively obvious. “Be a good person and don’t talk down to people? You really had the audacity to write that down and sell it as advice?”
All I can say is thank goodness he did. For me, this book is a tool for meditating on my choices. The book puts me back into self-awareness if I’ve mentally checked out. It reminds me of how different others might think, reminds me to understand first, then seek to be understood. It reminds me to make a plan, begin with the end in mind. It reminds me to hold myself accountable for my own intentions. It’s not for everyone, but it improved my mentality. Not fixed, not saved, improved. The audio is only 13 hours, so it’s also a really fast read.
(Pro tip, there’s an abridged version on audible just 3.5 hours long, and while I normally discourage abridged versions, I bet you’re only losing the platitudes/metaphors. I haven’t listened to it myself yet, but I’ll probably go that route for my eventual third reading)
Anyway, if you’re the type of person who can be improved with self-help, this is the one to go with. I still think it needs footnotes on practicing these habits while struggling with mental health, but otherwise, an incredible tool.
- 📚☕♥
I’ve been feeling out of balance lately, so I came back to this one hoping for a little church. Definitely got some.
Some notes on when this book can’t help a person
This book isn’t going to be valuable to someone missing essential resources. For example, if you want to apply yourself, body-mind-spirit, to a new career path, but you don’t have a car, or driver’s license, or any way to get to that job, 7 habit advice can’t help. I’m sure someone pedantic can jump on here and write a scenario where 7 habit advice is just perfect for such circumstances, but I promise, that would be reaching.
The self-help genre in general falls short on this sort of thing. You’ll see a lot of big talk and huge guarantees, but the fact is, you need livable wage, access to healthcare, mental wellness, and general resources to save your life—it's that simple, there’s absolutely no alternative.
7 Habits and books like it are about improving your life. You have to have a *stable* life to improve first.
I started pouring over self-help years ago, neck-deep in poverty and mental trauma. It gave me a lot of...enthusiasm, but I wasn’t in a good place to learn because I hadn’t established essentials in life. You know what saved me? A working vehicle. Prescription medicine. I say this to anyone that might hand the book off to a friend who seems like they’re in a downward spiral. Wrong book. Wrong kind of help. Paradigm shifts, am I right?
This book cannot help you if you don’t understand consciousness. I realize that sounds absurd—how can you understand anything without consciousness? To that I say, have you seen the planet? Plenty of people skittering about without self-awareness. Stephen Covey wrote a beautiful narrative speaking directly to conscious, self-aware action. He brought receipts for how to be the best kind of human, but that starts with understanding the self—the sovereignty of choice.
In my last review, I said that high school seniors should be taught courses on this book, but maybe that was short-sighted. I wish I’d been aware of these great habits/practices as early as high school, but I don’t think I came into a healthy self-awareness until my early 20’s. Everyone wakes to that consciousness based on their own life and circumstances. If I’d learned this in 12th grade, I probably would’ve ignored it. On the other hand, maybe it would’ve knocked me online? Who knows. I just know you’ve gotta be consciously aware to apply these techniques.
The biggest failure of this book is that while it preaches about left/right minded thinkers and their incredible differences of worldview, I can’t see it appealing to many right brain thinkers. It’s repetitive, graph/list/logic/ oriented, deeply formatted for a left brain thinker. Right brain thinkers, you’ll be bored to tears. Try the audio. I can do the audio, but I float the middle with a tendency toward left-brain. (yes, pedantic folk, I know we use both sides of the brain, using the left/right analogy to describe analytical thinkers vs. creative thinkers)
Finally, this book may be like jargon/repetition if you’ve been raised by wonderful, loving, humorous people, of if you’ve had a spiritually, emotionally, intellectually rich education, or community. The content may even sound offensively obvious. “Be a good person and don’t talk down to people? You really had the audacity to write that down and sell it as advice?”
All I can say is thank goodness he did. For me, this book is a tool for meditating on my choices. The book puts me back into self-awareness if I’ve mentally checked out. It reminds me of how different others might think, reminds me to understand first, then seek to be understood. It reminds me to make a plan, begin with the end in mind. It reminds me to hold myself accountable for my own intentions. It’s not for everyone, but it improved my mentality. Not fixed, not saved, improved. The audio is only 13 hours, so it’s also a really fast read.
(Pro tip, there’s an abridged version on audible just 3.5 hours long, and while I normally discourage abridged versions, I bet you’re only losing the platitudes/metaphors. I haven’t listened to it myself yet, but I’ll probably go that route for my eventual third reading)
Anyway, if you’re the type of person who can be improved with self-help, this is the one to go with. I still think it needs footnotes on practicing these habits while struggling with mental health, but otherwise, an incredible tool.
- 📚☕♥