The seven laws in the form of "habits"

Stephen Covey's wildly successful book has made a deep impact on the personal and business lives of thousands of people. His strong ethical approach of personal responsibility has had a very favourable response from all walks of life.

The first habit - Personal Choice: Here the emphasis is on the original sense of the term "proactive". You are either proactive or reactive when you respond to external stimuli. By being reactive, you blame people and external circumstances for problems. If you are pusuing a proactive path then you are taking responsibility for every part of your life. Initiative and action will then follow from this. Covey state that man is very different from other animals due to self-consciousness. Humans have the capacity to detach themselves. A person can observe his or her own self and even think about their thoughts. Proactivity gives a person the power to not be completely affected by his circumstances. Covey talks about stimulus and response. Between the stimulus and the response, we have free will to choose our what our response will be.

The second habit - Personal Vision: Setting long-term goals based on "true north" principles is an important part of Covey's teaching. He recommends creating a "Personal Mission Statement" to support one's perception of one's vision in life. He sees visualization as an important tool in developing this.

The third habit - Integrity & Execution: Covey describes a framework for setting priorities which is buided by long-term goals, at the expense of "urgent" tasks, but which are less important. Delegation is an important part of time management. Correct delegation, states Covey, focuses on results and benchmarks that are agreed in advance, rather than on prescribing detailed work plans.

The fourth habit - Mutual Benefit: Mutually beneficial solutions are sought satisfying the needs of one's own self as well as others, or, in the case of a dispute, both parties involved.

The fifth habit - Mutual Understanding: Giving advice before having empathetically understood a person and their situation will likely result in the rejection of that advice. Carefully listening to another person's concerns instead of reading out your own autobiography should increase the chance of establishing true communication.

The sixth habit - Creative Cooperation: Working in teams. Applying successful problem solving. Collaborating in the decision making process. Valuing and honouring differences. Building on diverse strengths. Leveraging creative process collaboration. Embracing and leveraging innovation. When synergy is pursued as a habit, the result of the teamwork will exceed the sum of what each of the members would have achieved by themselves.

The seventh habit - Balanced Self-Renewal: This important piece focuses on balanced self-renewal and regaining what Covey calls "production capability" by engaging in carefully selected recreational activities. Covey also emphasizes the need to sharpen the mind.

There you go! Follow these laws or habits and you are certain to develop your character, your relationships with others, and your level of productivity!