Are you in need of time proven principles for your business and personal developments? Then the book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Dr Steven Covey, will be a very helpful resource for you.
The book begins with preparing your minds for a paradigm shift, the existence of a point of view different from the one you currently hold. It introduces the idea that two well learned individuals could look at the same thing, give contrasting reports about it and both will be RIGHT!
The seven habits are basically a blueprint for moving from dependence through independence to interdependence with dependence being the lowest end of the maturity spectrum and interdependence being the highest end.
The first three habits have to do with attaining 'independence'; it is based on the premise that private victories precede public victories, they are:
1. Be Proactive: Between a stimulus and your response to it is the ability for you to choose what your response will be, in other words you chose your response to events that occur in your life. As quoted "Proactive people focus their efforts in the circle of influence". The circle of influence stated are events which occur in our lives that we have control over.
2. Begin With The End In Mind: Create a vivid picture of how you want the end to be, the legacy you will want to leave behind.
3. Put First Things First: Dr Covey classified tasks as been 'urgent and not-important', 'not urgent and not important', 'not urgent but important' etc. Having painted a clear picture of the end in your mind, the idea the author proposes is to deal with the important tasks while they are not yet urgent.
The next habits aim at interdependence and how to effectively work with other people as a team in achieving set objectives, they are:
4. Think Win Win: The author encourages that one genuinely seeks the benefit of all parties involved when relating with people.
5. Seek first to Understand and then be Understood: Based on the premise diagnose before you prescribe, Dr Covey stresses the importance of listening to understand the other person's point of view instead of with intent to reply.
6. Synergize: Value the differences of others and combine strengths to achieve set objectives.
7. Sharpen The Saw: This habit emphasis renewal in every area of our lives, mental, physical, spiritual etc.
Even though the book was first published in 1989, the principles and concepts it contains are still very much relevant and result producing in today's businesses and personal lives as they were many years ago.