7 Habits of Successful People

Business Administration 324 and the book titled, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, written by Stephen R. Covey discuss effective leadership principles necessary to be successful both professionally and personally. The course text and the book focus on developing yourself personally and your relationships with others. From the first habit to the last habit, they are all connected and complement each other.

It’s good to keep evaluating where you are going and how you are progressing through the stages of personal development. It takes time and effort to develop new habits. However, developing new skills will help establish your habits, helping you to become more effective.

The Seven Habits must be pursued and developed over time in order to become part of who you are and how you interact with other people. The Seven Habits help us move through the three stages of personal development. The first three habits take you from being dependent to becoming independent. The next three habits guide you on to interdependence, and the seventh habit reinforces the others.

Habit number one is to be proactive prior to acting in every situation. Everyone has the freedom to choose their response after analyzing how the decision will affect them. It is also important in being able to determine the things that you can do something about and the ones you have no control over.

Ultimately, we are all responsible for our own lives. However, a lot of times we empower our environment to control us and our response. In order to be successful, we must take initiative and responsibility for our own success, because no one else is going to do it for you.

Appealing to both the emotional and rational sides of human behavior can create positive relationships with others. In addition, it is important to take into consideration the emotional and rational consequences of the actions others will take in response. Being proactive can help you handle difficult situations better and inspire others to do so as well.

Moral reasoning is the manner by which leaders solve moral problems. Personal values and integrity play a key role in the moral reasoning process and has a profound impression on others. The stages of moral reasoning include preconventional level, conventional level, and postconventional level. Preconventional is based on self-interest, conventional is based on gaining others’ approval, and postconventional is based on universal, abstract principles.

Habit number two is to begin with the end in mind. It is recommended that you develop a personal mission statement and then build your life based on the vision. A personal mission statement and proactively setting and managing your goals will give a clear view of where you are heading.

In order to be a better manager of yourself, you must first take stock of your strengths and weaknesses. A comparison of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,