The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

PRINCIPLES OF PERSONAL MANAGEMENT

Things which matter most

must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.

GOETHE

Will you take just a moment and write down a short answer to the following two questions?

Your answers will be important to you as you begin work on Habit 3.

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Question 1: What one thing could you do (something you aren’t doing now) that, if you did it on

a regular basis, would make a tremendous positive difference in your personal life?

Question 2: What one thing in your business or professional life would bring similar results?

We’ll come back to these answers later. But first, let’s put Habit 3 in perspective.

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Habit 3 is the personal fruit, the practical fulfillment of Habits 1 and 2.

Habit 1 says, “You’re the creator. You are in charge.” It’s based on the four unique human

endowments of imagination, conscience, independent will, and, particularly, self-awareness. It

empowers you to say, “That’s an unhealthy program I’ve been given from my childhood, from

my social mirror. I don’t like that ineffective script. I can change.”

Habit 2 is the first or mental creation. It’s based on imagination—the ability to envision, to

see the potential, to create with our minds what we cannot at present see with our eyes; and

conscience—the ability to detect our own uniqueness and the personal, moral, and ethical

guidelines within which we can most happily fulfill it. It’s the deep contact with our basic

paradigms and values and the vision of what we can become.

Habit 3, then, is the second creation, the physical creation. It’s the fulfillment, the

actualization, the natural emergence of Habits 1 and 2. It’s the exercise of independent will

toward becoming principle-centered. It’s the day-in, day-out, moment-by-moment doing it.

Habits 1 and 2 are absolutely essential and prerequisite to Habit 3. You can’t become

principle-centered without first being aware of and developing your own proactive nature. You

can’t become principle-centered without first being aware of your paradigms and understanding

how to shift them and align them with principles. You can’t become principle-centered without a

vision of and a focus on the unique contribution that is yours to make.

But with that foundation, you can become principle-centered, day-in and day-out, momentby-

moment, by living Habit 3—by practicing effective self-management.

Management, remember, is clearly different from leadership. Leadership is primarily a highpowered,

right brain activity. It’s more of an art; it’s based on a philosophy. You have to ask the

ultimate questions of life when you’re dealing with personal leadership issues.

But once you have dealt with those issues, once you have resolved them, you then have to

manage yourself effectively to create a life congruent with your answers. The ability to manage

well doesn’t make much difference if you’re not even in the “right jungle.” But if you are in the

right jungle, it makes all the difference. In fact, the ability to manage well determines the quality

and even the existence of the second creation. Management is the breaking down, the analysis,

the sequencing, the specific application, the time-bound left-brain aspect of effective selfgovernment.

My own maxim of personal effectiveness is this: Manage from the left; lead from

the right.

THE POWER OF INDEPENDENT WILL

In addition to self-awareness, imagination, and conscience, it is the fourth human endowment

—independent will—that really makes effective self-management possible. It is the ability to

make decisions and choices and to act in accordance with them. It is the ability to act rather than

to be acted upon, to proactively carry out the program we have developed through the other three

endowments.

The human will is an amazing thing. Time after time, it has triumphed against unbelievable

odds. The Helen Kellers of this world give dramatic evidence of the value, the power of the

independent will.

But as we examine this endowment in the context of effective self-management, we realize

it’s usually not the dramatic, the visible, the once-in-a-lifetime, up-by-the-bootstraps effort that

brings enduring success. Empowerment comes from learning how to use this great endowment in

the decisions we make every day.

The degree to which we have developed our independent will in our everyday lives is

measured by our personal integrity. Integrity is, fundamentally, the value we place on ourselves.

It’s our ability to make and keep commitments to ourselves, to “walk our talk.” It’s honor with

self, a fundamental part of the Character Ethic, the essence of proactive growth.

Effective management is putting first things first. While leadership decides what “first things”

are, it is management that puts them first, day-by-day, moment-by-moment. Management is

discipline, carrying it out.

Discipline derives from disciple—disciple to a philosophy, disciple to a set of principles,

disciple to a set of values, disciple to an overriding purpose, to a superordinate goal or a person

who represents that goal.

In other words, if you are an effective manager of yourself, your discipline comes from

within; it is a function of your independent will. You are a disciple, a follower, of your own deep

values and their source. And you have the will, the integrity, to subordinate your feelings, your

impulses, your moods to those values.

One of my favorite essays is “The Common Denominator of Success,” written by E. M. Gray.

He spent his life searching for the one denominator that all successful people share. He found it

wasn’t hard work, good luck, or astute human relations, though those were all important. The

one factor that seemed to transcend all the rest embodies the essence of Habit 3—putting first

things first.

“The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don’t like to do,” he

observed. “They don’t like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to

the strength of their purpose.”

That subordination requires a purpose, a mission, a Habit 2 clear sense of direction and value,

a burning “yes!” inside that makes it possible to say “no” to other things. It also requires

independent will, the power to do something when you don’t want to do it, to be a function of

your values rather than a function of the impulse or desire of any given moment. It’s the power

to act with integrity to your proactive first creation.

FOUR GENERATIONS OF TIME MANAGEMENT

In Habit 3 we are dealing with many of the questions addressed in the field of life and time

management. As a longtime student of this fascinating field, I am personally persuaded that the

essence of the best thinking in the area of time management can be captured in a single phrase:

Organize and execute around priorities. That phrase represents the evolution of three

generations of time management theory, and how to best do it is the focus of a wide variety of

approaches and materials.

Personal management has evolved in a pattern similar to many other areas of human

endeavor. Major developmental thrusts, or “waves” as Alvin Toffler calls them, follow each

other in succession, each adding a vital new dimension. For example, in social development, the

agricultural revolution was followed by the industrial revolution, which was followed by the

informational revolution. Each succeeding wave created a surge of social and personal progress.

Likewise, in the area of time management, each generation builds on the one before it—each

one moves us toward greater control of our lives. The first wave or generation could be

characterized by notes and checklists, an effort to give some semblance of recognition and

inclusiveness to the many demands placed on our time and energy.

The second generation could be characterized by calendars and appointment books. This wave

reflects an attempt to look ahead, to schedule events and activities in the future.

The third generation reflects the current time management field. It adds to those preceding

generations the important idea of prioritization, of clarifying values, and of comparing the

relative worth of activities based on their relationship to those values. In addition, it focuses on

setting goals—specific long-, intermediate-, and short-term targets toward which time and energy

would be directed in harmony with values. It also includes the concept of daily planning, of

making a specific plan to accomplish those goals and activities determined to be of greatest

worth.

While the third generation has made a significant contribution, people have begun to realize

that “efficient” scheduling and control of time are often counterproductive. The efficiency focus

creates expectations that clash with the opportunities to develop rich relationships, to meet

human needs, and to enjoy spontaneous moments on a daily basis.

As a result, many people have become turned off by time management programs and planners

that make them feel too scheduled, too restricted, and they “throw the baby out with the bath

water,” reverting to first or second generation techniques to preserve relationships, spontaneity,

and quality of life.

But there is an emerging fourth generation that is different in kind. It recognizes that “time

management” is really a misnomer—the challenge is not to manage time, but to manage

ourselves. Satisfaction is a function of expectation as well as realization. And expectation (and

satisfaction) lie in our Circle of Influence.

Rather than focusing on things and time, fourth generation expectations focus on preserving

and enhancing relationships and on accomplishing results—in short, on maintaining the P/PC

Balance.

QUADRANT II

The essential focus of the fourth generation of management can be captured in the time

management matrix diagrammed on the next page. Basically, we spend time in one of four ways.

As you can see, the two factors that define an activity are urgent and important. Urgent means

it requires immediate attention. It’s “Now!” Urgent things act on us. A ringing phone is urgent.

Most people can’t stand the thought of just allowing the phone to ring.

You could spend hours preparing materials, you could get all dressed up and travel to a

person’s office to discuss a particular issue, but if the phone were to ring while you were there, it

would generally take precedence over your personal visit.

If you were to phone someone, there aren’t many people who would say, “I’ll get to you in 15

minutes; just hold.” But most people would probably let you wait in an office for at least that

long while they completed a telephone conversation with someone else.

Urgent matters are usually visible. They press on us; they insist on action. They’re often

popular with others. They’re usually right in front of us. And often they are pleasant, easy, fun to

do. But so often they are unimportant!Importance, on the other hand, has to do with results. If something is important, it contributes

to your mission, your values, your high priority goals.

We react to urgent matters. Important matters that are not urgent require more initiative, more

proactivity. We must act to seize opportunity, to make things happen. If we don’t practice Habit

2, if we don’t have a clear idea of what is important, of the results we desire in our lives, we are

easily diverted into responding to the urgent.

Look for a moment at the four quadrants in the time management matrix. Quadrant I is both

urgent and important. It deals with significant results that require immediate attention. We

usually call the activities in Quadrant I “crises” or “problems.” We all have some Quadrant I

activities in our lives. But Quadrant I consumes many people. They are crisis managers,

problem-minded people, deadline-driven producers.

As long as you focus on Quadrant I, it keeps getting bigger and bigger until it dominates you.

It’s like the pounding surf. A huge problem comes and knocks you down and you’re wiped out.

You struggle back up only to face another one that knocks you down and slams you to the

ground.

Some people are literally beaten up by problems all day every day. The only relief they have

is in escaping to the not important, not urgent activities of Quadrant IV. So when you look at

their total matrix, 90 percent of their time is in Quadrant I and most of the remaining 10 percent

is in Quadrant IV, with only negligible attention paid to Quadrants II and III. That’s how people

who manage their lives by crisis live.