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One Sentence Summary:  The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People  teaches you both personal 
and professional effectiveness by changing your view of how the world works and giving you 
7 habits, which, if adopted well, will lead you to immense success. 
This book has sold over 25 million copies. If Stephen R. Covey had any clue about what a 
success  The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People  would be when he published it in 1990, but, 
even several years after his death, it’s still the bible of leadership and modern management. 
The original seven habits are: 
1. Be Proactive 
2. Begin with the End in Mind 
3. Put First Things First 
4. Think Win-Win 
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood 
6. Synergize 
7. Sharpen the Saw 
The first three serve your own independence, so that you may “win in private,” as Covey put 
it. The second three aim to shift your focus to interdependence. When you strive for 
cooperation instead of competition, you’ll also “win in public” and find worldly success. The 
last habit serves your own renewal so that you’ll never burn out or overextend yourself. 
Let’s look at the following 3 in more detail: 
1. Do the funeral test. 
2. Learn how to say no. 
3. Practice active listening. 
Time to learn how to become highly effective both at work and in life! 
Lesson 1: Do the funeral test. 

This is the habit that Covey calls “Begin with the End in Mind”. He issues a warning that 
plowing away and  getting a massive amount of tasks done in a preferably short time  (i.e. 
being efficient) is only useful when you’re plowing in the right direction. 
The classic analogy here is the ladder you’re climbing furiously, only to find out it’s leaned 
against the wrong wall when reaching the top. Only if you’re clear about your major, long- 
term goals can you align each and every single one of your decisions with them. 
The best way, by far, to get clear about those goals is to do the funeral test. Ask yourself: 
1. What do I want people to say about me at my funeral? 
2. As what sort of person do I want to be remembered? 

3. For what do I want to be remembered? 
Depending on your number of relationships (family, friends, clients, partners, customers), you 
can also ask yourself how many people will be there to mourn your death. 
As Steve Jobs said: 
“All external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just 
fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.” 
Truthfully answering those questions will make you realize you might not want that out-of- 
the-suitcase, business class lifestyle, or that really  all you ever wanted to do was dance . So be 
bold and ask them. 

Lesson 2: Learn how to say no. 

Knowing exactly where you want to go makes it easy to find out what’s important to you, and 
what not. When you know your final goal, you’ll at least have an inclination for each to-do on 
how important it actually is. 
You’ll often find that  the important things aren’t urgent and vice versa . That means some 
things don’t deserve to be done at all. To all those things, you’ll eventually have to say no. 
It’s not easy, especially if money’s involved. But, as Covey says: “Put First Things First.” 
Sometimes, tempting rewards will be dangled right in front of you, which is when it’s time to 
pull out the funeral test again to see whether those rewards deserve to be chased. 
Derek Sivers in this regard, who says  it’s either a hell yeah, or a no . He’s  incredibly focused 
on a few things , but those things create all the meaning he needs in his life. 
Lesson 3: Practice active listening. 

The good thing about saying no to doing a lot of things is being able to spend a lot more time 
actually listening to others. 
1. You’re listening to understand the person you’re listening to, not primarily to give 
advice or respond. 
2. You make sure you understand by repeating back to them what they said and 
mirroring their emotions. 
3. You help them structure their own thought process. 
This was one of the  Covey calls this “Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood.” It 
is a call to practice active listening and empathy. 

Just like you get suspicious of your doctor when he prescribes you hefty antibiotics after 
hearing you cough just once, we don’t tend to trust people, who we think don’t really 
understand us. 
Make an effort to listen to understand, instead of listening to respond. A good way to 
start this practice is by simply  talking less . 
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is an absolute classic. It’s not a step-by-step how-to 
book, however. The lessons will take you a while to implement since they are general 
principles. But that also means they’re timeless and have a powerful impact once you manage 
to do so.