The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey and Entrepreneurship
I recently read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Steven Covey, and although the book was about leadership and not entrepreneurship, there was a lot that can be applied to becoming an entrepreneur. Because in a way an entrepreneur is a leader. They are the leaders of their own company. They are the leaders of a revolution created by their company. Entrepreneurship in essence according to google is an “entrepreneur develops a business model, acquires the human and other required resources, and is fully responsible for its success or failure.” And a leader is someone “who leads or commands a group, organization, or country.” And so in not so many words we can conclude an entrepreneur is a leader. And so I went into the book reading about The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People through the lens of an entrepreneur.
To start out, throughout the book we learn of the 7 habits. The first one, be proactive. As a leader you have to take steps towards the future and situations that are to come before it comes. Being proactive is a life skill that helps a lot. People are focused on things they can control and finding solutions rather than avoiding responsibility and complaining in the present on things they cannot control. As an entrepreneur we have to keep thinking of ways we can make our company better for our buyers. We have to think of ways to make our products sell more, and create a need.
The second habit is Begin with the end in mind. This habit is pretty self explanatory; as an entrepreneur we need to know what we want out of our product and company before we start it. Goals are very crucial to every project, and as an entrepreneur, in every product and company there needs to be a reason or goal as to why we are creating our company. Starting with the end in mind creates a steady path for us. We can then constantly check if everything we are doing is aligning to our goal, rather than get distracted and sidetracked.
The third habit is Put First things First. Often in life we lose sight of what really matters and we start wasting our time on other things and swerve off course of our goals and aspirations. We do things without understanding if they are really a priority. And because our time here is limited, we have to know what is first in our life and then make it a first. Our day is filled with meaningless tasks that waste our time and take up our minds. But in order to be successful, we have to know what matters and then dedicate our time solely to that. If growing my business is a priority, I can’t spend hours on end in my day watching tv or getting side tracked.
The fourth habit is Think Win-Win. This habit is important to everyone, but especially to entrepreneurs. Life is not about a competition, it’s about being happy yourself while allowing others to be happy as well. Winning is not dependent on others, it solely revolves around you. Putting others down on your journey to the top will always become a roadblock to you eventually. As an entrepreneur, it is important that you win and so do your customers. You win and so do other companies who might be in your same field or are similar.
The fifth habit is Seek First to Understand then to be Understood. In life we are so focused on speaking we forget to listen. As an entrepreneur, it is crucial to know what others value, then only you can create a product that can be valued. In order to sell something, it has to be of use or need to others. You can’t just say please buy my product, I worked hard on it. You have to start by understanding what your customers need and how your product will be of value to them.
The sixth habit is to synergize. Working with others and creating a team can often lead to better results and greater success. You can only do so much by yourself, you have your own opinion and perspective. But if you take the strengths of others and collaborate, you can get multiple perspectives and create an outcome you could not have thought of by yourself. In most cases, it is beneficial to ask others and seek to work with others.
And the last habit is sharpening the saw. There is this classic example that you can’t cut a tree with a dull saw. You have to sharpen your saw to cut the tree. In the same way, you have to keep sharpening your brain. Take in knowledge, read books, watch videos, and always stay curious, and then you can grow your understanding of the world and find different solutions. And sharpening the saw takes time. You have to invest time in yourself to become healthy, both physically and mentally, and then you are prepared to battle anything, face all problems, and chase success.
Overall this book resonated with me throughout in how much leadership and entrepreneurship is related. There are so many lessons to take away from this book. Habits centered around yourself and centered around the world. It is definitely a book I would recommend.