7 Habits of Highly Effective People Review
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has been an extremely popular personal development book for decades, but is it all that it’s been hyped up to be? Here are my honest review…
Personal development is a non-negotiable thing in my life (funny side story, I have a friend who absolutely hates the term “non-negotiable” because of its overuse by a former boss of ours and I think of him every time I say that, HA!), and have been since I started working as a Beachbody coach in 2016. It’s one of the biggest blessings that coaching gave me and so I’m constantly looking out for new books, podcasts, interviews…anything that will help feed the be-your-best-self habit I’ve developed.
The 7 Habits of High Effective People was one of the very first books I’d heard about, but I never got around to buying it until just a few months ago. There was no particular reason, I just hadn’t gotten around to it.
When I finally did buy it, I was SO excited! I even bought the accompanying workbook because, at the time, I was just starting to juggling a bunch of new projects and I really wanted my time and energy to be…well…effective.
It wasn’t what I expected
Most of the books I read are by people with big personalities - Marie Forleo, Rachel Hollis, Shonda Rimes, Erin Falconer - these women not only make me think about what I’m doing with my life, but they make me laugh in the process. Reading their books was like talking to one of my best friends - fun, informative, and full of good vibes.
Now, I didn’t expect that same energy from this book because 1 - it was written by a man, and 2 - it was written three decades ago. Times have most certainly changed since it was first published, so I knew it would be different. What I didn’t know was that it would feel much like reading a college-level “Psychology in the Workplace” textbook.
Y’all, it was boring.
Not just boring, but filled with unnecessarily big words and drawn out explanations.
I usually read a book within a month, and it took me 5 months to get through this one because it was no fun at all.
That said, it wasn’t all bad…
The ideas are still relevant
There are some ideas that are timeless - like putting first things first and thinking “win-win.” The book does have some very good content about how to be effective by first taking care of yourself and then managing your interactions and relationships with other people. It can be applied to both your personal and professional life, although most of the examples given were of a more job-related nature.
An alternative
Like I said, the ideas are still relevant and very useful, even for someone who already has experience with managing their time and working on their personal growth.
If you don’t mind books that are written in an academic tone, this could be a great book for you. However, if you’re like me and you want books that are more entertaining as well as informative, I wouldn’t suggest buying the actual book.
What I do suggest is buying the workbook.
At the beginning of each section in the workbook, there’s a small text that tells you to go and read certain pages in the book itself before proceeding to the workbook section. However, there’s also a little bit of the content from the book imbedded in those sections, and it’s just enough to give you the gist of the content, then allowing you to work through your thoughts by answering some questions.
If you’re a fan of journaling, or writing in general, the workbook is perfect for you. In fact, although I did read the entire book (mostly out of a strange need to finish each book I start, even if I don’t love it) I got way more out of the workbook.
Do what works for you
Obviously, this book is sensational. If not, it wouldn’t be so highly reviewed and suggested even all these years after its publication. It just wasn’t a good fit for my personal style.
Personal development is PERSONAL, hence the name. You should never follow a self-help recipe written by someone else, but rather read the books, write in the journals, and listen to the podcasts that speak to your soul and that you are able to get the most out of.
If you’ve read it for yourself, let me know how your experience went. Maybe you looked at it from a completely different angle than me and I’d love to hear about it.
