I think you should have heard of at least one of these two books. “The 7 habits of highly effective people” and “Think and Grow Rich” (my review here).

For whatever reasons, you may think that reading self-help books like these is lame. You may contend that you learn more from living life than from reading some silly books. Ok, I respect that. But hear me out, because I think that I can at least prove to you that these two books are worth a read, regardless of how you think about self-help books in general.

First of all, I don’t want you to associate these two books with self-help books. The business of writing self-help books has blossomed exponentially in the last few decades. More books are written to help your life in some ways this year than the last. But when you come to think about it, most books are new but not necessarily better presentations of some old ideas. There are only a certain numbers of principles for you to understand and master. All the new books are just some lame attempts to present these principles in some new lights but do not really help you in just how to master these principles. Thus, you may have read quite a few self-help books, but never get anywhere. So I understand if you think self-help books are a waste of time. I do too.

“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” was written by Stephen R. Covey. I am not saying that the ideas and principles in this book are original. That is not my concern, nor should it be yours. What I like about this book is its comprehensiveness. Forget about all the crazy self-help books you have read before. All you need to know and master are the 7 habits listed in this books:

1. Be Proactive: take responsibility for everything you do and never blame anyone or anything
2. Begin with the End in Mind: always think of what you want to achieve before doing anything
3. Put First thing First: finish the most important and most urgent task first
4. Think Win/Win
5. Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

Anything that you will see in other self-help books is just some variations of these 7 habits. I am not implying that it is easy to completely digest and master these 7 habits after one or two reading. It takes years! You may have one or two habits already. Thats’ great. But if not, then hurry up and read this book. You may think, ’7 habits in a book, is that enough to change my life?Just 7 simple habits that I have already heard of?’ Well yeah. It is that simple because it should be simple. All the other  books are just messing everything up to get your money. You say it is simple, but how many of these 7 habits have you mastered? Remember, there is a HUGE different between knowing and doing. Read the book so that at least you are aware of these 7 habits. And if you know about them already, read it to clearly understand them and to be convinced that even mastering one or two of these 7 habits is enough to make you a very effective person already.

I am very lucky to have come across this book at the age of 16. As a teenager, I did not have any of these habits. I was blaming my teachers for my grades, my girlfriend for my miseries, my body for being so skinny. I was playing computer games and skipping meals and homework. I had no idea what I would be like in the close future. I was jealous of people; I’d rather see someone go down than having a win/win situation. You know, just a lot of petty thoughts. What this book helped me immediately was to stop complaining. It was tough, and I DO still complain sometimes, but it is definitely 1/100000 of how much other people complain. I don’t blame anyone or anything for my failure either. And now I know exactly what I will be like in the next 1 year, 5 years and 10 years. So:

• Do you still complain and blame others?
• Do you have a clear vision of your life and a sense of purpose?
• Is procrastination the only thing you are good at?
• Do you know how to listen to others?

Read the book, damn it!

RECAP: Every single successful person has at least some of these 7 habits. How many do you have?

Why you should read "The 7 habits of highly effective people", 8.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating