Asaad A. Abduljawad The 8th habit summary To achieve interdependence from a path of dependence to independence; one must find their voice first, and express that voice. Then they must inspire others to find theirs by focus and execution. In order to understand ones personal pain and overcome it and to reach a level of satisfaction, one must understand the causation of the problem. With that said, they will be able to reach a solution to forget about the pain, and become more effective, productive, and contribute to his or her organization. The development of technology has not only changed the world, but it has also changed the way people think and operate where managers are programmed to function under the mindset of the industrial age. These managers control the employees of their organizations in a centralized fashion with lack of trust and anathematize the generality and especially the lower in chain of command personnel, their right of empowerment. These workers begin to loose their voice and identity, and feel they are not adding to the organization. People rarely find their voice and do not realize the ability to contribute, and instead they spend their careers giving at a lower level. The first solution as the author states is “Discover your voice”. Simply stated, each individual is born with traits of greatness gifted by God almighty. It is that individual’s call to either use those unopened gifts or to loose them. A person could discover these traits and improve them by indulging deeply and hard dedicated work. These magnificent privileges include “The power and freedom of choice”, which is explained in detail fourteen centuries ago. God almighty in the holy Qur’an revealed in the ninetieth (sura) the chapter of the city, the countryside verses 9-12 says: “We have given man kind and humans the means of knowledge and the faculties of thinking and understanding and opened up before him both the highways of virtue and vice: one way leads down to moral depravity, and it is an easy way pleasing for the self; the other way leads up to moral heights, which is steep like an uphill road, for scaling which man has to exercise self- restraint. It is man's weakness that he prefers slipping down into the abyss to scaling the cliff.” Bottom line, no one can blame another for his or her own choices. “Natural laws or principles”, is the second gift. I would consider personally faith of a book (Islam, Christianity and Judaism.) one of the biggest gifts to humanity, which outlines laws, universal principles, and guidelines. These religions have fruitful teachings of fairness, respect, honesty, kindness, charity, contribution, and integrity. These Norms and values should be reposited in our conscience, and used in proper decision and choice making in one’s daily life. The third gift is “The four intelligences/ capacities of our nature”. As Mr. Covey mentioned, mankind is made up of four parts of nature “Body, mind, heart, and spirit”. Corresponding to these natures are four overlapping capacities that are touched daily listed respectively as following: “The Mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual intelligence.” The highest manifestations of these capacities respectively are “discipline, vision, passion, and conscience”. In order to express your voice more decisively and distinctively and to become an influential leader; at least the former three manifestations should be placed into actions. Vision the most important of the four manifestations brings upon the imagination, the future, and self-sense. Discipline, which is effectively willpower, which is an important trait to all successful people. It is accepting, implementing that imaginary visionary idea. Passion comes from the heart and it is the thing that excites human beings to reach for their desires. Conscience is the moral sense of what is right or wrong, the set of values that dictates the sense of fairness. Conscience encourages us to sacrifice to get to something valuable. Building our capacities in 

Review: The 8th Habit Personal Workbook: Strategies to Take You from Effectiveness to Greatness

I love Stephen Covey books! I need to just keep them on hand as reminders. Read full review

Review: The 8th Habit Personal Workbook: Strategies to Take You from Effectiveness to Greatness

The 8th Habit Personal Workbook: Strategies to Take You from Effectiveness to Greatness by Stephen R. Covey (2006) Read full review

Review: The 8th Habit Personal Workbook: Strategies to Take You from Effectiveness to Greatness

I haven't read the 7 habits yet, but the 8th habit is a good read. Inspiring, if a bit long-winded toward the end Read full review

Review: The 8th Habit Personal Workbook: Strategies to Take You from Effectiveness to Greatness

This book is Covey at his BEST. The density of wisdom in this book is amazing. It's definitely worth your time. Read full review

Review: The 8th Habit Personal Workbook: Strategies to Take You from Effectiveness to Greatness

recommended strongly by my mom Read full review