The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

My Life, Your Wake-Up Call

Let’s not pretend Covey wrote this book just so you could quote it between cappuccini e reel da TikTok. These seven habits are still the scaffolding behind anyone who actually does things. Below, I apply them to my life—as a speaker, coach, human—mixed with cold data from research and real-life tales you (and I) know too well.

1. Be Proactive

Study approach: A proactive personality isn’t just admirable; it's quantifiably powerful. One study found that proactivity explains up to 53 % of variance in employee creativity, 38 % in organizational commitment, and 23 % in job performance . Another meta-analysis confirmed proactive people outperform peers in career success and job performance .

Think back to when you were invited at the last minute to speak at a corporate summit. No brief, no stage notes, just an email: “Can you talk in 2 hours?” You didn’t freeze—you asked for the topic, slotted in references from your latest coaching session, and winged it—and the CEO asked for your contact after the applause. That is proactivity.

You didn’t wait for perfect conditions—you created them.

2. Begin with the End in Mind

Imagine this: You finish a masterclass, not to thunderous applause, but to a quiet whisper from someone in the audience: “I finally understand why I became a coach.” That moment wasn’t serendipity—it was intentional.

You crafted the session with the end in mind: transformation, not mere performance. Every story you shared, every tool you introduced, every deliberate pause was designed to spark something deeper in your audience. Your mission wasn’t to impress—it was to ignite a shift in how they saw themselves and their purpose.

What you can see into your mind, you can hold into your hand.

You are a coach before to sell consultancy, you are a CEO before to have a company, your are physical fit before to start the gym. In summary, you have to act already as you already the person you want to be. So every time you feel lazy to go in the gym, you may say to your self : I am a fit person, I don't skip the gym. Believe or not, you brain will believe it.

3. Put First Things First

Research shows that off-job activities like socializing, light physical exercise, and hobbies play a critical role in recovering from burnout and replenishing cognitive and physical energy.

Here’s the lesson: You once thought midnight emails made you productive, but it took a webinar crash—and your own mental burnout.

Now, your mornings begin with exercise, even if it’s brief, because you’ve learned that prioritizing your well-being is the foundation for everything else.

The book 'Eat the Frog' is emphasizing this concept. Do the hardest task in the morning when your focus, energy and productivity is at primes. The rest will be much easier.

4. Think Win-Win

You were coaching a CEO who wanted flashy Instagram reels; your mentee—a nonprofit founder—needed steady funding. So you orchestrated a joint livestream: the CEO talked about leadership, the founder about impact. The CEO grew empathy with his audience; the founder got visibility—and donations. Everybody “won.” You didn’t compromise; you crafted the scenario.

The greatest man, the richest people and the smartest mind, are often not those with great talent, but those capable to merge together the right people. Think out from the box to understand how to mix the puzzle and to complete it with a new perspective. Sometimes the answer is not the product or the service, instead is the how you deliver it.

5. Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

Empathic listening isn’t soft fluff—it’s scientifically potent. Supervisors who engage in active‑empathetic listening boost employees' work engagement—especially dedication—significantly . And empathic listening enhances communication, collaboration, and workplace relationships .

I’m thinking of that keynote where you paused and asked the audience: “What keeps you awake at night?” You didn’t launch into your script. As people shared their fears—burnout, imposter syndrome—you shifted from lecturer to lighthouse.

Then you spoke—and they listened harder. That pause transformed a speech into connection.

On my skink I learned that whenever there was a difficult person inside the audience, I was never start an answer with a negativism phrase such as: I don't believe , or I am not agree.

Instead I was greeting him first, making him feeling understood, like: Thanks for sharing it, or I agree with that however...

Creating friction is not helping anyone, moreover the people don't want see the wiser old man from the village sharing wisdom quotes to everybody, instead they want to see the vulnerable human that turned into a successful person and now can share how he did it despite of the challenges.

6. Synergize

In a panel discussion, you once paired with a data scientist and a storyteller. She brought numbers, he brought narrative, you brought performance. The result? A viral clip of “leadership explained in three minutes”—shared by six international media pages. Alone, each of you might have been good. Together? You sparked something unexpected and explosive.

The moral is, cooperate with other people which may contribute positively to your causes, to your purpose. Remember that anyone has different criteria and frequency of communication style. Maybe the CEO in the audience, ready to invest on you, is triggered by numbers instead of story telling. Your expertise is in understand how to get all of them by Research, Statistic and Stories.

7. Sharpen the Saw

Remember when you integrated walking into your coaching calls—stride-and-talk? Not only did your energy improve; your ideas became sharper. You stopped bouncing between screen and sofa and started moving between ideas—all because you “walked your talk.”

Research backs it: a study from Seoul (Kangbuk Samsung Hospital and Workplace Mental Health Institute) found that mixing 25 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise with 30–60 minutes of light activity daily lowers burnout risk by 62% .

Covey didn’t drop these habits expecting them to be wallpaper for motivational quotes. He gave you a blueprint for coherent living. If you apply just one—authentically, daily—you stop being an extra in your own life. You become the director.

You’ve already lived these habits: as a speaker, coach, human who doesn’t settle for applause but demands substance. Now, think: which one will you sharpen next?