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The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective Teens: The Ultimate Teenage Success Guide Retail Price: $14.00 |
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From
the Publisher An indispensable book for teens, as well as parents, grandparents, and any
adult who influences young people, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
is destined to become the last word on surviving and thriving as a teen and
beyond. EXCERPT Get
in the Habit
They make you or break you
Welcome! My name is Sean and I wrote this book, I don't know how you got it.
Maybe your mom gave it to you to shape you up. Or maybe you bought it with your
own money because the title caught your eye. Regardless of how it landed in your
hands, I'm really glad it did. Now you just need to read it.
A lot of teens read books, but I wasn't one of them. (I did read several
Cliffs Notes book summaries, however.) So if you're like me, you may be ready to
shelve this book. But before you do that, hear me out. If you promise to read
this book, I'll promise to make it an adventure. In fact, to keep it fun, I've
stuffed it full of cartoons, clever ideas, great quotes, and incredible stories
about real teens from all over the world...along with a few other surprises. So
will you give it a try?
Okay? Okay!
Now, back to the book. This book is based on another book that my dad,
Stephen R. Covey, wrote several years ago entitled The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People. Surprisingly, that book has become one of the bestselling
books of all time. He owes a lot of the credit for its success to me and my
brothers and sisters, however. You see, we were his guinea pigs. He tried out
all of his psycho experiments on us, and that's why my brothers and sisters have
major emotional problems (just kidding, siblings). Luckily, I escaped uninjured.
So why did I write this book? I wrote it because life for teens is no longer
a playground. It's a jungle out there. And if I've done my job right, this book
can be like a compass to help you navigate through it. In addition, unlike my
dad's book, which was written for old people (and can get really boring at
times), this book was written especially for teens and is always interesting.
Although I'm a retired teenager, I remember what it was like to be one. I
could have sworn I was riding an emotional roller coaster most of the time.
Looking back, I'm actually amazed that I survived. Barely. I'll never forget the
time in seventh grade when I first fell in love with a girl named Nicole. I told
my friend Clar to tell her that I liked her (I was too scared to speak directly
to girls so I used interpreters). Clar completed his mission and returned and
reported.
"Hey, Sean, I told Nicole that you liked her."
"What'd she say!?" I giggled.
"She said, 'Ooohhh, Sean. He's fat!'"
Clar laughed. I was devastated. I felt like crawling into a hole and never
coming out again. I vowed to hate girls for life. Luckily my hormones prevailed
and I began liking girls again.
I suspect that some of the struggles that teens have shared with me are also
familiar to you:
"How can I feel good about myself when I don't match up? Everywhere I
look I am reminded that someone else is smarter or prettier, or more popular I
can't help but think, 'If I only had her hair, her clothes, her personality,
her boyfriend, then I'd be happy.'"
"I feel as if my life is out of control."
"My family is a disaster. If I could only get my parents off my back I
might be able to live my life. It seems they're constantly nagging, and I
can't ever seem to satisfy them."
"I know I'm not living the way I should. I'm into everything -- drugs,
drinking, sex, you name it. But when I'm with my friends, I give in and just
do what everyone else is doing."
"I've started another diet. I think it's my fifth one this year I
really do want to change, but I just don't have the discipline to stick with
it. Each time I start a new diet I have hope. But it's usually only a short
time before I blow it. And then I feel awful."
"I'm not doing too well in school right now. If I don't get my grades
up I'll never get into college."
"I'm moody and get depressed often and I don't know what to do about
it." These problems are real, and you can't turn off real life. So I won't try.
Instead, I'll give you a set of tools to help you deal with real life. What are
they? The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens or, said another way, the seven
characteristics that happy and successful teens the world over have in common.
By now, you're probably wondering what these habits are so I might as well
end the suspense. Here they are, followed by a brief explanation:
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind Define your mission and goals
in life.
Habit 3: Put First Things First Prioritize, and do the most
important things first.
Habit 4: Think Win-Win Have an everyone-can-win attitude.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood Listen
to people sincerely.
Habit 6: Synergize Work together to achieve more.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw Renew yourself regularly. As the above diagram shows, the habits build upon each other. Habits 1, 2,
and 3 deal with self-mastery. We call it the "private victory." Habits
4, 5, and 6 deal with relationships and teamwork. We call it the "public
victory." You've got to get your personal act together before you can be a
good team player. That's why the private victory comes before the public
victory. The last habit, Habit 7, is the habit of renewal. It feeds all of the
other six habits.
The habits seem rather simple, don't they? But just wait till you see how
powerful they can be! One great way to understand what the 7 Habits are is to
understand what they are not. So here are the opposites, or:
Habit 1: React Blame all of your problems on your parents, your stupid teachers or professors, your lousy neighborhood, your boy- or girlfriend, the government, or something or somebody else. Be a victim. Take no responsibility for your life. Act like an animal. If you're hungry, eat. If someone yells at you, yell back. If you feel like doing something you know is wrong, just do it. Habit 2: Begin with No End in Mind Don't have a plan. Avoid goals at all costs. And never think about tomorrow. Why worry about the consequences of your actions? Live for the moment. Sleep around, get wasted, and party on, for tomorrow we die. Habit 3: Put First Things Last Whatever is most important in your life, don't do it until you have spent sufficient time watching reruns, talking endlessly on the phone, surfing the Net, and lounging around. Always put off your homework until tomorrow. Make sure that things that don't matter always come before things that do. Habit 4: Think Win-Lose See life as a vicious competition. Your classmate is out to get you, so you'd better get him or her first. Don't let anyone else succeed at anything because, remember, if they win, you lose. If it looks like you're going to lose, however, make sure you drag that sucker down with you. Habit 5: Seek First to Talk, Then Pretend to Listen You were born with a mouth, so use it. Make sure you talk a lot. Always express your side of the story first. Once you're sure everyone understands your views, then pretend to listen by nodding and saying "uh-huh." Or, if you really want their opinion, give it to them. Habit 6: Don't Cooperate Let's face it, other people are weird because they're different from you. So why try to get along with them? Teamwork is for the dogs. Since you always have the best ideas, you are better off doing everything by yourself. Be your own island. Habit 7: Wear Yourself Out Be so busy with life that you never take time to renew or improve yourself. Never study. Don't learn anything new. Avoid exercise like the plague. And, for heaven's sake, stay away from good books, nature, or anything else that may inspire you. As you can see, the habits listed above are recipes for disaster. Yet many of us indulge in them...regularly (me included). And, given this, it's no wonder that life can really stink at times. WHAT EXACTLY ARE HABITS? Habits are things we do repeatedly. But most of the time we are hardly aware that we have them. They're on autopilot. Some habits are good, such as:
Some are bad, like:
And some don't really matter, including:
Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become what we repeatedly do. As writer Samuel Smiles put it: Luckily, you are stronger than your habits. Therefore, you can change them. For example, try folding your arms. Now try folding them in the opposite way. How does this feel? Pretty strange, doesn't it? But if you folded them in the opposite way for thirty days in a row, it wouldn't feel so strange. You wouldn't even have to think about it. You'd get in the habit. At any time you can look yourself in the mirror and say, "Hey, I don't like that about myself," and you can exchange a bad habit for a better one. It's not always easy, but it's always possible. Not every idea in this book will work for you. But you don't have to be perfect to see results, either. Just living some of the habits some of the time can help you experience changes in your life you never thought possible. The 7 Habits can help you:
One final point. It's your book, so use it. Get out a pencil, pen, or highlighter and mark it up. Don't be afraid to underline, highlight, or circle your favorite ideas. Take notes in the margins. Scribble. Reread the stories that inspire you. Memorize the quotes that give you hope. Try doing the "baby steps" at the end of each chapter, which were designed to help you start living the habits immediately. You'll get a lot more out of the book if you do. You may also want to call or visit some of the hotlines and Web sites I have listed at the back of the book for additional help or information. If you're the kind of reader who likes to skip around looking for cartoons and other interesting tidbits, that's just fine. But at some point you ought to read the book from start to finish, because the 7 Habits are sequential. They all build on each other. Habit 1 comes before Habit 2 (and so on) for a reason. Copyright © 1998 by Franklin Covey Co.
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