7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey

My feelings about this audio book are mixed, and that is because ultimately I think whether you find this book useful or not is a subjective matter. What this means is that for some people this book will feel like a revelation and will possibly have a positive impact upon their lives, whilst for others it may feel like a self-important, banal waste of time that feels hard to connect with. How you feel about this book will depend on a number of factors, and I won’t presume to delineate exactly what these factors will be, but personality and self-confidence will have a lot to do with it.

Basically this is a book that outlines the personal views on morals and ethics as held by the author, and rather than being a self help book that gives you steps to success in business or life, it aims at providing you with the moral framework that will help you achieve success on your own terms. That this comes from religion may be for some more than others, and that there is nothing really original in the content itself may be another problem, but this is nothing if not an exhaustive look at one person’s life view.

The main criticism leveled at this audio book by myself and others is that Stephen Covey himself, the author and narrator, isn’t the most compelling speaker in the world, and this unabridged version of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a bit of a monster listen. There’s over an hour long introduction and for some people the meat of the text is never fully expressed in a succinct fashion, but it has proved to be an inspiration for some.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People audio book (3 hours and 24 minutes in duration) is available to download now to your iPod, Mp3 Player, Computer or CD.