My Official Apology to Stephen Covey
Originally written on Mon, Jan 25, 2010 and recently updated for relevance.
This is my official apology to Dr. Stephen R. Covey. The Best selling author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
I am currently reading this book because it is required reading in a psychology class I am taking.
When I first found out that this was the book that I had to read for the class, I said to myself, “you see, you could have been seriously ahead of the class if you would have only read this book when you should have.”
I SHOULD have read this book many years ago when I was training heavily on the subjects of success, financial mastery, sales, marketing, etc.
Every one of my mentors at that time told me that it was required reading for anyone who wanted to achieve long-lasting success in their lives, whether it be in business, family or relationships.
The problem was that with this book was a list of 50 other “must read” books on the various topics I was earning at the time. Something had to give!
So I ended up deciding to skip this book until I recently had to read it for this class.
To be honest, I thought this book would just be a repeat of the many great things I was learning at the time. I saw “7 habits” and thought it had something to do with every one of those top 10 lists like top 10 ways to making a million bucks this year or the top 5 ways to get everything you want out of life. You know what I mean...it seems as if all the secrets in life are sometimes reduced to an ultimate list of some sort. Quite frankly, I was skeptical.
I was also tired of all the overnight success nonsense I was being forced-fed through emails and other types media (not much has changed on this front, can we agree?).
I was the type of person who was looking for long-lasting success. I was willing to pay the price for my success. I was not looking for any shortcuts, I was not looking for the next list of things that were going to save my life, career or wallet.
What a mistake I have made!
This book is the absolute opposite of what I thought it would be. It contains lessons on how to establish DEEP and LONG LASTING habits to achieve success. Not the overnight success malarkey I was running into at the time.
I have not even finished the book and I can tell you that it has made a MAJOR impact on my life. I have been looking for this quality of book for years.
How Ironic, huh?
Something I shrugged off so easily actually contains everything I believe to be true to achieve success in life. Even as I write this I want to kick myself for not having read this book so may years ago when I had the chance.
Of course, this is not something that any of us can control. Everyone has to deal with the consequences of their decisions; some consequences are bad and some are good.
I'm not really kicking myself for having figured out that the book was and would have been a good choice to read. I didn't know any better. Such is life! I did the best I could at the time, how can I blame myself...I can't...and don't.
(I had an old video of my apologizing but I couldn't find it. Instead, enjoy an apology from Paul Giamatti)
Anyway, that was my official apology to Mr. Covey for lumping his book in with all the junk that was out there at the time. My thanks to him for having written such a useful and impactful book; a book I could finally say changed and improved the way I live.
Real long-lasting change comes from within. There is no magic pill and there are no shortcuts.
If you have not read the book yet, I highly suggest you do.
This was one of the books that sparked in me the desire to create something that helps people change their lives for the better.
The Life Enrichment Learning Series is an 8-module transformational learning series about creating and living out a more fulfilled and enriched life. This course is my version of adding something to this world that adds value and improves people's lives.
Thank you Steven Covey, Rest in Peace
LOVE-INSPIRE-HEAL