1.

Be proactive

2. Begin with the end in mind

3. Putting first things first

4. Think win/win

5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood

6. Synergize

7. Sharpen the saw

8 - Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs

The eighth habit is "Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs." Voice is
Covey's code for "unique personal significance." Those who inspire others to find
theirs are the leaders needed now and for the future, according to Covey.

For Stephen Covey, there is a great need for steady recovery and application of the whole
person paradigm, which holds that persons have four intelligences - physical, intellectual,
emotional and spiritual. Denial of any of them reduces persons to things, inviting many,
many problems. The Industrial Age was a period dependent on such denial. Covey
believed the Information Age and a foreseen Age of Wisdom require whole people (in
whole jobs).

Moreover, Covey describes the "5 Cancerous Behaviors" that inhibit people's greatness:

 Criticism - The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. And the
first to forget is the happiest. “We forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because
we deserve peace.”
 Complaining - People don’t always need advice. Sometimes all they really need is a hand to
hold, an ear to listen and a heart to understand them.
 Comparing
 Competing
 Contending

We can discover our voice because of the 3 gifts we are born with:

Gift 1: The freedom to choose

Gift 2: The natural laws or principles – those that dictate the consequences of
behavior. Positive consequences come from fairness, kindness, respect, honesty,
integrity, service and contribution
Gift 3: The four intelligences – mental, physical, emotional and spiritual.

Covey talks about great achievers expressing their voice through the use of their
intelligences; for example:

1.) Great achievers develop their mental energy into vision

2.) Great achievers develop their physical energy into discipline

3.) Great achievers develop their emotional energy into passion

4.) Great achievers develop their spiritual energy into conscience – their inward moral
sense of what is right and wrong and their drive towards meaning and contribution

Make known what you really want. And help others in doing so too. This will bring out the
best in yourself and in others, and creativity will be fully used, power will be fully expressed
and results will be best achieved.