“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” is a quote by Sean Covey. It intends for people to listen not for the sake of it but for the reason to understand the other person. In the book 7 Habits of highly effective teens, Sean Covey intends to give modern-day teens the right guides and knowledge to succeed and persevere in their future lives through the concept of the 3 paradigms, public and private victories and renewal, and the 4 dimensions in habit number 7.
The concept of the 3 Paradigms, (Paradigm of self, Paradigm of others, and Paradigm of Life), gives teens a clear concept of how teens have a perception of themselves, others, and life in general. A paradigm of self is a perception of oneself and has mindset characteristics, namely the Fixed Mindset, which means that you are not open-minded, you give yourselves limits when you know you can achieve more, and you do not go out of your comfort zone, and you also have the Growth Mindset, which is basically the opposite of what fixed mindset is because it’s when you are open-minded, always ready to accept ideas, it’s when you feel like there are no limits, and it’s when you go into your courage zone. The paradigm of Others gives a perception of others, the book aims to improve your sense of perception for others and focuses on you not judge on what you see. The paradigm of Life gives a perception of Life in general and improves how you see your surroundings. With that Paradigms provide an efficient way of how you see yourself and your surroundings, this is really needed in modern society because teens nowadays are more negative based on an article published on psychology today by Carl E. Pickhardt Ph. D.
The book gives the details of Private Victory, Public Victory, and Renewal. Private Victory includes habits 1, Be Proactive, 2, Begin with an end in mind, and 3, Put first things first. Private Victory focuses more on our own selves and how we can improve socially, physically, and in the right way. Public Victory includes habits 4, Think Win-Win, 5, Seek first to understand then to be understood, and 6, Synergise. Public Victory focuses on you towards others and your surroundings. The renewal includes habit 7, Sharpen the Saw. Renewal focuses on the sharpening of your inner self and that affects the way you understand your surroundings. In short, Private and Public Victories and Renewal helps us understand ourselves and our surroundings in a way of progressing through ourselves, our surroundings, and finally sharpening both you and our surroundings.
Now, in the 7th habit, Sharpening the Saw, the book gives us the 4 dimensions which bring me to my 3rd point. The 4 dimensions, which are Sharpening your mind, soul, body, and heart, give teens a reason to improve themselves emotionally and socially. Sharpening your mind means exercising your intellect and knowing right from wrong. Sharpening your soul means being emotionally strong and learning to know your limits. Sharpening your body means being healthy, exercising, and knowing your body. Sharpening your heart means being kind and do not think badly of others. These 4 dimensions of the 7th habit contribute to sharpening your inner and outer self that improving yourself as a human being.
To sum it up The 7 Habits of highly effective teens provide modern-day teens with the right guides and knowledge to succeed and persevere in their future lives through the concept of the 3 paradigms, public and private victories and renewal, and the 4 dimensions in habit number 7. All these concepts help us understand ourselves and others around us and help us sharpen and know our inner selves. I was bullied in my childhood a lot for my skin color, my accent, and even for me as a person. Honestly, right now I don't even know what others look at me as, a human or an alien. At that time in my life, I did not have a basis to cope with these incidents. But now, I feel like I have a basis for being an effective person as a teen because of this book. So, now it is your choice if you would like a basis for your life as a teen so you can be as effective and improved as you are willing to be.