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Writer's pictureVivienne

Lessons Learned with Stephen Covey

Updated: Feb 7, 2023

Lighthouse International’s Paul S. Waugh on the Principles of Effectiveness in Mentoring & Coaching

Written by Vivienne Juan, Associate Elect Partner
Pile of hardcover books

Stephen R. Covey’s seminal work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, sold over 40 million copies worldwide. This book outlines seven habits, as well as their underlying principles, that one could practise in order to become a highly effective person.

Imagine, for a moment, becoming one of those Highly Effective People. You could unleash your hidden potential, create tremendous value — including financially, for sure — and become a benefactor: to serve all that is important to you in life.

After 30-odd years in publication, however, we certainly have one highly effective book that’s made millions, but unfortunately not 40 million more highly effective benefactors. What’s missing? Below are three one-minute videos from Lighthouse International Group, now known as Lighthouse Global’s Head Mentor, Paul S. Waugh, that will help us to understand and bridge the gap from ordinary people into creating extraordinary results.


Reading Doesn’t Equal Follow-Through

Head knowledge is barely half the game. You reap what you sow, and that means you’ve still got to actually do the work to get your desired outcome — it doesn’t magically arrive once you have the theory down and you close the book. It still requires action!

Paul explains the shocking truth about how self-confessed “fans” of the so-called self-help book surprised him with how much they didn’t know, let alone apply, the wisdom that indeed served him to succeed so well.


You Can’t Break Laws and Principles

You can only break yourself against them. If people could only remember, on average, one of Dr Covey’s seven habits of effectiveness, what hope did they have of understanding and applying any of the many fundamental principles that underpin them?

Everything is governed by universal, eternal, and infinite laws and principles, and the way to become highly effective is learning, living, and immersing these into your character. Just as an aeronautical engineer would immerse himself in the laws of gravity and physics to understand mechanical flight, so too, do we each need to study the fundamental principles at work in our lives, careers, and relationships for our dreams to really take flight!


Coaching Alone Won’t Cut It

In this last video, Paul S. Waugh captures the essence of our work here at Lighthouse Global. Professional coaching is great, but just like reading a book, it’s not the whole picture. Developing the highest human ideal in oneself must include all aspects of life and business, all dimensions of the whole human being, body, heart, mind, and spirit. No coach, no matter how great they are, can ever bring about change inside your heart and soul. That's yours. As Marilyn Ferguson said,


"No one can persuade another to change. Each of us guards a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside. We cannot open the gate of another, either by argument or emotional appeal."

What Have We Learned?

In order to become highly effective people, we can’t simply read our way there, we need to be proactive. To be proactive in a positive, upbuilding and progressing way, we must learn what the underlying principles are; integrate them into our character. And finally, we must be proactive in alignment with the principles inside ourselves, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, and with all our available resources, human, material and financial.

One Last Thing…

Does it sound like a lot?! That’s because it is! If it was easy to become a highly effective person, we would all be billionaires taking care of the needs of millions of starving, suffering children! The most important thing you need for your success, aside from a well-structured set of habits and principles, is a well-structured environment and community, supporting you to follow through on them in the first place. All I can say from my experience of surrounding myself with the right people, is that it is absolutely life-changing. But don’t take my word for it! Get in touch with us and find out the benefits of mentorship coaching for yourself.


To learn more, send me an email— I’ll be happy to hear from you.

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댓글 11개


jack comer
jack comer
2022년 3월 09일

In order to be highly effective human beings we must be proactive in applying natural laws to our lives through learning how to be principle centred.

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asifvaliji
asifvaliji
2022년 2월 19일

Viv I still remember reading this book for the first time in 2010 with the much needed love and guidance from my friends and mentors. I remember writing in my review of the year "Be proactive and aligning myself to this habit is the best thing I ever learned in my life" and I accredited this wisdom to Dr Covey. Only to find out later that he himself said that he is responsible for identifying the 7 Habits and underlying principles, that they come from a source and this is profound. Having a community here to follow through has been incredible. I still remember Kris and James helping me see my responsibility as a father in being proactive and really…

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Mel Francis
Mel Francis
2022년 2월 19일

Awesome Viv, bringing this together makes such a compelling case for Dr Covey's work but also for the message he shares, which is not his opinion, principles are universal and inexorable. Brilliant, thank you! :)

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jatindersingh4
jatindersingh4
2022년 2월 19일

Thanks Viv - such powerful points you have made. The 7 habits is a brilliant book with so many powerful insights- but its the follow through that is so important and that rarely happens because of our conditioning!

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Daniel Schmitz
Daniel Schmitz
2022년 2월 19일

Thanks Viv, that’s a brilliant article! “We certainly have one highly effective book that’s made millions, but unfortunately not 40 million more highly effective benefactors.” I’m trying to imagine what would be possible with 1 million or even 10 million highly effective leaders who are globally connected. How many problems could we solve in this world? The personal development industry definitely needs a clear, government-backed regulation to help people to get clear on what is good and genuine, so real progress can be made.


Here is an article on why children are still suffering from drinking toxic water, please check it out and imagine what would be possible with 10 million connected leaders:

https://www.lighthousecommunity.global/post/why-are-millions-of-children-still-suffering-from-drinking-toxic-water-lighthouse-international


Cheers Viv 😊

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