The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families

Since reading this book, I've found the wisdom and courage to reach out again to my wife and children. I cannot tell you how scary, exciting, and wonderful it is to be part of a real live family. I'm working on contributing within my other families, too - my in-laws, brothers and sisters, and neighbors, too. I have been buying copies and handing them out to anyone who mentions their family, whether in a good or bad light.

This is an excellent guide to anyone who wants to be part of a real family. It doesn't matter whether you are Mom, Dad, Grandparents, or even an adult child. This wonderful book will help find the skills and courage to make your family first in your life and a refuge for all its members against the trials of modern life.

Michael Cain


A real eye opener   November 26, 1999
30 out of 30 found this review helpful

I read this book while I was on a remote tour from my family in Korea for a year. I just finished, and came here to buy a copy for myself and hopefully, my wife will want to read it to. The amazing thing about it was it made me feel closer to my wife and two children while I was 10,000 miles away than when I was home! It made me pause and do some soul searching to realize "I do that, and I should stop". I did a personal mission statement and it was shocking to me. I encourage everyone who has a family to read this book. I won't say "it's changed my life", I think that's a bit trite, but it has opened my eyes. I feel it can do the same for most folks!


A Fabulous Family Book! A must read!   December 18, 1999
30 out of 30 found this review helpful

In reading this book I have been introduced to the most common sense and easily applied principles I have ever read. This is a must read for anyone who strives to create a loving, fun, understanding family environment. The author puts his principles into easy to understand and apply ideas, such as the emotional bank account, creating a family mission statement and talks about the importance of family communication, togetherness along with one on one time. If your family is truly 1st in your life, read this book and begin making it first for everyone in your house. One of the best things about the book is his consistant use of personal stories from his family and other readers which bring it all into focus and provide ways in which you can envision the ideas working in your own family.


Great companion to original Seven Habits book   September 7, 2000
H. David Peirce (Houston, TX USA)
40 out of 45 found this review helpful

My wife bought this book a while back. I didn't read it because I figured it was just a repackaging of the original -- sort of like City Slickers II. This book is different in a couple of ways: (1) Covey approaches the 7 habits from different angles; I gained new insight into them, despite having read the original book several times. (2) Covey fills this book with examples that most people will be able to relate to.

This book is very welcome. Most of us who read the original 7 Habits book focused on applying it in our work lives. This book compels us to take another look at the Habits in the context of family. This is a must read.


A much more accessible "7 Habits"!!!   April 21, 2003
Roland Grefer (Tampa Bay Area, Florida)
22 out of 23 found this review helpful

This book takes the concepts outlined in "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" to a much more accessible level.

While the original "7 Habits" were lauded for their content, at times they were criticized for the generally business oriented approach chosen.

"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families" renders these principles much more accessible and provides easy to follow advice that can be applied in day to day life.

Subsequently, by applying the principles presented in "The 7 Habits", they will become just that - Habits! As habits they are exercised/applied without thinking about them anymore, therefore eliminating the need to constantly focus on them.

The experience is somewhat similar to learning to drive a car. Initially a lot of attention to operating the car is required, because it is such an unfamiliar process. After a while, however, driving the car becomes a matter of habit, mostly executed on a sub-conscious level, while the attention can be focused almost solely on the traffic and environment.

For anyone not familiar with either one of the "7 Habits" books, I recommend to start out with this one, and then - if necessary, or desired - to read "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" at a later point of time for the primary purpose of its more business oriented approach.

In order to be able to focus on business, it is worthwhile to already have ones house in order; therefore the family should come first - including the family's "7 Habits".

For a multi-sensory approach, I suggest to also listen to the corresponding book on CD. This will trigger different areas of the brain and therefore lead to a faster learning curve.

Reading by its very approach has to happen on the conscious level, while listening can happen in situation where the primary focus is on something else, i.e. stop-and-go traffic. Dr. Covey's soothing voice in such scenarios will manage to engage the listener on a subconscious level, driving the message home even more effectively.