This is a very entertaining book to read – so entertaining that you might not realize at first that you are not really gaining any useful skills in the process. I'm not criticizing Dr. Covey's advice. His platitudes are correct, and most situations that we encounter will prove them so. The problem is that he gives you no specific skills to put any of this advice into practice. Actually, I doubt that he ever could, because his saying are generally too broad to apply to specific situations.

If Dr. Covey's idea here was to motivate us, then the book seems pointless, because if you are not motivated then you would never have picked up this book. If his idea was to help us put these ideas into action then he failed, because there is very little practical advice here. If his purpose was to be entertaining and life affirming, then he has accomplished his goal splendidly. For an action oriented person like myself, this was just not enough.