The book talks about a set of habits which differentiates successful people from the normal. It criticizes [recently popular] personality ethic which it terms as deceptive and manipulative and calls for character ethic which is a fundamental change in human character. This change must begin from inside and spreads out [inside-out] and the reverse is not possible.

The book is divided into three parts

1. Private Victory
   • Be Proactive focus on where you can do something. that is, focus on the circle of influence instead of the circle of concern
   • Begin with the end in mind while starting something thinking about what to do after it attained (The book also talks about how most people are centered around someone/something like spouse-centered, money-centered, job-centered and suggests that being principle-centered in the highest form)
   • Put first things first Successful people don’t do what they like to do but what they have to do. The author divides all our activities into four quadrants [important and urgent, important but not urgent, urgent but not important and neither urgent nor important]. He points out that most people focus on urgent things, we should instead focus on important things]
2. Public Victory
   • Think Win/Win Integrity Maturity Go away with scarcity syndrome [accept abundance mentality] stop thinking to win/lose
   • Seek first to understand and then to be understood try doing empathic listening
   • Synergize Admire people different than you and try to understand how differences can help you both.
3. Renewal
   • Sharpen the saw four dimensions of renewal - physical, mental, social/emotional, spiritual keep learning new skills

The book aims at providing primary skills [paradigm shift] in thinking instead of secondary skills [personality ethic].