The 7 Habits: Put First Things First via The Art of Manliness Blog.

via AoM.

Covey’s first two habits are big picture and abstract.

Habit #1 — “Be Proactive” — is about changing your mindset from someone who is acted upon to someone who acts. It’s about reminding yourself that you are in charge of your life and how you respond to it.

Habit #2 builds off of the first. It instructs you to marshal the power of personal agency and “Begin With the End in Mind” — the “end” here being nothing less final than the grave. When you look back on your life from your deathbed, what do you want to see and how do you want to feel? Once you know that, you create a personal mission statement based on timeless principles and your own core values that helps you develop and practice these “eulogy virtues.”

Habit #3 is where the rubber meets the road.

As Covey argues, Habits 1 and 2 are about personal leadership — figuring out where you want to go and what you want to do in life — while Habit #3 is about personal management. It’s about taking the big picture, the abstract, the idealistic, and turning them into the day-to-day, the concrete, the practical. It’s about taking external actions that match your internal convictions.

Story here. 

Interesting isn't it.

Covey packaged up knowledge that is known and made big bucks off it.  What do I mean?  Take Marine Corps Leadership Traits for example (here), ignore the fact that the USAF packaged it on their education site without the usual fluff on it making it the most useful, but concentrate on its tenets.

Now compare it to what Covey came up with.

Long story short?

Our creator gave us all the natural instincts to get it done.  We all know what needs to be done, have an inkling of how to go about what it is we each desire to do, and laid the groundwork assuming you have the determination to crush your goals.

My personal belief is that society and lack of personal confidence is the limiting factor.

Society sets artificial roadblocks on individuals and people as a rule lack the personal confidence/courage to either hurdle or trample those roadblocks to get what they want (assuming its legal of course...if it isn't then those roadblocks need to be tall and strong!).