You’ve heard of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. But did you know that its author, Stephen Covey, was in his late fifties when it came out? After it became a monumental bestseller, Covey continued to work on new book ideas, one of which encapsulated his own experience with late-in-life success and his commitment to having an ever-forward-looking attitude. 

A decade after his death, that book has finally been brought to fruition by Stephen’s daughter, Cynthia Covey Haller. It’s called Live Life in Crescendo: Your Most Important Work Is Always Ahead of You, and its contents really represent the capstone habit to those that came before.

Today on the show, Cynthia unpacks the crescendo mentality and how it represents a commitment to continual learning, growth, and change that you can adopt at any age. We discuss how embracing the crescendo mentality is particularly important in midlife, why that stage of life can be uniquely challenging whether you’ve achieved success or are struggling, and the shifts people in each of those situations can make to find greater fulfillment.

Resources Related to the Episode

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
• The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness by Stephen R. Coveyt
• AoM series on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
• AoM Podcast #607: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (With Stephen R. Covey‘s son, Stephen M.R. Covey)
• AoM Podcast #776: How to Shift Out of the Midlife Malaise
• How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl 
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey
• Mike Mason, retired FBI bus driver

Connect With Cynthia Covey Haller

• Cynthia on IG