Irony of the Personality Ethic
While the "personality ethic" purports to be helpful in the development of people's lives, it is actually more detrimental than it is beneficial; it only provides a quick fix to a person's immediate problems without changing the underlying conditions. It is the easy way out of an uncomfortable situation, but without changing one's character, no real change is made except a heightened sense of privilege.
Irony of Independence
Independence seems like the end goal - it's been brainwashed into our minds with the culture's obsession with freedom, both collectively and individually. Freedom as an absence of constraints is presented as the end goal of human life, but ironically, it's actually just a stepping stone. Covey says that independence is only the middle step between dependence and interdependence, the latter of which is the truly perfect state. He compares trying to be most effective in complete independence to trying to play tennis with a golf club.
Irony of the Golden Goose
In the parable of the golden goose, the farmer discovers that his goose produces a golden egg every morning. Soon, however, he becomes impatient, and he kills the goose in order to get all of the eggs at once. There aren't any eggs inside the goose, however, and the farmer realizes that in trying to get all of the eggs at once, he ironically ensured that he would get no more eggs (because he killed the egg-maker).
Irony of Emotional Stability
Covey notes the irony that results from obtaining independence through good habits: when you start to care less about what other people think of you, since your emotional stability is no longer based on their approval, you will actually begin to care more about what they think of themselves and wish to help. This pleasant irony is just one step in the transformation allowed by the Seven Habits.
Irony of Reaction
Covey shares a quote from Gandhi, who said, “They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.” This statement reveals an important irony: the only way we can be emotionally damaged by judgment is if we give our willing consent to allow it to happen. If we disallow this consent, we cannot be harmed by the judgment of others.
