Self-discovery, self-mastery, initiative, responsibility, team-building, prioritization, and open-mindedness are just some of the characteristics that Covey suggests are necessary for success. And even after acquiring his designated habits, entrepreneurs should strive to continually improve them, the author said.

Universal Good Habits

An example of Covey’s continued relevance: In August 2011, Time listed “Seven Habits” as one of the 25 most influential business management books. And even though norms have changed over the last quarter century, Covey’s “habits” remain universal and timeless, continuing to guide acolytes even after the author’s death in 2012; plus, they have prompted other businesspeople to identify their own habits for success. They always seem to come in sevens.

For example, Entrepreneur magazine has advocated its own set of seven habits necessary for success. They are more practical when compared to Covey’s more philosophical instruction. Entrepreneur recommends:

■ Establish a detailed plan before starting your business.

■ Organize your resources thoroughly before beginning business operations.

■ Surround yourself with the right people who will help you reach your goals.

■ Apply the art of delegating the right task to the right person.

■ Monitor performance of others with an efficient reporting system.

■ Measure your progress to be sure your business is on the right track.

■ Make employees feel like part of the company by keeping them informed of developments and progress.

“When you become competent and capable in each of these areas, you’ll be able to accomplish extraordinary results, far faster and easier than your competitors,” according to “Million Dollar Habits” from Entrepreneur Press.

Lessons for Life

And Covey continues to be an inspiration for a new generation of writers who have pinpointed their own successful habits, many of which can be applied as life lessons that go beyond the business world. Darrell Zahorsky is one such small business expert, author and consultant who espouses his own ideas about success. Remember the old shampoo commercial about the advantages of telling two friends about the benefit of using the product? Then they will tell two friends, who in turn will tell two friends, and so on, and so on…

Zahorsky borrows that idea by being a proponent of building an inner network of five successful colleagues, mentors and advisers who can introduce you to another five successful businesspeople, and so on, and so on…

It’s just one of the writer’s suggestions for success. He also reminds people to remain adaptable to changing situations and vigilant about new opportunities that might emerge in times of trouble. Moreover, Zahorsky offers a lesson in humility to those with Type A personalities.

“Business success requires the ability to know your strengths and weaknesses. Being open and honest about yourself and your business creates growth as an individual and as a company,” he says. “In the book, ‘Now, Discover Your Strengths,’ Gallup Organization reveals that building our strengths instead of fixing our weakness is the path to mastery and success.”

Finding balance in all aspects of your life, is another key to success, he suggests.

Add ‘Lean In’ to the List

But it may be time to add a new habit to Covey’s list that wasn’t really talked about when he published his book in 1989. It has become a recent buzz term and applies primarily to women executives and entrepreneurs. Of course, I’m talking about “leaning in,” the advice dispensed by Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg in her recently published first book, “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead.”

Sandberg encourages women to “lean into” their ambitions in order to achieve professional and personal goals, break down societal and personal barriers, and achieve positions of leadership. The book has inspired a movement. With more female voices in positions of power, Sandberg asserts, more equitable opportunities will be created for everyone.

If that can be achieved, leaning in could become as good a habit as anything put forth by Covey.

“I don’t know what to do. Who will marry him?” the mother cries in Agarwal’s book “How I Braved Anu Aunty & Co-Founded a Million Dollar Company.”

What’s so terribly wrong with Agarwal that causes so much consternation for his mother?

He decided to pursue a path of entrepreneurship rather than the more socially acceptable trajectory of working for a short time after college before getting an MBA and accepting a salaried position with a good company.

I should point out that Agarwal lives in India, where entrepreneurship is discouraged by the older generation because it tends to interfere with the custom of arranged marriage.

“Parents of prospective brides strike me off the list when they find I am a start-up guy,” the author/entrepreneur told writer Saritha Rai in a blog that appeared last fall in the global edition of The New York Times. “They want a safety net for their daughters. They feel I could not provide her a nice house or a luxury car as I don’t have a job and banks will not give me credit.”

Something tells me Agarwal is having the last laugh. In his mid-20s, he’s the founder of a successful company, Alma Mater, which sells logo-adorned merchandise for colleges and schools across India. And his book, masquerading as fiction, chronicles the resistance he faced in fulfilling his dream, has sold more than 30,000 copies and is in a third reprint.

His story, however, makes me feel fortunate to be an American where entrepreneurship is encouraged and arranged marriages are hardly the norm.

As an entrepreneur and husband, I understand the demands of starting a business and how it has the potential to put stress on a marriage. Starting a company requires copious amounts of time, money and energy. But being a successful entrepreneur is not the antithesis of being a good husband, wife or parent, as some might have you believe. I have read many articles and blogs that characterize marriage to an entrepreneur as being a “roller coaster ride,” for spouses who have to deal with exorbitant egos, cash-strapped households and neglect by a partner who is preoccupied with building an empire.

I rather like writer Chris Dannen’s take on the subject. The editor of Co.Labs at FastCompany observes:

“The phenomenon of the entrepreneur with the MBA is a relatively recent one; entrepreneurship programs are sprouting up at universities all over the country, but most of the folks that start businesses don’t have the knowledge or inclination to be ‘empire builders.’ What they do have, however, is creativity, drive, self-confidence and dynamism.”

And there is plenty of advice out there for spouses who might be married to an entrepreneur, whether they are wives or husbands.

Nicole Bailey, wife of Petra Coach founder and CEO Andy Bailey, offered several tips in a story for BusinessNewsDaily. She suggests that couples keep to schedules that allow them to spend time together and get away from it all when they can. She also suggests that the non-entrepreneur in the relationship develop his or her own outside interests.

“Understand how your dreamer thinks,” suggests another writer for wikiHow. “Dreamers are ideas people. They always have a new one. It doesn’t mean that they are going to sell everything and go start that bed and breakfast out in the wilderness. They are just expressing a thought. It’s like exercising a muscle. They work out that muscle every day. So don’t freak out. You never know when that one idea is the one that brings success.”

The blog marriedtoanentrepreneur.com offers similar advice: “As spouses of entrepreneurs, we don’t want to kill the dream (or the dreamer for that matter). We don’t want to be the reason that someone, aka our entrepreneur, doesn’t achieve their potential. We don’t want to thwart their passion or creativity or talent, BUT we would like some piece of mind when it comes to being able to afford groceries next week, let alone college in 5 years.”

Writing for Forbes magazine earlier this year, Anson Sowby owner of an advertising agency called Rocket XL, takes the advice to a whole other level by pointing out the advantages of two entrepreneurs marring one another, based on his experience with wife Ro Cysne, co-founder of JilRo clothing.

Sowby writes that he and his wife benefit from such things as networking together, mutual motivation, short commutes and being each other’s sounding board.

Two entrepreneurs under the same roof: I kinda like that. Of course, my wife might have a different opinion…

I draw that conclusion from an article that appeared in an education blog of The New York Times that ran shortly after Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs died. Reporter Shannon Doyne asked students “Who is Your Role Model?” and offered Jobs as well as pop singer Kelly Clarkson as examples of people worth emulating.

But when the students were asked to comment, the majority of respondents listed their role models as mom, dad, grandma, grandfather, sister, brother and teachers.

There’s something heartening about that. As a father of two boys, 6 and 4, I certainly hope I am a role model for them and I take that responsibility very seriously. But even though parents can be role models in your formative years and might even continue to be throughout your life, as you get older the people you admire can change. Certainly media can be a big influence as new leaders, artists, entrepreneurs, scholars and professionals come to the fore.

What qualities are important in a role model? And what makes them worthy of the designation? Lots of celebrities are idolized, but how many really deserve the adulation?

And nobody’s perfect. We all can’t be a Gandhi or Mother Teresa. So, perhaps in choosing a role model it’s better to look up to various people who excel at different things. A role model shouldn’t be just someone you hold in high esteem, but a person after whom you would want to pattern your life.

I have always been inspired by very successful people within specific categories. If I wanted to improve on a particular section of my life I would read a book on someone that was successful in that area, whether it would be in business, family, health & fitness, entrepreneurship, or life’s other endeavors.

Qualities such as intelligence, leadership, philanthropy, courage, humility and grace are certainly traits one might want to look for in a role model. Brad Pitt isn’t just a good-looking actor, he’s also interested in helping humanity, as he did by providing new housing for New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina. Hillary Clinton showed leadership as a First Lady and went on to become a U.S. Senator and inspired girls and women all over the world as Secretary of State. Muhammad Ali, a beloved athlete once considered to be the most famous person in the world, has used his fame to help other people with Parkinson’s disease by founding the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center.

So it’s not just being a celebrity that makes a person role model-worthy, but what they do with their celebrity to teach, contribute and improve the human condition. They should inspire greatness in others, but earn their admiration.

And even though it’s nice to know, as a parent, that children still honor their mothers and their fathers, we can’t forget that peers can be role models as well; and it’s important to talk with kids about specific traits they like in the heroes they respect and want to imitate.

A few years ago, Forbes took a look at role models under the age of 18; and along with the names of actors, singers and athletes was Hunter Stewart, then 8 years old. He was a regular little kid with one extraordinary exception: When his mom was diagnosed in 2007 with cancer he did what he knew best — racing trophy karts, off-road trucks that usually run on motocross tracks — to raise awareness for the disease, donate money to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, and inspire thousands of others to do the same.

I certainly wouldn’t mind if one of my boys said to me, “When I grow up, I want to be just like him.”