Center
on
Principles Stephen R. Covey
Real
character development begins with the humble recognition
that we are not in
charge, that
principles ultimately govern. I don''t talk much about ethics and
values because to me those words imply situational behaviors, subjective
beliefs, social mores, cultural norms, or relative truths. I prefer to talk
about universal principles and natural laws that are more absolute. You may
think that it''s just a matter of semantics and that when most people talk about
values they really mean these universal principles. But I see a clear
difference between principles and values. Hitler was value-driven; Saddam
Hussein is value-driven. Every person and organization is driven by what they
value, by they aren''t necessarily ethical or principle-centered.
The Humility of Principles
The
key to quality of life is to be centered on principles. We''re not in control;
principles are. We''re arrogant when we think we are in control. Yes, we may
control our actions, but not the consequences of our actions. Those are
controlled by natural laws. Building character and creating quality of life is
a function of aligning our beliefs and behaviors with universal principles.
These principles are impersonal, external, factual, objective, and self-evident.
They operate regardless of our awareness of them, or our obedience to them. Most
of the people recognize the power of principles when they face real existential
crises: your job''s on the line; your marriage is threatened;
or your doctor told you have just a few months to live. In the absence of such
a catalytic crisis, we tend to live in numbed complacency so busy doing good,
easy, or routine things that we don''t even stop to ask ourselves if we''re doing
what really matters. Humility is the mother of all virtues: the humble in
spirit progress and are blessed because they willingly submit to higher powers
and try to live in harmony with natural laws. Courage is the father of all
virtues; we need great courage to lead our lives by correct principles. When we
set up our own value systems, no derived of principles, and live by them, we
tend to become laws unto ourselves, proud and independent. Pride hopes to
impress; humility seeks to bless. Just because we value a thing doesn''t mean
that having it will enhance our quality of life. Pride comes and goes before
the fall. In Pride, we often sow one thing and expect to reap another. Many of
our paradigms and the processes and habits that grow out of them never produce
the results we expect because they are based on illusions. Quality of life
can''t grow out of illusion. So how do we align our lives with "true
north" realities that govern quality of life?
Four Human Endowments
As human beings, we have four unique
endowments: self-awareness, conscience, independent will, and creative
imagination that not only separate us from the animal world, but also help us
to distinguish between reality and illusion.
Self-Awareness: Help us to examine our paradigms,
to look at the lenses for which we see the world as well as through them, to
evaluate our own thoughts; it puts us aware of the cultural, environmental,
genetics and psychological programming existent inside us.
Conscience: Connect us with some thing inside
us deeper than our thoughts and some thing outside us more reliable than our
values. It’s a internal system guide that allows us to feel the right and the
wrong, the good and the bad. To feel the value contained in such principles as
integrity, honesty, kindness, respect, service, contribution, unconditional love,
justice, fidelity, kindness, patience, empathy.
Independent Will: It’s our capacity to act, to
transcend our paradigms, to swim upstream, to re-write our scripts, to act
based on principles rather than reacting basotions, and
circumstances.
Creative Imagination: Empower us to create a new
reality, to visualize a future state, to dream, to live by the imagination
rather than memory. Memory is finite, it’s the past. Imagination is infinite.
Nurturing
Our Unique Gifts
Enhancing these endowments requires
us to nurture and exercise them continuously. Do that once a while isn''t
enough. It''s too superficial. It''s like a meal. Yesterday''s meal will not
satisfy today''s hunger.
Here are
four ways to nurture your unique endowments:
1. Nurture
self-awareness by keeping a personal journal.
2. Educate your conscience
by asking with intent, listening without excuse, responding with courage. It’s mean to say “do what is
correct, do the right thing, do what’s best, what’s honored, without
rationalizations, without excuses.
3. Nurture
independent will by making and keeping promises.
4. Develop creative
imagination through visualization.
Roots
Yield Fruits
With the humility that comes from
being principle-centered, we can better learn from the past, have hope for the
future, and act with confidence, not arrogance, in the present. Arrogance is
the lack of self-awareness; blindness; an illusion; a false form of
self-confidence; and a false sense that we''re somehow above the laws of life.
Real confidence is anchored in a quiet assurance that if we act based on
principles, we will produce quality-of-life results. Our security is not based
on our possessions, positions, credentials, or on comparisons with others;
rather, it flows from our own integrity to "true north" principles.