Seven habits of highly effective people - Stephen R. Covey [53]
Principles always have natural consequences attached to them. There are positive consequences when we live in harmony with the principles. There are negative consequences when we ignore them. But because these principles apply to everyone, whether or not they are aware, this limitation is universal. And the more we know of correct principles, the greater is our personal freedom to act wisely.
By centering our lives on timeless, unchanging principles, we create a fundamental paradigm of effective living. It is the center that puts all other centers in perspective. If you are Principle Centered...
SECURITY
Your security is based on correct principles that do not change, regardless of external conditions or circumstances.
You know that true principles can repeatedly be validated in your own life, through your own experiences.
As a measurement of self-improvement, correct principles function with exactness, consistency, beauty and strength.
Correct principles help you understand your own development, endowing you with the confidence to learn more, thereby increasing your knowledge and understanding.
Your source of security provides you with an immovable, unchanging, unfailing core enabling you to see change as an exciting adventure and opportunity to make significant contributions.
GUIDANCE
You are guided by a compass which enables you to see where you want to go and how you will get there.
You use accurate data which makes your decisions both implementable and meaningful. You stand apart from life's situations, and circumstances and look at the balanced whole. Your decisions and actions reflect both short and long-term considerations and implications. In every situation, you consciously, proactively determine the best alternative, basing decisions on conscience educated by principles.
WISDOM
Your judgment encompasses a broad spectrum of long-term consequences and reflects a wise balance and quiet assurance.
You see things differently and thus you think and act differently from the largely reactive world. You view the world through a fundamental paradigm for effective, provident living. You see the world in terms of what you can do for the world and its people. You adopt a proactive lifestyle, seeking to serve and build others.
You interpret all of life's experiences in terms of opportunities for learning and contribution.
POWER
Your power is limited only by your understanding and observance of natural law and correct principles and by the natural consequences of the principles themselves. You become a self-aware, knowledgeable, proactive individual, largely unrestricted by the attitudes, behaviors, or actions of others.
Your ability to act reaches far beyond your own resources and encourages highly developed levels of interdependency.
Your decisions and actions are not driven by your current financial or circumstantial limitations. You experience an interdependent freedom.
Remember that your paradigm is the source from which your attitudes and behaviors flow. A paradigm is like a pair of glasses; it affects the way you see everything in your life. If you look at things through the paradigm of correct principles, what you see in life is dramatically different from what you see through any other centered paradigm.
I have included in the Appendix section of this book a detailed chart which shows how each center we've discussed might possibly affect the way you see everything else. But for a quick understanding of the difference your center makes, let's look at just one example of a specific problem as seen through the different paradigms. As you read, try to put on each pair of glasses. Try to feel the response that flows from the different centers.
Suppose tonight you have invited your wife to go to a concert. You have the tickets; she's excited about going. It's four o'clock in the afternoon.
All of a sudden, your boss calls you into his office and says he needs your help through the evening to get ready for an important meeting at 9 A.M. tomorrow.
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