Page 74 - Stephen R. Covey - The 7 Habits of Highly Eff People.pdf
P. 74
WISDOM
You see the world in terms of "believers" and "non-believers," "belongers" and "non-
belongers.
POWER
Perceived power comes from your church position or role.
* * *
If you are Self-Centered...
SECURITY
Your security is constantly changing and shifting.
GUIDANCE
Your judgment criteria are: "If it feels good..." "What I want." "What I need." "What's in it
for me?
WISDOM
You view the world by how decisions, events, or circumstances will affect you.
POWER
Your ability to act is limited to your own resources, without the benefits of
interdependency.
More often than not, a person's center is some combination of these and/or other centers.
Most people are very much a function of a variety of influences that play upon their lives.
Depending on external or internal conditions, one particular center may be activated until
the underlying needs are satisfied. Then another center becomes the compelling force.
As a person fluctuates from one center to another, the resulting relativism is like roller
coasting through life. One moment you're high, the next moment you're low, making
efforts to compensate for one weakness by borrowing strength from another weakness.
There is no consistent sense of direction, no persistent wisdom, no steady power supply
or sense of personal, intrinsic worth and identity.
The ideal, of course, is to create one clear center from which you consistently derive a
high degree of security, guidance, wisdom, and power, empowering your proactivity and
giving congruency and harmony to every part of your life.
A Principle Center
By centering our lives on correct principles, we create a solid foundation for development
of the four life-support factors
Our security comes from knowing that, unlike other centers based on people or things
which are subject to frequent and immediate change, correct principles do not change.
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