Page 153 - stephen covey The seven habits of highly effective people

THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE Brought to you by FlyHeart

So I practice Habit 4. I come to you and I say, "I can see that we're approaching this situation
differently. Why don't we agree to communicate until we can find a solution we both feel good about.
Would you be willing to do that?" Most people would be willing to say "yes" to that.
Then I move to Habit 5. "Let me listen to you first." Instead of listening with intent to reply, I listen
empathically in order to deeply, thoroughly understand your paradigm. When I can explain your
point of view as well as you can, then I focus on communicating my point of view to you so that you
can understand it as well.
Based on the commitment to search for a solution that we both feel good about and a deep
understanding of each other's points of view, we move to Habit 6. We work together to produce Third
Alternative solutions to our differences that we both recognize are better than the ones either you or I
proposed initially.
Success in Habits 4, 5, and 6 is not primarily a matter of intellect; it's primarily a matter of emotion.
It's highly related to our sense of personal security.
If our personal security comes from sources within ourselves, then we have the strength to practice
the habits of Public Victory. If we are emotionally insecure, even though we may be intellectually very
advanced, practicing Habits 4, 5, and 6 with people who think differently on jugular issues of life can be
terribly threatening.
Where does intrinsic security come from? It doesn't come from the scripts they've handed us. It
doesn't come from our circumstances or our position.
It comes from within. It comes from accurate paradigms and correct principles deep in our own
mind and heart. It comes from Inside-Out congruence, from living a life of integrity in which our daily
habits reflect our deepest values.
I believe that a life of integrity is the most fundamental source of personal worth. I do not agree
with the popular success literature that says that self-esteem is primarily a matter of mindset, of attitude
-- that you can psyche yourself into peace of mind.
Peace of mind comes when your life is in harmony with true principles and values and in no other
way.
There is also the intrinsic security that comes as a result of effective interdependent living. There is
security in knowing that win-win solutions do exist, that life is not always "either/or," that there are
almost always mutually beneficial Third Alternatives. There is security in knowing that you can step
out of your own frame of reference without giving it up, that you can really, deeply understand another
human being. There is security that comes when you authentically, creatively, and cooperatively
interact with other people and really experience these interdependent habits.
There is intrinsic security that comes from service, from helping other people in a meaningful way.
One important source is your work, when you see yourself in a contributive and creative mode, really
making a difference. Another source is anonymous service -- no one knows it and no one necessarily
ever will. And that's not the concern; the concern is blessing the lives of other people. Influence, not
recognition, becomes the motive.
Viktor Frankl focused on the need for meaning and purpose in our lives, something that transcends
our own lives and taps the best energies within us. The late Dr. Hans Selye, in his monumental
research on stress, basically says that a long, healthy, and happy life is the result of making
contributions, of having meaningful projects that are personally exciting and contribute to and bless the
lives of others. His ethic was "earn thy neighbor's love.
This is the true joy in life -- that being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one.
That being a force of nature, instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances
complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my
life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. For the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for