Page 163 - stephen covey The seven habits of highly effective people

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

complex situation, and that I couldn't hope to change it until I had armed myself with the necessary
psychological and intellectual capacity. My contemplation of life and human nature in that secluded
place had taught me that he who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to
change reality, and will never, therefore, make any progress.
Change -- real change -- comes from the Inside-Out. It doesn't come from hacking at the leaves of
attitude and behavior with quick-fix personality ethic techniques. It comes from striking at the root --
the fabric of our thought, the fundamental, essential paradigms, which give definition to our character
and create the lens through which we see the world. In the words of Amiel:
Moral truth can be conceived in thought. One can have feelings about it. One can will to live it.
But moral truth may have been penetrated and possessed in all these ways, and escape us still. Deeper
even than consciousness there is our being itself -- our very substance, our nature. Only those truths
which have entered into this last region, which have become ourselves, become spontaneous and
involuntary as well as voluntary, unconscious as well as conscious, are really our life -- that is to say,
something more than property. So long as we are able to distinguish any space whatever between
Truth and us we remain outside it. The thought, the feeling, the desire or the consciousness of life may
not be quite life. To become divine is then the aim of life. Then only can truth be said to be ours
beyond the possibility of loss. It is no longer outside us, nor in a sense even in us, but we are it, and it
is we.
Achieving unity -- oneness -- with ourselves, with our loved ones, with our friends and working
associates, is the highest and best and most delicious fruit of the Seven Habits. Most of us have tasted
this fruit of true unity from time to time in the past, as we have also tasted the bitter, lonely fruit of
disunity -- and we know how precious and fragile unity is.
Obviously building character of total integrity and living the life of love and service that creates such
unity isn't easy. It isn't quick fix.
But it's possible. It begins with the desire to center our lives on correct principles, to break out of
the paradigms created by other centers and the comfort zones of unworthy habits.
Sometimes we make mistakes, we feel awkward. But if we start with the Daily Private Victory and
work from the Inside-Out, the results will surely come. As we plant the seed and patiently weed and
nourish it, we begin to feel the excitement of real growth and eventually taste the incomparably
delicious fruits of a congruent, effective life.
Again, I quote Emerson: "That which we persist in doing becomes easier -- not that the nature of the
task has changed, but our ability to do has increased."
By centering our lives on correct principles and creating a balanced focus between doing and
increasing our ability to do, we become empowered in the task of creating effective, useful, and
peaceful lives...for ourselves, and for our posterity.

A Personal Note

As I conclude this book, I would like to share my own personal conviction concerning what I believe
to be the source of correct principles. I believe that correct principles are natural laws, and that God,
the Creator and Father of us all, is the source of them, and also the source of our conscience. I believe
that to the degree people live by this inspired conscience, they will grow to fulfill their natures; to the
degree that they do not, they will not rise above the animal plane.
I believe that there are parts to human nature that cannot be reached by either legislation or
education, but require the power of God to deal with. I believe that as human beings, we cannot
perfect ourselves. To the degree to which we align ourselves with correct principles, divine
endowments will be released within our nature in enabling us to fulfill the measure of our creation. In