Page 57 - stephen covey The seven habits of highly effective people

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

enemy-centered paranoia. The individual has no power. Other people are pulling the strings.
Church Centeredness. I believe that almost anyone who is seriously involved in any church will
recognize that churchgoing is not synonymous with personal spirituality. There are some people who
get so busy in church worship and projects that they become insensitive to the pressing human needs
that surround them, contradicting the very precepts they profess to believe deeply. There are others
who attend church less frequently or not at all but whose attitudes and behavior reflect a more genuine
centering in the principles of the basic Judeo-Christian ethic.
Having participated throughout my life in organized church and community service groups, I have
found that attending church does not necessarily mean living the principles taught in those meetings.
You can be active in a church but inactive in its gospel.
In the church-centered life, image or appearance can become a person's dominant consideration,
leading to hypocrisy that undermines personal security and intrinsic worth. Guidance comes from a
social conscience, and the church-centered person tends to label others artificially in terms of "active,"
"inactive," "liberal," "orthodox," or "conservative."
Because the church is a formal organization made up of policies, programs, practices, and people, it
cannot by itself give a person any deep, permanent security or sense of intrinsic worth. Living the
principles taught by the church can do this, but the organization alone cannot.
Nor can the church give a person a constant sense of guidance. Church-centered people often tend
to live in compartments, acting and thinking and feeling in certain ways on the Sabbath and in totally
different ways on weekdays. Such a lack of wholeness or unity or integrity is a further threat to
security, creating the need for increased labeling and self-justifying.
Seeing the church as an end rather than as a means to an end undermines a person's wisdom and
sense of balance. Although the church claims to teach people about the source of power, it does not
claim to be that power itself. It claims to be one vehicle through which divine power can be channeled
into man's nature.
Self-Centeredness. Perhaps the most common center today is the self. The most obvious form is
selfishness, which violates the values of most people. But if we look closely at many of the popular
approaches to growth and self-fulfillment, we often find self-centering at their core.
There is little security, guidance, wisdom, or power in the limited center of self. Like the Dead Sea
in Palestine, it accepts but never gives. It becomes stagnant.
On the other hand, paying attention to the development of self in the greater perspective of
improving one's ability to serve, to produce, to contribute in meaningful ways, gives context for
dramatic increase in the four life-support factors
These are some of the more common centers from which people approach life. It is often much
easier to recognize the center in someone else's life than to see it in your own. You probably know
someone who puts making money ahead of everything else. You probably know someone whose
energy is devoted to justifying his or her position in an ongoing negative relationship. If you look, you
can sometimes see beyond behavior into the center that creates it.

Identifying Your Center

But where do you stand? What is at the center of your own life? Sometimes that isn't easy to see
Perhaps the best way to identify your own center is to look closely at your life-support factors. If
you can identify with one or more of the descriptions below, you can trace it back to the center from
which it flows, a center which may be limiting your personal effectiveness.
If you are Spouse Centered...
SECURITY
Your feelings of security are based on the way your spouse treats you.