Stephen Covey wrote a book I would like to read yearly, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Private victory leading to public victory is something I find that I am constantly needing to work on.
But although the concepts are helpful for living effective lives, his ideas are not new, and were laid out in the Bible (of course). I was pleased when I stumbled upon the private/public victory model in the New Testament.
2 Pet 1:5-8, "...make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindsness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective..."
Covey starts with world view being rooted in essential values, real character.
Like faith. We base our world view on the unchanging, perfect character of God. He is the author of our faith and thus the essence of our worldview.
Covey then discusses being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, and putting first things first, habits of private victory. A lot like goodness, knowledge, self-control and perseverance.
Then he moves into interdependence, or public victory. Think win/win, to seek first to understand, then to be understood, and to synergize (creative cooperation). i.e. godliness, brotherly kindness and love.
I love it when I can find interesting connections in the world, and this was a moment of enjoyable discovery. Now if I could just practice these habits/make every effort to add to my faith...
1 comment:
Cool thoughts -- I totally agree.
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