Covey on Pride

You may have heard of or even read Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. 

Here, he contrasts Pride with its arch-nemesis, Humility. Think as he compares values with principles. Both are important, but which one wins in the end?

What is a principle, anyway? A Principle is not a rule that we choose to follow or break. Instead, a principle is something that is true, and it applies itself to our life whether we want it to or not. We can reject values, but not principles. While values GUIDE our behavior, principles GOVERN the consequences of our behavior. We may be free, in our pride, to make any choice in our life that feels right or just, but we are not free from the consequences of those choices.

I’ve been talking with several of my coworkers about this. Think of every activity in your life as being covered by two terms: Patterns and Pastimes. Anything you do at work, home, or play, can be covered by these two terms. But instead of thinking about them as simply patterns and pastimes - those things that are part of your regular rhythm of life, or the things that you do every day to past time - think about them as Pathways. Pathways leading you somewhere. Those Patterns and Pastimes, in fact, are Pathways, taking you somewhere, whether you like it or not. Some of them are good habits, and some of them are fun now, but have no potentially positive outcome in the end.

Knowing this, we must - in Humility - make the choices that take us where we want to ultimately end up. For some patterns and pastimes, we must lay down our Pride, realizing that they are taking us somewhere we don’t want to end up, understanding that we have no control over the principle that everything is a Pathway somewhere. Once we do this, we are free. Free from the governance of Pride. Free to live in wisdom. Free to live in the blessing that Wisdom brings.

Pride Exposed, Day 5. #prideexposed #stephenrcovey #7habits