This one isn’t quite as good as I had hoped but I’m posting it anyway. Get over it… ; )
Covey divides his 7 habits into three sections. Habits one through three make up the areas of private victory while habits four through six make up the areas of public victory. Finally, the paradigm is completed and contained by sharpening the saw—habit seven. Habits 1 and 2—being proactive and beginning with the end in mind then are areas that affect the inside of the person. The inside of the person, as we learn quickly, is what controls the outside. What is at our center is what will control the actions that we produce (122). Therefore, the first two habits are equally important and foundational within the paradigm of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
Being proactive is a habit that affects our reactions to stimuli. Covey submits with the proactive model that there lies a freedom of choice in between the stimuli attempting to affect our responses (71). This freedom to choose means that we alone are able to choose how we will respond to stimuli. We act in spite of our environments, our genetics, and our friends because, although we “are still influenced by external stimuli, whether physical, social, or psychological,” we are able to make choices based on our values rather than our emotions or other various stimuli (72). That principle-centeredness will come into play and connect proactivity with the second habit of beginning with the end in mind, which I will discuss later, as well.
Being proactive applies widely in life and in ministry. True ministry is only an extension of what is inside of us—of the actions in which we choose to take part. Certainly, God should be our number one influence. However, we have the ability to choose between what is godly and ungodly. Otherwise, there would be no mistakes in ministry and I would not need to be discussing most of the things that could go wrong in my ministry if I were to leave it up to whatever reactions come from within me. Therefore, we must choose, and choose wisely, how we will respond to stimuli in ministry. I would hope that my first reactions would be godly reactions. However, I can ensure and strengthen my ability to respond in a godly fashion by centering myself upon God’s Word, prayer, and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
It is much the same in life. Applying proactivity to your life is difficult because it is so easy simply to give in to stimuli. For example, it is easier to answer sharply and attempt to end a conversation with someone when they are rude or confrontational than to hear their side of the argument and attempt to find a middle ground approach that is win/win. It is easier to continue eating than to exercise will power and stop before you are miserably full. It is easier to give in to temptation than to stand up underneath of it, to give it up to God confessing your sins and temptations to your brothers and sisters until they are no longer temptations. Instead, proactivity pays off in the end usually and rarely can we find ease in it in the here and now unless we look forward to those lasting benefits. Proactivity is an everyday struggle (at least for me). It takes time—a lifetime, in fact—but is the only perceivable way that I have found thus far that allows us to rise above our upbringings and the every day stimuli that cause us to be lived rather than living.
Proactivity is a way of rewriting the things that we can rewrite within our circles of influence (83). However, proactivity is worthless without focus and a goal in mind. With no guide to focus proactive energy in the right direction, we are hard-pressed to see positive results from our proactivity. This is where habit 1 and habit 2, beginning with the end in mind, come into play with one another. Beginning with the end in mind asks of us, “What would we have be the result of our proactivity?” What determines the end, then, is that which is at our center. As Covey suggests, “Whatever is at the center of our life will be the source of our security, guidance, wisdom, and power” (109).
For me, as a follower of Christ, in as far as my center is in God’s Word and the teachings of Christ, I would say that, generally, beginning with the end in mind means living a life that is Christ-like. Covey believes that “principle-centeredness” is the proper way to center ourselves, saying “By centering our lives on correct principles, we create a solid foundation for development of the four life-support factors (security, guidance, wisdom, and power) (122). I have no doubt that my principles should be at the center of my paradigm. But at the center of my principles would be Jesus’ teachings. I do not think that Covey is trying to lead us away from Jesus. I simply believe that what he has in mind is something more general. It cannot be above Christ because Christ is above all. I do not mean to be critical, only to define my own principles, as Covey would have me do.
As man, a soon-to-be husband, a son, a Christian, and a minister I define myself with Christ. At my center is Jesus, not simply a principle but the Prince of Peace. My security is in his blood—in knowing that I am saved by his faithful grace through his death burial and resurrection. My guidance is in his teaching—the word of God—which is also where my wisdom is found. My wisdom also comes from his Holy Spirit that also happens to guide me (guidance and wisdom both being related in my own understanding). Finally, my strength and power is in God. Inasmuch as I am able, God has enabled me.
It is not my intent to change the focus of the 7 habits, merely to focus them for my own purposes. I believe I can appropriate the first two habits within a biblical paradigm without compromising them. However, I would much rather compromise Covey’s teachings than those of Jesus. I do not mean to sound arrogant, merely proactive and to begin with the end in mind. I wish to proactively choose to place the Word of God at my center and to aim for living a God-honoring life as a follower of Christ and a minister.
