On 1-45

Hi peeps,
Here are my comments on the first 45 pages of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Covey makes a distinction between the Personality Ethic and the Character Ethic. In general, he says good character will lead to success and a "a good life," whereas a personality is often full of facades and falsities. For example, "your attitude determines your altitude." While I think this statement has true value, I also think it's important to point out the hundreds of people who have great, positive attitudes, but are still unsuccessful. Is it better to say, "Yes, I can do it!" and then fail, or say, "No, I probably can't do that," and then fail. A disconnect between what is actually happening and what you think is happening or want to happen will develop. I hate dishonesty, impracticality, and incongruency. Your attitude should match what you can do.

Covey states my point best on page 21: "If I try to use human influence strategies and tactics of how to get other people to do what I want, to work better, to be more motivated, to like me and each other--while my character is fundamentally flawed, marked by duplicity and insincerity--then in the long run, I cannot be successful."

(I would rather hear true criticism than false praise. False praise is one of my largest pet peeves. Do you agree?)

Then, Covey talks about paradigms. "Paradigm" is just a fancy word for "mental map" or "schema"--how you think about the world. We have assumptions in our heads, and our behavior comes from those. CPT Ambrose suggested that I read The Four Agreements last semester, so I did. This book talks all about changing agreements you have made with the world (aka assumptions), so that our actions can parallel the better ideas in our heads. You have to make changes from the roots, if you don't like an aspect of your life. Hacking away at the "leaves" does nothing.

Covey says, "Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education" (37). This very Socratic statement makes me think of ROTC, MS1s in particular. I leave you with this: I believe that there are stupid questions. Sometimes, you should know something that is elementary or that we've been told millions of times, but you don't. However, would you rather look stupid by asking the question, or be stupid by continuing not to know?