The Learning Center

The Paradigm in Practice- A Success Story

va_johnm — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:17:12 +0000

For organizations and humans to be successful development of all four parts of nature are necessary. Each part, the spirit, body, mind and heart must develop in unison for harmony and growth.

In his book “The 8th Habit” Stephen Covey illustrates the descriptive power of this paradigm.
Covey remembers once having a visit with the top executives of a large organization and asking them about their mission statement. Hearing this they pulled it out with little hesitation. It basically said, “Our goal is to increase the assets of the owners,” Covey further asked them that they were putting it on the wall in order to inspire their employees and customers. They smiled and answered that the statement hanging on the wall was different but their aim was the above statement.

Even though Covey was just becoming familiar with their industry and company, he said, “Why don’t I tell you what your corporate culture is like. You’re split apart. If your industry is unionized, you are plagued with labour disputes. You’re hovering over, checking up, and carrot-n-sticking your employees to do their jobs. There’s an enormous amount of negative energy spent in interpersonal conflict, interdepartmental rivalries, hidden agendas and political games.”

They were stunned by Covey’s fortune-telling skills and asked him how he knew so much about them and described them so perfectly.

Covey answered them that he didn’t need to know much about the industry or about them. He just needed to know about the human nature. He further said that the focus is on only one of the four parts of our nature and that is body and on only one stake holders-the owners. The other three parts which is mind, heart, spirit and all other stakeholders have to be neglected and that can’t be done without suffering terrible consequences. Covey further predicted that when this meeting is dispersed, half of the people will talk about the other half. No trust is present and disloyalty is apparent. They were considered successful organization and were disappointed but surprised by the precision of the observations. The truth is we could never succeed with stock holders until we first succeed in the market place, and we could never succeed in the market place until we first succeed in the work place.

They asked Covey what they could do for changing it.

He replied by saying that we have to work on all four parts and involve everyone’s mind so that people get on the same song sheet. For developing the foundation of trust on which the song sheet has to be built, we have to live by the principles of fair play, sincerity and truthfulness. He wants us to use this criteria personified in our vision and values to lead all calculated, structural and effective decisions. We must create the conditions of both personal and organizational trust before we would get any true empowerment, leadership or release of human potential. His suggestion for them was that they might even begin by developing a mission statement for their own executive team.

They asked Covey how long would these things take.

He asked them,” How bad are you hurting?”

They replied “Not very bad.”

By hearing their answer Covey told them that they probably won’t be able to achieve it. Enough pain, enough force of circumstance, and enough modesty was not there so his suggestion for them was to forget the entire project.

Though they replied yes, they told Covey that they have heard positive things happening at the places he worked before. They have a sense of fear that the competition is becoming tough and because of that they had to face struggles on the horizon. They need help and want to make changes.

Covey suggested that if they were truly sincere and would really work together, they could make these changes; but it would probably take two or three years or more.

One remarked, “You don’t know how fast and efficient we are.” Referring to the idea of producing an improved mission statement, he continued, we’ll whip this baby out this weekend.” In other words, he was thinking they could go off site for some kind of vision workshop and develop a mission statement with new purple phrases that would be more appealing to the people.

Gradually these executives came to see that short-term thinking and short-cut techniques would never produce the long term results they desired. Slowly they came to grips with the underlying chronic issues, starting with themselves, and developed great respect for all four parts of human nature. They eventually came to see that leadership was everybody’s business, and that each person needed to take an inside-out approach.

The organization strengthened itself from the roots. It took three to four years. In the end, they had such strength, such levels of empowerment and trust that they were able to deal with the vigorous new competition that emerged and also maintain their successful patterns in the market place. Many of the top executives took CEO positions outside the Company, but the organization’s culture and bench strength were so deep that the Company continued growing profitably.

No matter how efficient or skilled you may be or how high technologic advantage your organization has over others unless the body, mind, spirit and heart are given their due share of importance, there can only be a short term illusion of development and organizations will be stricken by internal strife and discord. The path to trust and whole development is not easy but attainable as was seen in the case cited.

All the best,

John Meredith

The Learning Center - A UK partner of FranklinCovey

Four Chronic Problems and Their Acute Symptoms

va_johnm — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:14:45 +0000

Stephen Covey presents an organizational model which he calls the Whole-Person Paradigm (including the four areas of choice, body, mind, heart and spirit) with a proper understanding of which we can easily avoid the four chronic problems of low-trust(spirit), disempowerment (heart), misalignment ( body)and differences in vision( mind).

An accurate paradigm’s power lies in its ability to explain and foretell. An unusual ability to describe, foretell and identify the greatest problems in life and organization would be given to us if this Whole-Person paradigm of human nature is accurate. This paradigm will help us not only in making ourselves aware of the acute symptoms of the problems but also in seeing the basic chronic “root” causes. With the help of this paradigm we can resolve most of our problems and be influential in creating an organization that has a high performance and is able to focus on and execute its priorities.

When an organization neglects the mind, body, heart and spirit of its people this Whole-Person paradigm gives the capacity to see both the chronic and acute problems that arise due to their negligence.
Covey says that this same thinking is applied to a team, a family, a community or any relationship. It is worth trying to understand and identify each problem distinctively.

Whole person Organizational Model:
Mind -Spirit- Heart - Body

Stephen Covey starts with spirit. If the conscience or spirit is ignored consistently by an organization, this will result in low trust. This is the foremost chronic problem faced by all organizations. The acute and painful symptoms of spitefulness, internal strife, victimism, defensiveness, information hoarding and defensive, protective communication are all present in low-trust organizations which work in tough market conditions.

The second chronic problem would arise when you have no shared vision or common value system. This happens when we neglect the mind or vision in an organization. Under these conditions we can see people acting with hidden plans, playing bad political games and using different criteria in decision making. We will find chaos and confusion everywhere.

The third problem shows up when there is negligence of discipline in the body politic (skeletal, structure, systems, and processes). There would be no discipline built in the organization’s structures, systems, processes and culture if there is no execution or systemic support behind the priorities of the organization. When managers don’t have complete understanding of human nature paradigm they plan systems -including communication, recruitment, selection, placement, liability, promotion, training and development and information systems that fail to utilize the complete potential of the people. There will be no unity among the individuals, teams, departments and they will have no mission, values and strategy. This will result in misalignment with the market place, customers and suppliers outside the organization.

Due to this misalignment low faith, more politics and interdepartmental rivalry would be created. When things go out of control the managers replaces human judgment by rules to bring things under control. Administration, hierarchies, rules and regulations will become like prostheses for trust. Interactions and discussions on issues like leadership development will be regarded as unrealistic, wasteful and costly. Manpower will become more of a liability than a resource. People will become more dependent on instructions. This will lead the so-called formal-leaders to believe that the use of force and pressure to extract work is mandatory. It is a self-placatory prophecy. Controlling people leads to the suppression of the true voice or passions of people which are otherwise volunteered.

The fourth problem happens when we neglect the heart. If we do not listen to our heart there will be no passion, no emotional connection to the goals, enthusiasm or commitment inside the organization. This would lead to profound disempowerment of the people. A great deal of moonlighting, day dreaming, dullness, distraction, anger, fear, laziness and nasty disobedience would be found.

The four chronic problems in an organization that arise when body, mind, heart or spirit is neglected are low trust, no shared vision and values, misalignment and disempowerment.
The combined result of these chronic problems and their symptoms is the severe pain of collapse in the market place, negative cash flow, low quality, increased costs, stiffness, sluggishness, and a culture of shifting the blame.

Stephen Covey urges us to think back about the film Max & Max in which we will be able to recognize each of these four chronic problems.

When the spirit, mind, body and heart which are the four indispensable parts of human nature are neglected, problems become inevitable. This theory applies equally to relationships as well as organizations. These problems usually result in low trust, no vision, misalignment and disempowerment which finally leads to the failure in the achievement of organizational goals.

All the best,

John Meredith

The Learning Center - A UK partner of FranklinCovey

Chronic and Acute Problems

va_johnm — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:12:03 +0000

Like human beings, organizations may have chronic problems that have not yet become acute. Symptoms of the problems are not visible till the problem becomes acute due to stress or tough conditions.

The physical body and organizations have two kinds of problems, chronic and acute. Chronic means original, informal, systematic and acute means agonizing, suggestive, and devastating. Organizations, like people, can have chronic problems that are not yet acute.

In his book “The 8th Habit” Stephen Covey tells us about his interesting experience illustrating this point. He had a friend who specialized in cardiovascular medicines and was the head of surgery at a hospital in Detroit. Covey asked his friend if he could spend a day in the hospital watching surgeries. He had a great experience there. During one of the surgeries which his friend performed, he replaced three vessels. After his friend’s completion of the surgery, Covey asked his friend the reason for replacing and not just cleaning the vessels.

His friend explained Covey in layman’s language, “In the earlier stages you can do that, but over time, the plaque builds up until it eventually becomes part of the content of the wall itself.”

Further Covey asked his friend whether the man was fine as he has now corrected those three places. His friend replied that the man’s problem was chronic and it will always be with him through out his life. He told Covey to make a notice that the man was an exerciser. Due to his habit of doing exercise he had developed supplemental circulation that provides sufficient oxygen to his muscles but there was no supplementation to those three occluded vessels. The man could have suffered from heart attack and stroke if there had been a blood clot. He has extensive chronic heart disease.

All chronic conditions don’t have acute symptoms. Before the first acute symptoms ever appear, diseases such as cancer can spread until it’s too late. If symptoms are not seen, it doesn’t mean basic problems are not there. People suffer from heart attack due to a sudden strain even when earlier symptoms were not known. They don’t realize it until these stress conditions show acute symptoms.

Organizations also face the same problem. We can have serious chronic problems in an organization that show no acute signs because there is not enough competition or a tough environment. They may be operating in a local, protected market and therefore may be relatively successful. This makes them complacent. It takes great leadership with foresight to be able to recognize a problem even when symptoms are not seen.

Covey witnessed an operation and realised that unless chronic problems in human beings or organizations are resolved in time they are likely to become acute or even life threatening

All the best,

John Meredith

The Learning Center - A UK partner of FranklinCovey

Global Seismic Shifts

va_johnm — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:09:33 +0000

Organizations must develop better ways of competition. Latest technologies are changing the markets every day. Customers are getting much better alternatives and choices and have become extremely demanding and selective.

In his book “The 8th Habit” Stephen Covey lists seven seismic shifts that are hallmarks of the new knowledge worker age:

• The Globalization of Markets and Technologies: New technologies are changing the local, regional and national markets into global markets without borders.
• The Emergence of Universal Connectivity: In the book Blown to Bits, Evans and Wurster state, “The narrow, hard-wired, and proprietary communication channels that bound people or companies together have become obsolete almost over night. And with them, the very business structures that created or exploited those channels have also become obsolete. In short, the glue that has traditionally held all of our economic activities together is rapidly melting in the heart of universal connectivity. And this will separate the flow of information from the flow of things for the first time in history.”
• The Democratization of Information/Expectations: Internet is free with no one managing it. For the first time in history the pure voice of the human spirit appears in millions of unedited conversations unfettered by borders. Real time information shapes expectations and social will, which finally drive the political will that affects every person.
• An exponential increase in Competition: A competitor having potential can be empowered by internet and satellite technologies. Every organization must constantly develop better ways of competing against lower labour prices, lower material costs, faster improvement, greater efficiency and a much higher quality. As there is competition quality, speed and flexibility is increased by companies. We now have to benchmark against “world class.”
• The Movement of Wealth creation from Financial Capital to Intellectual and social capital: The wealth creation has changed from money to people-from financial capital to the notion of human capital (both intellectual and social). More than two-thirds of the value added to today’s products comes from knowledge work; twenty years ago it was less than one-third.
• Free Agency: More and more options and alternatives available to people than before. People are more aware of their choices. Knowledge workers will resist management efforts to label them, and they are increasingly determined to brand themselves.
• Permanent White Water: We live in a constantly changing environment. In this turbulent age, every single person must independently understand the purpose and guiding principles of the team or organisation. If you try to manage and lead them, they won’t even hear you. The urgency of all the dynamic challenges they face will simply be too great.

We’ve developed a short film that describes the turbulent conditions and complexity we now live in. It contrasts the past and the present and points to three constants we can rely on in dealing with the challenges. You may view the film now by going to
www.The 8th Habit.com/offers and selecting permanent white water from the films menu.

The surroundings in which we live are changing every day. People are able to make better choices due to a large number of options available to them. The value of today’s product comprises of an increasing proportion of knowledge work.

All the best,

John Meredith

The Learning Center - A UK partner of FranklinCovey

Management and Leadership

va_johnm — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:06:08 +0000

Management and leadership are both important and complementary to each other. You manage things but you lead only people.
Many books and articles have been published in the last few years on leadership which highlights its importance. It is an enabling art. Like medicine it helps people to get well but harms them like medicine if it is a bad leadership. It is the one of the higher forms of arts because it helps even artists and professionals.
Stephen Covey has spent a lifetime studying, teaching and writing on both leadership and management. He has compiled the literature review of leadership theories and statements from leading authors and summarized his findings as shown below in the relative qualities of both.
Covey is convinced that both management and leadership are important and complementary to each other. There have been occasions when he has overemphasized leadership neglecting the importance of management. It has become clear to him that most organizations and families are highly over managed and desperately under led. This disparity has motivated him gap has to focus on principles of leadership. He has however become highly aware that management plays an important part as well.
It is unfortunately true that you can’t “lead” things; you can only lead people. He cites the example of his company turning profitable when he handed over the management of his company to his son Stephen and a team of people with better skills of management. Inventories, cash flow and costs need management. You manage things as they don’t have the power and freedom to choose. You lead people.
Covey’s experiences and teaching have also led him to believe that the real understanding of organizational behaviors is to understand human nature. By doing so, you can unlock the potential of people and organizations. This is exactly why the whole person, the body, mind, heart and spirit - is important to understanding organizations, and individuals. Organizational behavior is only individual behavior collectivized in organizations.
We are all related to organizations, including that of the family which often have problems most of which are about the same. Peter Drucker said that problems in organizations are problems and are almost always the same.
The aim of Stephen Covey is to inspire others to find their voice, by working and struggling to solve their personal challenges and problems.
You will need a whole-person view to understand and solve the problems you face in your organization. You need to understand what Einstein said that the solution of problems lies on entirely different plane than in which it was created.
Covey also quotes Oliver Wendell Holmes who said, that our significant challenges cannot be solved with simplistic little quick-fix programs, slogans and formulas. We must understand root of the problems we face. A combination of KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, and SKILL- the three elements of HABIT- will enable you to face the new challenges of the new world. You will have developed the 8th Habit that unleashes human potential.
We can understand organizations if we try to understand the people who form the organization. We have to understand the whole person and unlock his potential by inspiring him to find his inner voice.
All the best,
John Meredith
The Learning Center - A UK partner of FranklinCovey

Leadership and Organization

va_johnm — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:03:42 +0000

Leadership is one practical way of making people aware of their potential by communicating with them. Grand parents can install good confidence in their grand and great grand children by making them realize their worth and potential.
At the most fundamental and practical level we find that leadership is to make people aware of their worth and potential by communication so that they start seeing it in themselves. Leadership is to set in motion the process of seeing, doing and becoming by communication.
In his book “The 8th Habit” Stephen Covey says that it is interesting to think about and try to define the irreplaceable role of grand parenting. The most important role of grandparents is to communicate in as many ways possible to the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren their worth and potential clearly so that they really believe in themselves and act on their belief. The impacts on the civilization and coming generation would be incredibly outstanding and endless if this spirit prevailed in our culture and society.
Covey urges us to discover in depth perhaps-next to relationships-the most common and continuous means of communicating to people their worth and potential: the organization.
We enter into the domain of relationship as we move now to part 2 of the 8th Habit– Inspire Others to Find Their Voice. Covey says that this is not leadership as a formal position but leadership as a choice to communicate to people their worth and potential so that they can see it in themselves. Four simple points regarding the focus on this kind of leadership in the organization need to be highlighted.
1. An organization is nothing more or less than a relationship with a purpose (its voice). That purpose is aimed at a meeting the needs of stake holders. The simplest organisation is of two people who share a purpose, such as in a simple business partnership or a marriage.
2. Most people belong some organisation or another.
3. Most of the world’s work is done in and through organisations.
4. The biggest challenge in organizations, or families is to set them up and run them in a way that enables each person to inwardly sense his or her inner worth and potential for greatness and to contribute his or her unique talents and passion-in other words, voice-to accomplish the organisation’s purpose and highest priorities in a principles-centered way. This is Leadership Challenge.
Leadership is not an higher position achieved by anyone but it is the choice to make people aware of their abilities and potential. Individuals who have relationship and have a purpose to do something can set up an organization. This organisation has the challenge of making people realize their worth and potential.
All the best,

John Meredith

The Learning Center - A UK partner of FranklinCovey

Challenges faced by a leader in inspiring others

va_johnm — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:49:23 +0000

Leadership is guided by principles and we influence other people through our principles. Covey was inspired to find his voice because of his leader who had more confidence in him than what he himself had.
In his book “The 8th Habit” Stephen Covey says that his experience with a leader profoundly changed rest of his life when he was a young man. Covey had taken break from his education for volunteer service. The invitation came to go to England. Just a few months after his arrival, the president of the organisation said “I have a new assignment for you. I want you to travel around the country and train local leaders.” Hearing this, Covey was shocked as he had to train leaders who were much elder than him. The president said “I have great confidence in you. You can do this. I will give you materials to help you prepare to teach these leaders and to facilitate their sharing best practices with one another.”
Covey felt something unlock within himself by seeing the president’s confidence in him, his ability to see the things more than what the author could see and his readiness to hand over the responsibility to him. Covey accepted the assignment and gave his best. The assignment encouraged him in all ways -physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. He saw himself grow and also others growing and saw the patterns in basic leadership principles.
When he returned back home he knew that this was the work for which he wanted to devote his life: unleashing human potential. He found his voice which was inspired by his leader.
Later he realized that he was not the only one who was treated in such a way. The leader had his belief in others too. He had the ability to unite all of us in vision towards their work that inspired and motivated us. Moreover his pattern of providing them with enabling resources and empowering us as true leaders with responsibility and stewardship became the norm the entire organization. We began to help others in the same way, and the results were remarkable.
Covey further realized the principles of leadership in people are common in any organisation irrespective of their level and position. Covey also learned that leadership influence is guided by principles whether in teaching, in business, university, volunteer, church organizations or in family. When we live by the principles, we influence a lot of people and the moral authority increases which gives us greater formal authority. According to the bible the more we use the talents and gifts given to us, the more they increases. On the other hand if we don’t use them they go unnoticed and undeveloped we would lose them. Therefore by losing talents we lose both influence on others and opportunities.
Talents and gifts are given to each of us and we should use them rather than just wasting and ignoring them. If we live by our principles, we will receive greater moral formal authority.
All the best,

John Meredith

The Learning Center - A UK partner of Franklin Covey

Achieving a Balanced life

va_johnm — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:05:17 +0000

It just takes taking a step away from the humdrum of work and find time to do things that matter most to us. When we do it we realize that we nearly missed what we can never get back.
Most of the surveys indicate that one of the greatest challenges faced by many people is life balance. People are involved and focused so much on their work that they hardly get time out of their work. As a result of this the relationships and activities that are so much treasured by them end up getting neglected. They get addicted to urgency.
In his book “The 8th Habit” Stephen Covey illustrates the case of a man who got caught up in this vortex of urgency. The man took time to think what was important to him (conscience, vision and passion) and then used those attributes creatively to have a balanced life which he desired. The solution came through the synergy with his wife. Here is his true story.
The man always had a special relationship and friendship with his mother. He really wanted to spend time with his mother but couldn’t find time from his own commitments to work and his family. His visits would be very short as no sooner he would come he would think of leaving.
His mother did not complain but he himself wasn’t happy with the situation. So he asked his wife to suggest him a solution to his problem. She suggested him that he should fix a time for each week and they found that Wednesday would be the perfect as his wife had choir practice and that evening became his day for meeting his mother.
His mother now knows exactly when he would be coming and they talk about family, current events and the past memories, go for a walk or sometimes she cooks food for him. Each and every evening which he spends with his mother becomes special in his busy life and he always thanks his wife for her nice suggestion.
This example which indicates to us what can be done if we focus our hearts and minds on the things which matters to us the most and have integrity to do it. Covey decided to increase the special relationship with his mother after the death of his father because of the new emptiness created in her life due to his father’s death. He further decided that even though he had a heavy travel schedule and wherever he would be, he would make a point to call his mother and talk to her everyday for the rest of her life. Even though they lived fifty miles apart he would visit her at least every two weeks. His mother lived for another ten years and every moment spent with her was precious to him.
Family is the greatest way to bring balance to life. The first and most demanding form of personal growth also takes place in the family and provides the greatest contribution to society.
According to David O Mc Kay “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.” The most important leadership responsibility in life which provides the greatest levels of happiness and joy is parenthood. Unhappiness and dissatisfaction is created in life if true leadership which consists of vision, discipline, passion and conscience is not maintained in parenthood.
It is amazing to find that some small adjustments in one’s life along the lines of vision, discipline, passion and conscience can have great consequences. In the future when we look back we may be both shocked and unhappy that we missed the opportunity to get big results because we overlooked to make small changes.
The best test of leadership for the parents is to instill a sense of vision and possibility into the family, to exercise the discipline and sacrifice to make the vision possible, to bear through the hard times with the deep sense of passion, drive and commitment. We would be fulfilled and happy if we pass the vision from generation to generation even if we haven’t achieved anything else. Stephen Covey recalls the heartrending words of John Greenleaf Whittier: “For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: It might have been!” But someone else taught, “It is never too late for us to become what we might have been.”
Vision, discipline and small changes help us achieve big results in life. Our accomplishment in this life is the vision we pass on to the next generation. That, in reality, is our success.
All the best,
John Meredith
The Learning Center - A UK partner of Franklin Covey

What it Takes to Get a job

va_johnm — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:02:23 +0000

To get into shape is an independent effort but getting a job is interdependent and also affected by the influence we have on others.
Stephen Covey recommends looking at the four attributes which are the key of life -vision, discipline, passion and conscience. If we avoid any one of them the difficulty in finding the job increases much more. Even if we get the job we may not be able to sustain it and give our best.
For having a vision we first need to understand the job. For understanding we use discipline. We should also have a clear understanding of the organization for which we want to work and core requirements of the job have to be understood. Further we need to understand the marketplace for the forces that are in place, including competition, customer’s wants and needs and the characteristics and trends in that industry. In other words we have to pay the price for understanding the challenges and problems faced by the organization we want to work for.
After vision and discipline Covey asks us to identify where our passion lies.
After all the groundwork we have done now we are ready to go for the interview not as another problem for the interviewer but as a solution to the problems the decision makers are facing.
We should understand the major problems the organization is facing much better than their present employers. A great level of passion and commitment to solve their problems should be shown. Further we can suggest ourselves to be a trainee at our own cost until they get convinced that we are better solution to their problem than anyone else. We should take the initiative in making good things happen. We should not wait to be told and not always be acted upon. We should be very sensitive, empathic and respectful.
We should also engage in this job-finding process in a right way. We must ensure there is no exaggeration, deception, exploitation, cheating fraudulence or letting other people down. We need to become very focused on the needs of the organization, their problems, and concerns as well as on their customer’s needs and problems.
The person who will take such an approach and preparation for it will grab the attention of the decision-maker. The decision-maker will be greatly impressed by the depth of the preparation and the discipline and will be willing to pay the price and sacrifice.
In his book “The 8th Habit” Stephen Covey says that he had given this advice to many people through the years. Some of them who took it succeeded in getting the job they wanted. The book -”What Color Is Your Parachute?” is recommended by Covey for better understanding of the process.
Preparing to get a job requires vision, discipline and passion and willingness to understand what the needs of the organization are. We need to demonstrate that we have gone to great lengths to understand the characteristics trends and problems of the company and the industry. This will convince the decision maker that we have qualities of leadership, are sincere and will give results.
All the best,
John Meredith
The Learning Center - A UK partner of Franklin Covey

Using Personal Leadership to Solve Challenges

va_johnm — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:59:40 +0000

Motivation for any achievement should come from within. If it doesn’t come from within the results cannot be as expected. For realizing our goals we should not only have discipline but also the vision to make it successful.
Stephen Covey says that most people make resolutions to get into shape by losing weight. This losing weight usually means working out which increasing muscles and decreasing the amount of fat. But this increases the weight instead of reducing it as the muscles weigh much more than fat. However our basic mission is to become physically fit, healthy and strong. This is the vision. Discipline means following a proper schedule of exercise, having a healthy diet and to manage rest as well as stress. The drive to do something, the depth of feeling and the emotional commitment are all represented by passion. Conscience helps us in finding the reason for doing anything. We have to be healthier so that we can live longer, fulfill our family needs, raise our grandchildren and can simply feel better. If the motivation is external, it will lose its command and fail to keep up in the long run. This happens because the cause is not worthy of the commitment made. Before having an unhealthy and unfit food we should tell our inner voice that: “My temptation is emotional, and resisting will further my needed weight loss and strengthen my character. Furthermore, nothing tastes as good as thin feels.”
Many people set up the goal of losing weight but become disheartened and desert this goal half way within days or hours. When this happens most of the people complain of being just not disciplined. According to Covey, discipline is not the biggest problem. He further says that the problem is that we have not yet paid the price with vision. By this he means that we are yet to connect with our inner conscience and our deepest motivations and values. In his book “The 8th Habit” Stephen Covey illustrates the experience of his friend.
His friend had been working hard on his career. By the time he turned forty five, he was quite successful. He was overweight, an obsessive eater during times of stress and one who didn’t have time to exercise regularly because of work. On his fifth birthday, his son, Logan, gave him a book on healthy living. Inside the book his mother had helped him writing the following words: “Daddy, for my birthday this year, I want you to be healthy. I want you to be around a while. ”
That request from his son changed his outlook on his lifestyle completely. Eating and lack of exercise did not remain his choice anymore. He felt that he was creating a detrimental legacy for his children. He was creating an impact on his children showing that one’s body and self control was unimportant and the thing that was important in life was money and respect. He further realized that by satisfying their financial and emotional needs don’t make him a perfect father, he should also be a good role model for them to follow.
So now he committed himself to become healthy for his children by not losing weight but having healthy food. He believed that his commitment should be something that should have a deep meaning and value in his life. His children were very important to him. So he took utmost care in making healthy decisions and established a goal to become healthy. He waned to have enough energy so that he could play with his kids after work, to participate in the company softball tournament. For these he implemented a diet and exercise regime for himself. The key here is that the diet and exercise program was not the goal but to remain healthy for his children. He decided to share his goal with somebody else who also wanted to be healthy and now they both work together on an exercise program. He made it sure to make out time for himself so that he could achieve his goals. He also learned to pay attention to the needs of his body.
Since the last two years he has changed his way of thinking. He no more has the struggle in getting out of his bed and doing exercise and this has become a routine. But there are some days when he cannot do well. At that time he feels that he is tired and thinks that he is hamstring and strained. Although such things happen he is able to get back on track soon. This is possible because of his commitment to his children whom he loves more than himself.
Sometimes in life we feel tired and exhausted but we can soon come back on track because of our love and commitment to our near and dear ones. For achieving anything in life motivation, vision and discipline are necessary.
All the best,
John Meredith
The Learning Center - A UK partner of Franklin Covey