What are your big “YESSES”?
June 18, 2009
Stephen Covey, in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, talks about the need to operate out of a principled center. More important than being centered on good things like spouse, job, friends, pleasures, or any extrinsic factor, or even yourself is to be centered on correct principles. Such a focus on principles keeps us from being reactive to the impulses and circumstances of a given situation. A focus/center on principles helps us navigate between all the choices before us in the day. We always say “yes” and “no” to a thousand things during the day. Will we finish the day having said “Yes” to the correct things? That’s the question.
Covey follows with the emphasis on a personal mission statement. The personal mission statement for our family is this:
Jesus is the center of our lives and his goodness, truth, and love channel through our core values of Discipline (choosing the good over quick, easy, or indulgent), Uniqueness (celebrating each person’s talents and strengths), Communication (respectful, loving, and listening), Togetherness (having fun as a family), and Service (to God, each other, and the world).
I am searching for a cool mag-wheel or rim of some sort with 5 spokes or channels that could be a helpful visual aid to teach and remind us all. I want to illustrate to the boys that when we hold the wheel at its center it spins properly. But if our focus and grip goes someplace other than to the center (which is Jesus), the wheel doesn’t work right.
Anyway, if you see a cool one the next time you are rummaging through a junk yard, let me know.
Love ya!