THE REAL THING
This is one of my favourites taken from the MID-DAY a few years back, which attributes it to be taken from "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey.
One way to determine which circle our concern is in, is to distinguish between the have's and bes. The Circle of Concern is filled with the haves: "I'll be happy when I have my house paid off." If only I had a boss who wasn't such a dictator"."If I could just have more time to myself."
The Circle of influence is filled with the bes-- I can be more patient, be wise, be loving. It's the character focus. Anytime we think the problem is out there, that thought is the problem. The change paradigm is "outside-in" -- what's out there has to change before we can change.
The proactive approach is to change from the inside-out: to be different and by being different to effect positive change in what's out there-- I can be more resourceful, I can be more diligent, I can be more creative, I can be more cooperative.
In the Old Testament Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, at the age of 17. Can you imagine how easy it would have been for him to languish in self-pity as a servant of Potiphar, to focus on the weaknesses of his brothers and captors? But Joseph was proactive. He worked on be. And within a short period of time, h was running Potiphar's household. Then Joseph was caught is a difficult situation and refused to compromise on his integrity. He was unjustly imprisoned for 13 years. But again he was proactive he worked on the inner circle, on being instead of having, and soon he was running the prison and eventually the entire nation of Egypt, second only to the Pharoah.
It is so much easier to blame other people, conditioning or conditions for our own stagnant situation.
If I really want to improve our situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control-myself.
One way to determine which circle our concern is in, is to distinguish between the have's and bes. The Circle of Concern is filled with the haves: "I'll be happy when I have my house paid off." If only I had a boss who wasn't such a dictator"."If I could just have more time to myself."
The Circle of influence is filled with the bes-- I can be more patient, be wise, be loving. It's the character focus. Anytime we think the problem is out there, that thought is the problem. The change paradigm is "outside-in" -- what's out there has to change before we can change.
The proactive approach is to change from the inside-out: to be different and by being different to effect positive change in what's out there-- I can be more resourceful, I can be more diligent, I can be more creative, I can be more cooperative.
In the Old Testament Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, at the age of 17. Can you imagine how easy it would have been for him to languish in self-pity as a servant of Potiphar, to focus on the weaknesses of his brothers and captors? But Joseph was proactive. He worked on be. And within a short period of time, h was running Potiphar's household. Then Joseph was caught is a difficult situation and refused to compromise on his integrity. He was unjustly imprisoned for 13 years. But again he was proactive he worked on the inner circle, on being instead of having, and soon he was running the prison and eventually the entire nation of Egypt, second only to the Pharoah.
It is so much easier to blame other people, conditioning or conditions for our own stagnant situation.
If I really want to improve our situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control-myself.
posted by As If at
6:09 am
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