Covey's seven habits integrated with Christian faith principles

¶ … People

In the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven R. Covey maintains that the success literature during the last one-half of the 20th century largely was able to attribute success to positive personality attributes that worked in a person's favor that they maintained . Covey felt that what he termed the Personality Ethic in response to a failure he had seen in success writings between the 1920s and 1950s that focused on solutions to specific problems. However, to truly provide the solution to this question, he applied what he called the Character Ethic. According to Covey, this was prevalent in the literature of the 150 years or so that preceded the literature of the 20th century was more character oriented. It emphasized the far deeper principles and foundations of success which are moral in nature such as integrity, courage, justice, patience, etc.("Summary of stephen," 2010).

In the opinion of this author, while Covey's achievement is laudable, but inadequate. For one to fully realize the potential of his concepts they must unite them with the faith and learning that we have inherited in concert with faith in God via our Lord Jesus Christ. In this vein, we will briefly review the three most important concepts from this article and how these concepts can be applied in concert with the Christian faith. This will provide full utilization of the potential of Covey's doctoral thesis. This is due to the fact that the source of our moral underpinnings is our faith in God. It is this faith that will allow an application of our power of wisdom and discernment given by the Holy Spirit in order to properly integrate the Character and Personality Ethics effectively. This naturally gives the believing Christian habits 1-4 which Covey must spell out in detail for those without this background.

Three Most Important Concepts

Since this author makes the assumption that habits 1-4 are a natural part of the Christian's tool kit, it would be logical to assume that habits 5 through 7 need development. Most importantly, the faith in God gives the Christian the courage to accept defeat as the will of God and to regroup and do better next time by improving themselves morally in their secular field of endeavor.

Conclusion

While it is certain that Covey's work is a far cry above those that simply look upon tactical advantage skills, it still lacks what the person with religious faith has as a natural part of their tool kit. Indeed, a follower of Jesus Christ seemingly can spend more time "sharpening the saw" because he is already familiar with habits 1-4. 5-7 are those that are harder and require help. It is with regard to teamwork development that Covey's work is most effective for the believing Christian.