Three Sticks — Moses on Life

Character is a wonderful trait. It drives you to do what is right, regardless of reward or punishment. It requires courage and a willingness to operate on a longer horizon than the present. Stephen Covey in, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, states that character is composed of 3 traits which he defines as follows;

1. Integrity - “The value we place on ourselves. As we clearly identify our values and proactively organize and execute those values on a daily basis, we develop self-awareness and independent will by making and keeping meaningful promises and commitments.”
2. Maturity - “The balance between courage and consideration — the ability to express one’s own feelings and convictions balanced with the consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others.”
3. Abundance Mentality - “There is plenty out there for everybody.”

According to Covey, in order to experience a life of successful Win/Win relationships developing a strong character is a must.

Covey began his career as motivational speaker/writer by researching success. In his study of written works about success over the past 200 years, he found a dichotomy of ideas. Earlier works attributed success to an individual developing and maintaining character. Covey calls this the Character Ethic which is based on integrity, humility, maturity etc. He states,

“The Character Ethic taught that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character.”

However according to Covey, the aftermath of World War I brought about a shift in the belief about the nature of success and how to achieve success. During this transition, “success became a function of personality, of public image, of attitudes and behaviors etc. He describes this new focus of success as the Personality Ethic. Essentially, individuals driven by the Personality Ethic focus more on achieving the results of success without the muss and fuss of developing themselves as required by the Character Ethic. They often pay lip service to elements of the Character Ethic, but are primarily focused on achieving their goals.

A key concept of the Character Ethic is that human effectiveness is governed by principles or laws that are as fundamental as the natural laws of science e.g. law of gravity. Principles are laws that cannot be broken or manipulated.

“It is impossible for us to break the law. We can only break ourselves against the law.” — Cecil B. deMille about the Ten Commandments

Unfortunately, the Personality Ethic is attractive and seductive. It let’s you think that you can have success without the prerequisite knowledge, skill, commitment, determination and desire. Many people go on believing that they can achieve a wonderful life, without making changes to their existing habits, thoughts and actions. As a result, the country is filled with dissatisfied people living lives of compromise rather than the lives they truly want.

I believe that the United States is caught up in the Personality Ethic. The evidence is all around us

• 5 - 30 second “TV spots” that serves as a stand in for public debate
• National obsession with the lives especially the weaknesses of celebrities (evidenced by the number of magazines, blogs, infotainment shows that follow the lives of celebrities)
• The public outrage about the state of health care, education, the gap between the rich and the poor contrasted against the re-election of the same politicians
• The rise of cosmetic surgery to overcome behavioral issues such as failing to exercise or overeating

These are just examples, but the list could go on and on. The point of the list is to recognize our habits and to create new ones. Many of us like to believe that the problem is the other guy, the country or the politicians running the country, but the reality is that lasting change starts with each of us as an individual choosing to embrace the Character Ethic and reject the Personality Ethic. By doing so, we change both how we see our challenges and the nature of the challenges. What we once believe to be immutable becomes only a minor obstacle that we can collectively overcome. Instead of the national despair about the bursting of the housing bubble, the war in Iraq and the coming social security crisis that we deaden with temporary pleasures we will find hope in the collective strength of our character.

This concept of adversity developing character and through character, hope is found in Romans 5:3 - 5,

“Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has giving us.

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