Stephen Richard Covey, who died on 16th July 2012, is one of the most respected life coaches, management thinkers, educators, keynote speakers and business men the world has ever had.
Author
of the bestselling book, The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective People,
Covey’s lifestyle is worthy of emulation. And being a life coach myself who is
hoping to make a big impact on my generation, Covey remains a mentor to me.
There
are five lessons I learned from Stephen R. Covey which I am going to share with
you here. I have no doubt in my mind that as you read these five lessons and
practice them, you will become the best God wants you to be.
These
lessons are:
1. Don’t Strive to Be Rich;
Strive to Enrich Others
The
fact is, we all want to be rich. Even the “hypocrites” that are condemning
prosperity preachers also want to be rich, but the way we go about getting rich
leaves much to be desired. In our bid to become rich, we try to defraud people,
cheat, steal, kill and destroy and yet we never acquire these riches. And even
when we acquire these riches, because we didn’t acquire them in a lawful
manner, we never enjoy them with peace of mind.
Covey
attracted fame and fortune to himself not because he strove to enrich himself,
but because he laboured to enrich others. The mission statement of FranklinCovey, his global professional
services firm is: “WE ENABLE GREATNESS IN PEOPLE AND ORGANISATIONS EVERYWHERE.”
It
is his passion for empowering people and organizations for greatness that led
him to write his bestselling classic, The
7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Since 1989 when he wrote this book,
he has sold 25 million copies! The book has also been published in 38
languages. At the height of his fame, Covey was acclaimed one of Time
Magazine’s 25 most influential Americans.
Dear
reader, have you been striving for success and yet not making any headway?
Then, take a cue from Covey. Don’t strive to be rich; labour to enrich others. IT
IS IN MAKING OTHERS RICH THAT YOU BECOME RICH. IT IS IN EMPOWERING PEOPLE FOR
GREATNESS THAT YOU BECOME GREAT.
Drop
that grab-grab mentality. Don’t try to succeed by hook and crook. Your focus
should be on how to make others great. You have no place in greatness until you
start walking away from self-centredness to selflessness (people-centredness).
Successful
entrepreneur, Ray Kroc explains it better when he said: “THE MORE I HELP OTHERS
TO SUCCEED, THE MORE I SUCCEED.”
2. Don’t Copy the Masters; Seek
What they Sought
One
of the successful principles that Covey taught and also lived by is this:
“FOLLOW NOT IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE MASTERS, BUT RATHER SEEK WHAT THEY SOUGHT.”
There is the saying that “imitation is suicide.” Although we can learn from the
masters, it is not advisable to copy everything they do.
You
cannot be truly great by copying the masters. When you copy the masters, the
best you can be is second rate, that is, number two. Covey’s advice therefore
is that you must be number one and not number two. The way to be number one is
to seek what the masters sought.
All
the masters seek one thing – originality! They never seek to follow in the
footsteps of other masters. They seek to be original, unique and unparallel.
They seek to excel in anything they set out to do.
While
you learn from the masters, don’t copy them hook, line and sinker. Think your
own thoughts. It is your own thoughts that make you original. Speak your own
voice. Do it your own way where necessary. Look for that spark of originality
in you. Leverage your natural ability. It is your natural ability that makes
you original, unique and unparallel to others, and that is what will make you
to stand out in life.
In
essence, if I try to be like Stephen R. Covey, I can never be like him. The
best I can be is a copy of him and not original. But if I try to be Sunday
Adaji and not like any person, and I strive to be the best that God wants me to
be, I will also stand out as a master in my own right.
All
masters seek to be the best that God wants them to be. This is what you should
also seek. Of course, you should learn from the masters, but don’t copy them. Seek
to be the best that God wants you to be, for that is what every master is
seeking.
3. Aim to Be a Light, Not a
Critic
Being
a light goes beyond moral preachment. In trying to be a light to our world,
almost all of us fall into one error – we preach, brag, put on the cloak of
“holier-than-thou”, and do all sought of things to make others see us as light.
But the more we do these, the more difficult it is convincing others that we
are light.
But
what then can we do to become light to our world? Well, from what I have
learned from Covey, to be a light to your world, you must avoid hypocrisy. All
through his life, Covey aimed to be a light and not a critic.
In
1992 when Bill Clinton was running for the president of US, Covey was at a
gathering where many people were badmouthing Clinton, but he refused to
participate. When they saw that he was the only odd person among them, they
asked him why he didn’t say anything about Clinton?
Covey
replied: “I don’t want to criticize him, because I never know if I’ll have a
chance to influence him. I don’t want to be a hypocrite if he ever needs my
help.”
Few
months later, Covey received an unexpected letter from President Clinton to
come and integrate in his presidency the principles he wrote about in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People!
The
lesson here is that when we go about condemning others, we can never be a light
to them. The Master Jesus sets a good example for us to follow. He didn’t come
to the world to condemn the world. If He came with “condemnation mentality,”
nobody would be saved, because the truth is that we are all condemned sinners.
The
lesson here is that we can never be a light by making ourselves darkness to
others. We can never be a light when our character is repugnant to others. Our
character is what others see and not what we say about ourselves.
The
reason we strive to convince others that we are light is that we are not
shining as the light that we claim to be. A light doesn’t announce itself. It
shines and keeps on shining.
Covey
avoided hypocrisy. He aimed to be a light to the world and not a critic. By so
doing, he was able to influence millions of people all over the world. It is
also on record that Covey taught and mentored 50 Heads of state around the
world!
4. Find Your Voice and Inspire
Others to Find theirs
The content of Covey’s other book, The 8th Habit is best
summarized thus: “FIND YOUR VOICE AND INSPIRE OTHERS TO FIND THEIRS.” The truth
is that you are a voice to your generation. You are not created into the world
for nothing. God created you to be a POSITIVE voice to your generation.
Your
voice carries solution to the problems of humanity. Your voice sets the captive
free. Your voice carries life and miracles. Your voice inspires, motivates and
empowers. God gives you a voice so that He can use it to reach humanity.
Never
allow the voice of others to drown yours. Your voice is what will attract
deliverance to you. Blind Barthemius was almost frustrated from obtaining his
miracle when the crowd following Jesus shouted him down to shut up his mouth.
The more they shouted him down, the more he called on Jesus at the top of his
voice.
When
Jesus heard him, He called him and made him to receive his sight. We are living
in a world where we shout each other down. Many people have been silenced by
others, but dear friend, DO NOT be a victim of these silencers of people’s
voices.
If
you lose your voice, you lose your identity. When people were trooping to John
the Baptist to be baptized, they asked him who he was. John did not say he was
a “nobody.” He did not claim to be the Messiah or claim to be what he was not.
He simply told them, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make
straight the way of the Lord, as said the Prophet Esaias” (John 1:23).
Covey
acted on the truth that he was a VOICE to his generation. He never allowed the
voice of others to drown his. By “crying” out louder like Barthimeus, Covey was
able to positively influence millions of people all over the world.
Like
Covey, if you don’t allow people to shout you down, you will definitely find
your voice, and when you find your voice, you become a voice to your generation
and people must of necessity listen to you. And by listening to you, you will
help them to find their own voice.
5. Children are Leaders of
Tomorrow
Children are heritage from God and they are
the leaders of tomorrow. Covey has the passion and belief in teaching children
to be leaders. In an interview, Covey was asked, “What do you want to be known
for?” he replied, “Every child is a leader.”
Although
Covey’s answer does not seem to be a direct answer to the question he was
asked, the message is clear: “CHILDREN ARE THE MECHANISM FOR CHANGING THE
WORLD.”
If
we want the world to be a better place for posterity, then, we should train
children to be leaders. And it starts from the family. What kind of training
are you giving to your children? Are you training them to become slaves to
their contemporaries or are you training them to become leaders? The lesson I
learned from Covey is that EVERY CHILD IS A LEADER, IF WE TRAIN HIM/HER TO BE.
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