Welcome back Viphilus*
OK, let's launch into Covey's 7 Habits.
In case you missed last week's intro, what I am doing for the next 2 months is to talk about the biblical origins of Stephen Covey's principles outlined in his amazing 1989 best seller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (powerful lessons in personal change).
Merriam-Webster defines “proactive” as acting in anticipation of future problems, needs or changes.
The business world throws this word around with abandon without always fully comprehending both the depth and breadth of its intent. The best way that I can think of describing it is by referencing Aristotle’s famous quote, “we are what we repeatedly do.” My point is that this is NOT ONLY what Aristotle said. Without the full quote, the complete contextual understanding of that statement is lost. Here is the full quote: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”
Being proactive is not an act … nor is it a thought; it is a habit. It is a mindset. Better yet … it is a heart-set.
Discussions about the word “proactive” usually include considering the difference between proactive and reactive, with the understanding that it is better to choose how to respond to an event or a circumstance before it happens rather than waiting for the vagaries of life to deliver up the circumstance and then hoping that you will respond appropriately during “battle conditions.”
But it goes much further
than this. Look at the definition again from above. Someone who is proactive
looks ahead and anticipates events or problems or changes or needs … and then
acts in a manner to prepare for that eventuality. The entirety of Emergency
Management (sometimes called Disaster management) theory is predicated on having
such a mindset / heart-set because it teaches us to anticipate events or
circumstances that may create enormous problems for large populations; events
like big storms. When I oversaw the forecast operations for the Canadian
Hurricane Centre a big part of my job was to liaise with emergency managers.
That work naturally fell along 4 distinct lines of effort: mitigation (which
included prevention); preparedness (which included the development of readiness
plans); response (which included the execution of those plans); and recovery
(which included all efforts, following the event, to bring the affected areas
back to their original state … or better).
Emergency management
thinking is not new. In fact, the first Bible passage which I want to point to
today actually proves that mitigative thinking has been in our collective
wisdom for a very long time. The passage is from Matthew 7 where Jesus tells a
parable of two builders: one who is foolish and one who is wise.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27)
This parable shows the cost
of not looking ahead and planning for inevitable outcomes. I’m not looking for
us to wade into the murky waters of cost-to-benefit ratios or risk-analyses.
I’m speaking about the inevitable things that we know are GOING to happen such
that the only questions will be about when?
rather than if? Jesus’ parable runs
on the assumption that big storms are going to happen, so why not do the work
of preparing for them. And notice that his praise and indictment come from the
actions or inactions. Knowing isn’t enough; wisdom tells you that action is
needed. Now he has just told his listeners a lot of stuff. The “stuff” makes up
Jesus’ most famous sermon, often called, “the sermon on the mount.” In this
parable Jesus is telling his listeners that their wisdom or foolishness will be
determined by whether or not they do anything with everything he has just
taught them. More specifically, to start implementing his teachings into their
lives immediately and to not simply wait for the storms of life to arrive
before they start dealing with them because in those cases, it will likely be too
late.
Back in the 1990s, a very
popular phrase became a viral motto that ran throughout evangelical
Christianity in North America: “What
would Jesus do?” It quickly became an acronym, WWJD, which showed up on
T-shirts and bracelets. Christians would use this phrase as a reminding
question to themselves to reflect on their moral imperative to act in a manner
that would demonstrate their allegiance to Jesus. From the moment the slogan
hit the streets it never sat well with me, although I couldn’t articulate why …
until I read Dallas Willard’s thoughts on it. The USC theology & philosophy
professor mused that a better acronym most certainly would be WDJD … “what DID Jesus do?” Dr. Willard’s point? The only way that we
would have the ability to respond---in battle conditions---the way Jesus did, and
make the right moral judgments, would be to have spent decades in personal
training of mind and heart, like Jesus did. In other words, the only reason Jesus was able
to DO the things that he was able to do was because of all the things that he
had DONE in training himself for those very moments. Jesus had a proactive
nature and spent decades building invulnerability and readiness into his character so that in
moments of extreme testing, his training and preparation determined the
outcome, not the severity of the event or his emotional state at the time.
Before I close out this week
I want to point out that this isn’t the only biblical passage that highlights
proactivity. There are many more that speak about looking ahead at threats or inevitable
outcomes and how we should prepare and not simply wait to react. Like:
1 Peter 5:8 – “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Peter states the threat (the devil), uses a simile to make it understandable (he is like a roaring lion on the prowl), and a course of action (be alert and of sober mind).
Biblical Example
This was an easy choice. Perhaps one of the most famous stories in the entire Bible is the story of Joseph. Joseph was the 2nd youngest of 12 sons of a man named Jacob, who's name was changed by God to the name Israel (yes, after whom the nation was named). The story of Joseph makes for a Hollywood blockbuster and accounts for 1/3 of the entire book of Genesis. For a biblical example of proactive thinking I want to zoom right in to near the end of the story in Genesis 41. As we pick up the action, Joseph is a prisoner in an Egyptian jail. One day (skipping all the details) he gets invited to interpret a vision that God had given the Pharaoh in a dream. His interpretation was that a period of abundance was coming but would be followed by a long famine (obviously driven by a long drought - the best stories always have a weather component to them). Pharaoh was so impressed at Joseph’s interpretation and his advice about how to mitigate and prepare for the famine that he not only let him out of jail, but he promoted him to vice-Pharaoh over all Egypt. Now that's quite a leap ... from zero to hero ... from jail to ruler over everything. Pharaoh recognized wisdom when he saw it, and he saw it in a young guy who practiced proactive thinking.
Now I haven’t scoured history books to know if Joseph was actually the first Emergency Manager in history, but one thing is for sure … being ready to respond when a storm comes (or a drought) is ancient advice that is just as prudent today as it was 5000 years ago.
And speaking of wisdom, King Solomon, referenced in the Bible as the wisest man in the world, wrote a great deal about being proactive. Didn't know that? Just read Proverbs.
Proverbs 21:5 - The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.
Proverbs 24:27 - Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.
In the movie, The Great Debaters, which I love, is an interesting scene about proactive living. Forest Whitaker plays a preacher who tries to instill in his son the importance of doing your personal character work first so that you can reap the benefits later. His advice to his son goes something like, "Do what you have to so that you can do what you want to."
I believe that this is exactly how Jesus lived his life. He did what he had to in order to be able to do what he wanted to (or needed to). If you want to do what Jesus could do then you’ll need to start doing what Jesus did to create that skilled capacity. Train! Or, if you want to play piano like Billy Joel then you will need to start doing what he did to reach his level of skill and mastery. Train! Or, if you want to think critically with discernment then seek out the wisest person that you know and ask them to describe what they did to get that way …. then start doing that (and I guarantee that it will be some form of training).
Maybe though you aren’t striving to be the wisest most Godly piano player on the planet … maybe you just want to exercise self-control over your mouth when someone inadvertently hits one of your “buttons,” or you want to supervise an employee in a way that better engages him, or you want to make sure that you have the right skills to do your dream job, or you want to make sure that your home is ready to handle a big storm, or you want to have enough money to buy a home in the first place. Regardless, the foundational approach is the same. You have to look ahead in anticipation of an inevitable (or desired) event and begin preparing for that now. AND ... you have to learn to think that way with everything that matters. That’s what it means to be proactive.
Now I’m going to be
proactive on your behalf and look ahead to next week when we consider
Habit # 2, which is …. wait for it … to begin with the end in mind. Notice that
both of the first two habits are about seeing more clearly into the future in order to
more effectively choose your actions now in order to create it.
I hope to see you back next
Monday.
Blessings Viphilus,
Your friend, Omega Man
* Viphilus means, "lover of life"
No comments:
Post a Comment