Chapter 5: Express Your Voice - Vision, Discipline, Passion and Conscience

So these are the four words that will comprise my mantra this next month, representing the "highest manifestations of the four intelligences," the four sides of our human nature.

•  Mental/IQ (Mind) = Vision
• Physical/PQ (Body) = Discipline
• Emotional/EQ (Heart) = Passion
• Spiritual/SQ (Spirit) = Conscience

Happiness comes to those who develop all four of these aspects co-equally. And, as Covey notes, influence comes as well. Don't we always describe leaders with words like vision, discipline, passion and conscience? The people we willingly follow have those things.

Chapter 5 goes to the root of The 8th Habit, Find Your Voice and Inspire Others to Find Theirs. Voice is defined as "unique personal significance" and it lies at the intersection of our talents, passions, conscience, and need.  There's the four aspects again. Get it?

I loved the diagram on page 85 so much I took a picture of it.

Vision is being able to see something before it exists in reality, and believing in it so strongly that you can bring it about. Covey calls envisioning "the first creation" and points out that all things are created twice. First we see it, then we can develop it. Six or seven years ago I created a clear vision of myself in a house on Lake Erie. Four years ago I moved in. Lately I have been seeing myself on the beach in Florida. Plans for making that happen are coming together. I am not quite sure yet how I will pull off some of the details, but I have a very clear picture in my head and that is the first creation.  (I am quite slender in those pictures, by the way.)

In my work I have helped many groups and organizations to develop their vision statements, their shared picture of the future they are working together to create. I've found over the years that in every group there are some individuals who resist spending any amount of time in a group visioning process, but to me (and to others) this "first creation" is vital. No matter what a group exists to do (mission) it will achieve it much more quickly if the people involved all have a clear vision of the end result. Vision keeps people engaged, fires up their energy, and keeps them on the same path forward. It is an indispensable part of any collaborative effort.

Discipline means many things. Representing the physical side of our nature, it has to do with the ability to resist that which is bad for us and to focus on that which supports our goals. It's willpower and execution and sacrificing good things in order to have better. As part of my year-long journey through The 8th Habit I will be finishing a book I bought a while ago called The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control by Walter Mischel, the scientist who first taught us that 4 year olds who can delay gratification (one marshmallow now or two later) grow up to be adults with successful careers and solid 401(k)s. Fortunately for us grown ups, he also knows how we can build up the muscles of self-discipline. Watch for a future blog.

Passion is the overarching attribute of an enthusiast, someone who believes in creating the future with vision and discipline, rather than wallowing in hopelessness and helplessness. A passionate person is one whose talents have been unlocked and who is engaged in an effort that brings her or him great joy, whether it be a personal relationship or a social cause. Without passion, we can go through the motions, even bring some skills to our work, but we will never achieve at the highest levels unless we are all in. Lack of passion is a sign that we are on the wrong track, that we have not yet found our own voice. If we aren't bringing our whole heart to our endeavors, something is amiss.

Conscience is the crux of it all, the aspect that powers all the rest of it. Covey teaches that the fastest route to growing in our personal and interpersonal effectiveness is through addressing spiritual values like fairness, integrity, and service. Conscience (the highest manifestation of spirit) fuels our efforts to grow in the other three aspects. To those with a highly developed conscience, the ends never justify the means. Covey believes in certain universal principles - kindness, respect, responsibility, honesty, contribution - and says that living in alignment with these is the path to happiness. They are as immutable as gravity and the Law of the Harvest: we reap what we sow. We will not find ourselves surrounded by loving kindness if we contribute only irritation and hostility. Living according to conscience is living according to what we know is true.

Here is where he reproduces The Paradoxical Commandments, which I repeat here, just because they are always worth noting.

1.  People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered. Love them anyway.
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
4.  The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
10. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

Step one is to do the internal work, to ensure that we are aligned within ourselves before we can do the interpersonal work of effectively engaging with others. Life is too painful when we don't do that. We miss our calling, sit helplessly on the sidelines while problems go unresolved and the world turns without our contribution. We can help only after we have developed the moral authority that comes from being a person others know as visionary, disciplined, passionate and conscientious.  
 
The journey continues.