Is the glass half full or half empty? Well it depends on your perspective. In this lesson from Covey we look at breaking self-development down into firstly, working on your inner self, then secondly working on your outer self. We are setting a strong foundation first, then developing our exterior capabilities.

In Stephen Covey's book 7 Habits of Highly Efficient People he came up with several profound principles on success. He comprehensively studied successful people, worked on mentoring people to become successful and wrote 10 books in self-development, success and leadership literature.

As a topic for his doctorate Covey reviewed 200 years of success literature. During the period between 1770 to 1920 he found the primary literature of the day to be centered around what he calls the Character Ethic (inside yourself). However from the 1920's onwards the literature of the day then focused on Personality Ethic (your external self). This is what Covey refers to as Inside-Out.

The Character Ethic

The inner self as defined by Stephen Covey is called the character ethic and must be aligned to your own personal mission statement and goals before the outer self can be effective. The Character Ethic integrate principles of effective living in order to experience true success and enduring happiness. Intrinsic values to be lived by include integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity and modesty. Work on the inside first, then the outside.

The concept of 'Working on the inside first, then the outside' really jumps out at me because it's always been my belief that "You are the foundation of your own success" . Whatever you're building in life, you've got to start with the foundation.

Take building a house for example. You’d need to lay the foundation before you can start building the structure. Without a solid foundation, it will not stand, for long anyway.

Likewise, you need to lay a strong foundation for your own success. And that begins with yourself because, ultimately, you are the creator, the architect, the sculptor and the engineer of your own success, and you are 100 per cent responsible for it!"

Guest Comment by Mark Foo

The Personality Ethic

The outer self as defined by Stephen Covey is called the personality ethic and is secondary. It is basically the success principles that can be applied superficially to achieve wanted external results. However, they have little effect on your character. They include principles of attitudes and behaviours, skills and techniques related to that help with human interaction.

They can be categorised into two sections: Human and public relations - pretending to be interested in people hobbies to get what you want along with other deceptive manipulative techniques; and Postive Mental Attitude (PMA) - featuring quick fix maxims such as 'Your attitude determines your altitude'.

I agree that all skills and techniques - the outer self - are secondary to the mindset and attitude - the inner self - of an individual. Just as T. Harv Eker said, "If your 'financial blueprint' is not 'set' for success, nothing you learn, nothing you know, and nothing you do will make much of a difference.

Skills and techniques may help you to achieve your desired results. But if your achievement is not built on a solid foundation, it will come tumbling down sooner or later for nothing stands firm on a flimsy base.

Guest Comment by Mark Foo

Covey looks at these external techniques to be secondary to the internal techniques of the Character Ethic.

The thing is, these external fixes were being implemented without people first working on the inner self. They did not determine their values in life, had no mission statement, had not set goals in life aligned to their value system. People walk around in day to day life with polished external skills and no sense of self. Life may seem full of success for a few months but then you begin to feel 'lost'.

Character Vs Personality Ethic

One is not better than the other. To achieve short-term results Personality Ethic will work on external abilities and achieve external results. When long-term sustainable success is desired Character Ethic must be developed.

Covey Example: You are in Chicago trying to find a destination using a map. Your secondary skills are commendable in map reading and navigation, however your map is not of Chicago, it is a map of Detroit. You must get the primary element right before you can work on the secondary element to achieve a successful result.

The Paradigm Shift

Our upbringing, peer group, tragic events, schooling, work colleagues have all played roles in shaping how we see the world today. It is important to recognise that 'our vision' of the world is not fixed. You can change the way you look at the world to make new things possible.

For example, showing two groups of people two different drawings. One of a young woman. One of an old woman. Then after this initial exposure a combined hybrid drawing with both elements of young and old.

When asked if they saw the young or old woman their answer would be the same as the woman they saw in their initial exposure even though they truly believed they were analysing the drawing objectively.

Therefore, as the above activity demonstrated, our judgement is influenced by our conditioning. With this knowledge and understanding, we can then shift our pre-conceived perceptions (our paradigm) to allow us to move into a new way to see the world.

The Personification of Character Ethic

Benjamin Franklin - A quick biography

He was born in 1706 to be in a poor family who sent him off to clergy school. Due to lack of money who could only attend for 1 year and then at 15 would help his brother with the small family business on the printing press selling a local Boston newspaper.

After setting up his small printing business and marrying Deborah he would continue to achieve astounding results. He set up self-development groups, built hospitals, raised funds to pave and light roads and clean the environment, publish an almanac, raised a fire fighting unit, set up insurance for fire damage, invented flippers, made a power efficient stove, studied lightning and helped draft the United States Declaration of Independance.

Benjamin's life is the personification of a life lived by principles of goodness to others, of integrity and commitment and interdependence in working with other great people to bring extraordinary accomplishments. Each of his achievements are in line with his values and from that enjoyed extraordinary success in his endeavours.

Examples of Personality Ethic

Positive Mental Attitude

a psychological term which describes a mental phenomenon in which the central idea is that one can increase achievement through optimistic thought processes. PMA implies that one has a vision of good natured change in one's mind; it employs a state of mind that continues to seek, find and execute ways to win, or find a desirable outcome, regardless of the circumstances. It rejects negativity, defeatism and hopelessness. Part of the process of achieving PMA employs motivating "self talk" and deliberate goal-directed thinking.

PMA is the idea that one can increase achievement through an optimistic thought process. It allows one to find the desirable outcome in any situation rather than give into defeatism, negativity or hopelessness. The process to employ PMA is to initiate motivating self talk and deliberate goal directed thinking.

A positive mental attitude basically means you control your own thoughts and feelings. You can deal with adversity, learn from it, set new goals and move on bigger and better things

“Responsibilities - our abilities to control our responses
Stephen Covey

If you think negative thinking is more realistic, PMA people expect wealth automatically or PMA people are annoying read this - 5 Myths About PMA .

Self-development Inside-Out and PMA

From this Covey Lesson we have learnt to work on your core principles, values, personal mission statement first. It is your foundation from which you can build on. Second to this are human and public interaction techniques and keeping a positive mental attitude.

It is up to you to put the hard work into making yourself mentally strong. It does not matter how much money you have. Without the fundamental mindset that allows you to become a wealth creating juggernaut, you will be poor for life.

A Big Thankyou to The Big Dreamer

Guest comments by Mark at TheBigDreamer.com.

On his blog, you will find tips and advice to help you become a better, wiser and richer person. Topics include Success, Personal Finance, Wealth Creation and Entrepreneurship.