Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

we often experience concern and worry that may not always rise to the conscious
surface.
Sometimes there are apparently noble reasons given for making money, such
as the desire to take care of one's family. And these things are important. But to
focus on money-making as a center will bring about its own undoing.
Consider again the four life-support factors -- security, guidance, wisdom,
and power. Suppose I derive much of my security from my employment or from
my income or net worth. Since many factors affect these economic foundations,
I become anxious and uneasy, protective and defensive, about anything that may
affect them. When my sense of personal worth comes from my net worth, I am
vulnerable to anything that will affect that net worth. But work and money, per
se, provide no wisdom, no guidance, and only a limited degree of power and
security. All it takes to show the limitations of a money center is a crisis in my
life or in the life of a loved one.
Money-centered people often put aside family or other priorities, assuming
everyone will understand that economic demands come first. I know one father
who was leaving with his children for a promised trip to the circus when a phone
call came for him to come to work instead. He declined. When his wife
suggested that perhaps he should have gone to work, he responded, “The work
will come again, but childhood won't.” For the rest of their lives his children
remembered this little act of priority setting, not only as an object lesson in their
minds but as an expression of love in their hearts.
Work Centeredness. Work-centered people may become “workaholics,”
driving themselves to produce at the sacrifice of health, relationships, and other
important areas of their lives. Their fundamental identity comes from their work
-- “I'm a doctor,” “I'm a writer,” “I'm an actor.”
Because their identity and sense of self-worth are wrapped up in their work,
their security is vulnerable to anything that happens to prevent them from
continuing in it. Their guidance is a function of the demands of the work. Their
wisdom and power come in the limited areas of their work, rendering them
ineffective in other areas of life.
Possession Centeredness. A driving force of many people is possessions --
not only tangible, material possessions such as fashionable clothes, homes, cars,
boats, and jewelry, but also the intangible possessions of fame, glory, or social
prominence. Most of us are aware, through our own experience, how singularly
flawed such a center is, simply because it can vanish rapidly and it is influenced
by so many forces.
If my sense of security lies in my reputation or in the things I have, my life
will be in a constant state of threat and jeopardy that these possessions may be