Two Outstanding Analogies

Recently I was reviewing some notes from Stephen R. Covey’s "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." The notes reminded me of how powerful the book is, and that if the information presented in the book is applied, it will allow us to reach our potential in life.

One of my favorite analogies from the book has to do with the law of gravity. Gravity has a tremendous pull on us (literally), and overcoming it is very, very difficult--but it can be done. When a space shuttle lifts off, it uses nearly all of its energy and effort at the beginning of its trip because of the tremendous pull of gravity. And though the space shuttle travels hundreds of thousands of miles, after the initial launch into space, the rest of the trip is relatively easy in comparison.

In his book Covey relates the law of gravity and the space shuttle to our habits. Our habits have a tremendous pull or influence on us, and they define who we are as people. Like gravity, habits are extremely difficult to break. However like the space shuttle, the most difficult part in changing our habits is the initial launch, but once we break through that strong “gravity pull”, our ability to reach greatness takes on new meaning. Thus in the beginning, it takes great exertion, willpower, discipline, effort, and time to change the habit, but as we begin, it becomes easier and easier with each passing day.

Likewise, the hardest part to form a habit is in the beginning. There is a strong gravity pull against us when we try developing something new. Again it takes a great effort of self-discipline, willpower, and time to form a habit, but once we do, it becomes easy because then the gravity pull works in our favor. Let me explain.

Like gravity, our habits have tremendous pull on our lives for good or for bad. The strong gravity pull from our poor habits will inhibit us from progressing and reaching our goals. However, this same gravity pull works to our advantage when we develop good habits. If we use this law effectively, the strong force of gravity (habits) will be to our benefit, pulling us towards success.

To me, this analogy is powerful and true as it clearly illustrates the strong impact our habits have in our lives. As we work at breaking our poor habits, and focus on developing good ones, we will have the ability to reach greatness in our lives.

While I’m on the topic, another analogy that I love from Covey’s sequel, "The 8th Habit", is the trim tab analogy. A trim tab is a small rudder that is used to turn the large rudder which turns a huge ship. Without a trim tab turning the large rudder would be impossible because of the tremendous force of the water against it. However the trim tab makes it easy to turn the large rudder. Thus, we are encouraged to be trim tabbers in our lives or catalysts for positive change.

To be a trim tab, we must first stop being the victim or feeling victimized when faced with problems or difficult circumstances. Second, we must believe we can make a difference. Once we realize we have the power to change and create, we then can become trim tabbers.

Now, like the trim tab, our actions may be very small, but these small actions can produce massive results. Indeed, each of us has the ability to be trim tabbers, to produce positive change in our lives and the lives of others by our simple everyday actions.

One example from Covey is a school principal who started cleaning the toilets at the school. To make a long story short, this simple act seemed to have completely turned around the performance of the school.

As we strive to become solutions to problems rather than create more problems, we will become trim tabbers in our own ways, and our influence will have a powerful effect on others.

So we must use the powerful pull of habits to our benefit and not detriment. Then these good habits in turn will propel us to become trim tabbers or catalysts for positive, powerful change. The success and fulfillment we receive in life will be greatly improved by simply applying and learning from these two outstanding analogies.