Personal Mastery - Diligence And Prudence

Personal Mastery - Diligence And Prudence -  Steve Wickham


Diligence and prudence are two complementary factors in developing a strong, focused, and pliable character to augment the development of wisdom. This subject is not for the faint of heart. It's strictly for those in life who genuinely seek to grow without regard for the personal cost. This growth is obviously counter-cultural to the flow of Western life, which is so often pleasure-based and at odds with the development of character.
It is argued that when a person can master both qualities I call Principal Values viz diligence and prudence, and demonstrate high competence in living them in a consistent day-in-day-out way, then they have achieved personal maturity that God intends for them as a person. This is personal mastery over the desires, and competence in that person's ability to test their own heart and seek God for direction along their way.
Not only does this person live in a highly diligent way, they do it for the right reasons i.e. prudent perspective drives the diligent way. They're careful in their expression of diligence. Conversely, this person is also highly prudent, yet they gird their discretion with a level of detached accountability that oozes diligence -- again, their prudence is driven from the right heart or motivation.
A person with low levels of prudence, but high on diligence may exhibit a brash boldness that gets things done hang the consequences i.e. simple greed or too carefree. The other extreme is a person low on diligence but high on prudence; this person may be inclined toward motivational problems -- they might know what they need to do but can't do it for lack of the principal value of diligence i.e. simple laziness or lack of courage. What is confounding for people with both of these conditions is the lack of motivation or ability to do what the wise know is right -- across the board -- in spite of the personal cost.
We can view these both on Quadrant model (which can't be seen in this article). People fit anywhere on the Quadrant according to their cross-referenced proficiency in diligence and prudence.
What people find is the hardest thing to get through is the "motive wall." This is the biggest barrier to attaining high levels of both principal values.
The key in personal mastery is determining where we fit on both scales and then it's about setting goals to improve our motivation, increasing our character around both diligence and prudence.

Copyright © 2008, Steven John Wickham.  All Rights Reserved Worldwide.Steve Wickham is a safety and health professional (BSc) and a qualified lay Christian minister (GradDipDiv). His passion in vocation is facilitation and coaching; encouraging people to soar to a higher value of their potential. Steve's key passion is work / life balance and re-creating value for living and an exploration of the person within us, and especially the breaking of gener ational curses.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Wickham  Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1218422


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