“Between Stimulus and Response Man Has the Ability to Choose.”
Background:
Victor Frankl is a Holocaust survivor and Austrian Neurologist. During the rise of the Third Reich in Germany in the 1930’s, Frankl had the choice to flee from Europe and escape to America. He decided instead to stay in Austria to be close to his family. When Hitler’s Germany conquered most of Europe, Frankl and his family were thrown into a concentration camp. There Frankl would be moved between 3 different concentration camps including the infamous Auschwitz.
During this ordeal, Frankl was the only member of his family to survive. In later life, many asked him how he was able to persevere. Most people who lost their entire family would lose their will to live and would perish soon after. In his book Man’s Search For Meaning, Frankl would describe this ordeal.
I came across this quote when reading Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey’s book is broken down into 7 major portions:
Habit 1: Be Proactive
Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Habit 4: Think Win/Win
Habit 5: Seek First to understand, Then to Be Understood
Habit 6: Synergize
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
Today we shall discuss certain aspects of Proactivity:
Covey discusses the challenges, humiliation and injustice done to Victor Frankl. Yet Frankl did not break, he found that although his captors could do as they please to his body, he alone controlled his sense of being. That was something his abusers could not take away from him.
He referred to this as “the last of the human freedoms” , he was still Victor Frankl, no matter what they did to him. This was his sense of self awareness. He concentrated on who he was, using his sense of imagination to portray himself as he was when lecturing students. His ability to be self aware of who he was became the grounds of which he grew his control over the situation. Frankl was developing a changeless core that would be the roots of who he was.
No matter what was done to him, Victor Frankl would remain Victor Frankl. He was not a victim, but the driver behind the wheel of his life. He did not have full control over the external circumstances that happened, but he controlled how he would respond to it. He was responsible for his own life. Break down the word “responsible” into 2 and you get “response” “able”, the ability to respond. That is what Frankl discovered.
Having discovered this, Frankl put all his energy into focusing on who he is as he defined himself, not as how his jailers did. Victor Frankl is a doctor, he is a philosopher, he is a survivor . Nothing on this earth could take this away from him. He became an inspiration to those around him during those difficult times. Other captives would find solace associating with him during their suffering and find dignity during their imprisonment.
Steven Covey goes on to describe that we as humans are gifted with certain endowments no other living organism on earth possesses. That is why each generation of humanity has the ability to stand on the shoulders of their predecessors to obtain ever higher achievements. Covey lists these endowments as the following:
- Self Awareness: We have the ability to be the observer of our involvement in situations.
- Imagination: The ability to create in our minds beyond our present reality
- Conscience: An inner awareness of what is right and wrong.
- Independent Will: Our ability to act based on our self awareness. In other words, we can make our own decisions free from the influence of others.
The combination of Self Awareness, Imagination, Conscience and Independent Will forms the foundation of how we can grow our control over our life. Covey advises that we stop worrying about external factors that we cannot control and instead focus on our “Circle of Influence.” Doing so allows us to grow as human beings and through steady practice, in doing so we gain further control of our lives.
Here is the graph from Covey’s book:
The Takeaway: We are responsible for what we want in our lives gentlemen. If you want happiness and fulfillment, whatever form that takes, go out and seize it. We make our circumstances, if you don’t like the one you’re in, change it.
