gswong.comPreview
Open in TheBrain

Principles v Values

From an interview with the late Stephen Covey, Author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"

“...a principle is a natural law like gravity. It’s different than a value. Values are subjective; principles are objective. Gravity… if you drop something, gravity controls. If I don’t tell you the truth, you won’t trust me-that’s a natural law. If I tell you the truth consistently and try to live it and apologize when I don’t and try to get back on track, then I’m living a natural law-repentance, making improvements, showing change.”

From Stephen Covey's book "The 8th Habit"

"Values” are social norms — they're personal, emotional, subjective, and arguable. All of us have values. Even criminals have values. The question you must ask yourself is, Are your values based upon principles? Principles are natural laws — they're impersonal, factual, objective and self-evident. Consequences are governed by principles and behavior is governed by values; therefore, value principles!"

So, in conclusion, principles are truths based on natural laws, whereas values are just that... things that we value that may or may not have a positive impact on our lives, depending on whether or not they are based on true principles.”