Stephen R Covey
Stephen R Covey- “How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most.”
Start with the end in mind.
Stephen R Covey
Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.
Stephen R Covey
How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most.
Stephen R Covey
Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.
Stephen R Covey
We are free to choose our actions…but we are not free to choose the consequences of these actions.
Stephen R Covey
Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.
Stephen R Covey
Through imagination, we can visualize the uncredited worlds of potential that lie within us.
Stephen R Covey
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
Stephen R Covey
Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education.
Stephen R Covey
Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.
Stephen R Covey
As you care less about what people think of you, you will care more about what others think of themselves.
Stephen R Covey
It comes from within.
Stephen R Covey
Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice.
Stephen R Covey
The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions.
Stephen R Covey
Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential.
Stephen R Covey
You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good”.
Stephen R Covey
But until a person can say deeply and honestly, “I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,” that person cannot say, “I choose otherwise.
Stephen R Covey
Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment.
Stephen R Covey
The only person I know, is the person I want to be.
Stephen R Covey
At some time in your life, you probably had someone believe in you when you didn’t believe in yourself.
Stephen R Covey
I teach people how to treat me by what I will allow.
Stephen R Covey
To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.
Stephen R Covey
I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.
Stephen R Covey
We may be very busy, we may be very efficient, but we will also be truly effective only when we begin with the end in mind.
Stephen R Covey
Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be.
Stephen R Covey
It is one thing to make a mistake, and quite another thing not to admit it. People will forgive mistakes, because mistakes are usually of the mind, mistakes of judgment. But people will not easily forgive the mistakes of the heart, the ill intention, the bad motives, the prideful justifying cover-up of the first mistake.
Stephen R Covey
Don’t argue for other people’s weaknesses. Don’t argue for your own. When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from it immediately.
Stephen R Covey
The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.
Stephen R Covey
Begin each day with the blueprint of my deepest values FIRMLY in mind then when challenges come, make decisions BASED on those values.
Stephen R Covey
You can’t talk your way out of a problem you behaved your way into!
Stephen R Covey
To maintain the P/PC Balance, the balance between the golden egg (production) and the health and welfare of the goose (production capability) is often a difficult judgment call. But I suggest it is the very essence of effectiveness.
Stephen R Covey
All the well-meaning advice in the world won’t amount to a hill of beans if we’re not even addressing the real problem.
Stephen R Covey
Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Stephen R Covey
Live, love, laugh, leave a legacy.
Stephen R Covey
Happiness- in part at least- the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice waht we want for what we want eventually.
Stephen R Covey
The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person.
Stephen R Covey
We’re responsible for our own lives.
Stephen R Covey
The way we see the problem is the problem.
Stephen R Covey
Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic.
Stephen R Covey
If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.
Stephen R Covey
In the space between stimulus (what happens) and how we respond, lies our freedom to choose. Ultimately, this power to choose is what defines us as human beings. We may have limited choices but we can always choose. We can choose our thoughts, emotions, moods, our words, our actions; we can choose our values and live by principles. It is the choice of acting or being acted upon.
Stephen R Covey
Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.
Stephen R Covey
People simply feel better about themselves when they’re good at something.
Stephen R Covey
If I really want to improve my situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control – myself.
Stephen R Covey
The reflection of the current social paradigm tells us we are largely determined by conditioning and conditions.
Stephen R Covey
Perhaps a sense of possessing needs to come before a sense of genuine sharing.
Stephen R Covey
Words are like eggs dropped from great heights. You could no more call them back then ignore the mess they left when they fell.
Stephen R Covey
Involve people in the problem and work out the solution together.
Stephen R Covey
Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.
Stephen R Covey
Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.
Stephen R Covey
Priority is a function of context.
Stephen R Covey
We must look at the lens through we see the world, as well as the world we see, and that the lens itself shapes how we interpret the world.
Stephen R Covey
There’s no better way to inform and expand you mind on a regular basis than to get into the habit of reading good literature.
Stephen R Covey
Two people can see the same thing, disagree, and yet both be right. It’s not logical; it’s psychological.
Stephen R Covey
I think the most significant work we’ll do in our whole life, in our whole world is done within the four walls of our home.
Stephen R Covey
When air is charged with emotions, an attempt to teach is often perceived as a form of judgment and rejection.
Stephen R Covey
The core of any family is what is changeless, what is going to be there─ shared vision and values.
Stephen R Covey
Live out of your imagination, not your history.
Stephen R Covey
..people are working harder than ever, but because they lack clarity and vision, they aren’t getting very far. They, in essence, are pushing a rope…with all of their might.
Stephen R Covey
Each of us guard a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside.
Stephen R Covey
Being is seeing in the human dimension.
Stephen R Covey
People can’t live with change if there’s not a changeless core inside them.
Stephen R Covey
To Retain those who are present, be loyal to those who are absent.
Stephen R Covey
We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.
Stephen R Covey
…to learn and not to do is really not to learn. To know and not to do is really not to know.
Stephen R Covey
I believe that there are parts to human nature that cannot be reached by either legislation or education, but require the power of God to deal with.
Stephen R Covey
Independent will is our capacity to act. It gives us the power to transcend our paradigms, to swim upstream, to rewrite our scripts, to act based on principle rather than reacting based on emotion or circumstance.
Stephen R Covey
We see the world, not as it is, but as we are- or, as we are conditioned to see it. When we open our mouths to describe what we see, we in effect describe ourselves, our perceptions, our paradigms.
Stephen R Covey
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&
Stephen R Covey
But borrowing strength builds weakness.
Stephen R Covey
We can’t live without eating, but we don’t live to eat.
Stephen R Covey
Basing our happiness on our ability to control everything is futile.
Stephen R Covey
Strength lies in differences, not in similarities
Stephen R Covey
My behavior is a product of my own conscious choices based on principles, rather than a product of my conditions, based on feelings.
Stephen R Covey
Is it logical that two people can disagree and that both can be right? It’s not logical: it’s psychological. And it’s very real.
Stephen R Covey
…people have character strength but they lack communication skills, and that undoubtedly affects the quality of relationships as well.
Stephen R Covey
When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.
Stephen R Covey
If you want to have a more pleasant,cooperative teenager, be a more understanding, emphatic, consistent, loving parent.
Stephen R Covey
…churchgoing is not synonymous with personal spirituality. There are some people who get so busy in church worship and projects that they become insensitive to the pressing human needs that sourround them, contradicting the very precepts they profess to believe deeply.
Stephen R Covey
Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.
Stephen R Covey
When you have a challenge and the response is equal to the challenge, that’s called “success”. But once you have a new challenge, the old, once-successful response no longer works. That’s why it is called a “failure”.
Stephen R Covey
Wisdom is the child of integrity—being integrated around principles. And integrity is the child of humility and courage. In fact, you could say that humility is the mother of all virtues because humility acknowledges that there are natural laws or principles that govern the universe. They are in charge. Pride teaches us that we are in charge. Humility teaches us to understand and live by principles, because they ultimately govern the consequences of our actions. If humility is the mother, courage is the father of wisdom. Because to truly live by these principles when they are contrary to social mores, norms and values takes enormous courage.
Stephen R Covey
It’s not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us.
Stephen R Covey
I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a “transformer” in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader.
Stephen R Covey
Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do).
Stephen R Covey
Between stimulus and response is our greatest power – the freedom to choose.
Stephen R Covey
We accomplish all that we do through delegation- either to time or to other people.
Stephen R Covey
Live out of your imagination, not your history.
Stephen R Covey
A cardinal principle of Total Quality escapes too many managers: you cannot continuously improve interdependent systems and processes until you progressively perfect interdependent, interpersonal relationships.
Stephen R Covey
Opposition is a natural part of life. Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition – such as lifting weights- we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.
Stephen R Covey
Courage isn’t absence of fear, it is the awareness that something else is important.
Stephen R Covey
Attending church does not necessarily mean living the principles taught in those meeting. You can be active in a church but inactive in its gospel.
Stephen R Covey
Management works in the system; Leadership works on the system.
Stephen R Covey
To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground.
Stephen R Covey
We are limited but we can push back the borders of our limitations.
Stephen R Covey
It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the business of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it’s leaning against the wrong wall.
Stephen R Covey
People with a scarcity mentality tend to see everything in terms of win-lose. There is only so much; and if someone else has it, that means there will be less for me. The more principle-centered we become, the more we develop an abundance mentality, the more we are genuinely happy for the successes, well-being, achievements, recognition, and good fortune of other people. We believe their success adds to…rather than detracts from…our lives.
Stephen R Covey
Most people think of leadership as a position and therefore don’t see themselves as leaders.
Stephen R Covey
Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us.
Stephen R Covey
How you treat the one reveals how you regard the many, because everyone is ultimately a one.
Stephen R Covey
Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character…
Stephen R Covey
Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us.
Stephen R Covey
Accountability breeds response-ability.
Stephen R Covey
If you organize your family life to spend even ten or fifteen minutes a morning reading something that connects you with these timeless principles, its almost guaranteed that you will make better choices during the day- in the family, on the job, in every dimension of life. Your thoughts will be higher. Your interactions will be more satisfying. You will have a greater perspective. You will increase that space between what happens to you and your response to it. You will be more connected to what really matters most.
Stephen R Covey
It’s easy to say “no!” when there’s a deeper “yes!” burning inside.
Stephen R Covey
Treat them all the same by treating them differently.
Stephen R Covey
Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential. They experience synergy only in small, peripheral ways in their lives. But creative experiences can be produced regularly, consistently, almost daily in people’s lives. It requires enormous personal security and openness and a spirit of adventure.
Stephen R Covey
There are three constants in life… Change, Choice and Principles.
Stephen R Covey
Interdependency follows independence.
Stephen R Covey
Our problems and pain are universal and increasing, and the solutions to the problems are and always will be based upon universal, timeless, self-evident principles common to every enduring, prospering society throughout history.
Stephen R Covey
Love is a verb. Love – the feeling – is the fruit of love the verb or our loving actions. So love her. Sacrifice. Listen to her. Empathize. Appreciate. Affirm her.
Stephen R Covey
Nothing is more exciting and bonding in relationships than creating together.
Stephen R Covey
We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they should be. And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of these assumptions.
Stephen R Covey
We see the world, not as it is, but as we are- or, as we are conditioned to see it.
Stephen R Covey
As long as you think the problem is out there, that very thought is the problem.
Stephen R Covey
If we do not teach our children, society will. And they- and we- will live with the results.
Stephen R Covey
