Stephen Covey Quotes
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The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person. Reactive people are driven by feelings, by circumstances, by conditions, by their environment. Proactive people are driven by values - carefully thought about, selected and internalized values.
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Too many vacations that last too long, too many movies, too much TV, too much video game playing - too much undisciplined leisure time in which a person continually takes the course of least resistance gradually wastes a life. It ensures that a person's capacities stay dormant, that talents remain undeveloped, that the mind and spirit become lethargic and that the heart remains unfulfilled.
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Listen, involve, synergize at work. Then you will bury the old and create an entirely new winning culture which will unleash people's talents and create complementary teams where strengths are made productive and weakness are made irrelevant through the strengths of others.
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The world has entered an era of the most profound and challenging change in human history.
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As a principle-centered person you try to stand apart from the emotion of the situation and from other factors that would act on you, and evaluate the options. Looking at the balanced whole-the work needs, the family needs, the other needs that may be involved, and the possible implications of the various alternatives - you'll try to come up with the best solution taking all factors into consideration. We are limited but we can push back the borders of our limitations.
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If we want to make relatively minor changes in our lives, we can perhaps appropriately focus on our attitudes and behaviors. But if we want to make significant, quantum change, we need to work on our basic paradigms.
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Frustration is a function of our expectations.
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Accountability breeds response-ability.
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We must never be too busy to take time to sharpen the saw.
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Writing distills, crystallizes, and clarifies thought.
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Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.
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Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other.
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Start small, make a promise and keep it. Then, make larger promises and keep them. Eventually, your honor will become greater than your moods or your circumstances, which includes your medical condition and other people's stereotypic observations. Once you overcome this comparison based mentality, your confidence will soar.
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The ability to manage well doesn't make much difference if you're not even in the right jungle.
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By centering our lives on correct principles and creating a balanced focus between doing and increasing our ability to do, we become empowered to the task of creating effective useful and peaceful lives.
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You have to water the flowers you want to grow.
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We accomplish all that we do through delegation - either to time or to other people.
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We immediately become more effective when we decide to change ourselves rather than asking things to change for us.
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The universal elements are integrity, vision, discipline, passion, governed by conscience. Conscience has been educated through studying and pondering the universal, timeless principles of all six major world religions.
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We can act instead of being acted upon.
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Our capacity for production and enjoyment is a function, in the last analysis, of our character, our integrity.
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Stop setting goals. Goals are pure fantasy unless you have a specific plan to achieve them.
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To receive gratitude with grace is a form of gratitude by itself, and not always an easy art to master.
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Be proactive. Ask yourself, "Are my actions based on self-chosen values or on my moods, feelings and circumstances?"