Stephen Covey Quotes
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We must never be too busy to take time to sharpen the saw.
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Keep in mind that you are always saying "no" to something. If it isn't to the apparent and urgent things in your life, it is probably to the most fundamental, highly important things.
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We don't invent our missions, we detect them.
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Be sure that, as you scramble up the ladder of success, it is leaning against the right building.
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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'.
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The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
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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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It's a fact that more people watch television and get their information that way than read books. I find new technology and new ways of communication very exciting and would like to do more in this field.
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Affirm people. Affirm your children. Believe in them, not in what you see but in what you don't see - their potential.
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Fundamentally, we are a product of choice, not nature (genes) or nurture (upbringing, environment).
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Effective people stay out of Quadrants III and IV because, urgent or not, they aren't important. They also shrink Quadrant I down to size by spending more time in Quadrant II...Quadrant II is the heart of effective personal management.
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We tend to get what we expect - both from ourselves and from others. When we expect more, we tend to get more; when we expect less, we tend to get less.
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Conscience connects us with the wisdom of the ages and the wisdom of the heart.
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Trust is clearly a key competency. A competency or skill that can be learned, taught, and improved and one that talent can be screened for.
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You think effectiveness with people and efficiency with things.
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The amateur salesman sells products; the professional sells solutions to needs and problems.
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The more aware we are of our basic paradigms, maps, or assumptions, and the extent to which we have been influenced by our experience, the more we can take responsibility for those paradigms, examine them, test them against reality, listen to others and be open to their perceptions, thereby getting a larger picture and a far more objective view.
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Unfortunately, too many executives believe the myths about trust. Myths like how trust is soft and is merely a social virtue. The reality is that trust is hard-edged and is an economic driver.
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Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree. "What are you doing?" you ask. "Can't you see?" comes the impatient reply. "I'm sawing down this tree." "You look exhausted!" you exclaim. "How long have you been at it?" "Over five hours," he returns, "and I'm beat! This is hard work." 'Well, why don't you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?" you inquire. "I'm sure it would go a lot faster." "I don't have time to sharpen the saw," the man says emphatically. "I'm too busy sawing!"
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If you are an effective manager of your self, your discipline comes from within; it is a function of your independent will. You are a disciple, a follower, of your own deep values and their source. And you have the will, the integrity, to subordinate your feelings, your impulses, your moods to those values.
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You can't change the fruit without changing the root.
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By behaving in ways that build trust with one, you build trust with many.
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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.
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Synergy is what happens when one plus one equals ten or a hundred or even a thousand! It's the profound result when two or more respectful human beings determine to go beyond their preconceived ideas to meet a great challenge.