Inspirational Stephen Covey Quotes & Sayings

Best selected inspirational Stephen Covey Quotes the famous entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker of his time. These quotes by Stephen Covey will motivate and inspire you and you will be much wiser in your business venture.

Sometimes poor behavior is simply bad execution of good intent. ~Stephen Covey

Be governed by your internal compass, not by some clock on the wall. ~Stephen Covey

I think that [respect for people] is of profound importance because it means you are caring and you trust them to do the right thing. ~Stephen Covey

The key to motivation is motive. ~Stephen Covey

We are product of neither nature nor nurture; we are a product of choice, because there is always a space between stimulus and response. As we wisely exercise our power to choose based on principles, the space will become larger. ~Stephen Covey

Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers. You can buy a person's hand, but you can't buy his heart; his heart is where his enthusiasm is. You can buy his back, but you can't buy his brain. That's where his creativity is. Treat employees as volunteers just as you treat customers as volunteers, because that's what they are. They volunteer the best parts - their hearts and minds. ~Stephen 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 Covey

Habit : Be Proactive Habit : Begin with the End in Mind Habit : Put First Things First Habit : Think Win/Win Habit : Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood Habit : Synergize Habit : Sharpen the Saw ~Stephen Covey

Begin with the end in mind. ~Stephen Covey

If you're proactive, you don't have to wait for circumstances or other people to create perspective expanding experiences. You can consciously create your own. ~Stephen Covey

Internal victories precede external victories. ~Stephen Covey

It's not only a matter of when to do things, but whether or not to do them at all. ~Stephen Covey

People are social beings and want interaction and social learning is the primary form of learning, just as word of mouth advertising is the highest form of advertising. ~Stephen Covey

I affirm to you the tremendous potential you have, not beyond anything you could ever imagine. ~Stephen Covey

Principles always have natural consequences attached to them. There are positive consequences when we live in harmony with the principles. There are negative consequences when we ignore them. But because these principles apply to everyone, whether or not they are aware, this limitation is universal. And the more we know of correct principles, the greater is our personal freedom to act wisely. ~Stephen Covey

Synergy: The combined effect of individuals in collaboration that exceeds the sum of their individual effects. ~Stephen Covey

In my own experience, both personally and professionally, I've learned that you don't wait to confront reality. It doesn't get easier. It doesn't get better. And, in some cases, if you don't get the relevant information from people and act quickly, you start losing options. You're into damage control. ~Stephen Covey

If you can hire people whose passion intersects with the job, they won't require any supervision at all. They will manage themselves better than anyone could ever manage them. Their fire comes from within, not from without. Their motivation is internal, not external. ~Stephen Covey

If you want to achieve your highest aspirations and overcome your greatest challenges, identify and apply the principle or natural law that governs the results you seek. How we apply a principle will vary greatly and will be determined by our unique strengths, talents, and creativity, but, ultimately, success in any endeavor is always derived from acting in harmony with the principles to which the success is tied. ~Stephen Covey

All things are created twice. All things. Vision is the first creation. For a house it's called the blueprint. For a life it's called a mission. For a day it's called a goal and a plan. For a parent it's called a belief in the unseen potential of a child. For all, it is the mental creation which always precedes the physical, or second, creation. ~Stephen Covey

If we overcome the pull and "get up and get at it," we will have won a victory. We have kept our own resolve. We can then move to other things, for by small means great things are accomplished. Thus, even this one small step is also in another sense a giant leap. ~Stephen Covey

If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster. ~Stephen Covey

If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're getting. ~Stephen Covey

When you study the lives of all great achievers-those who have had the greatest influence on others, those who have made things happen-you will find a pattern. Through their persistent efforts and inner struggle, they have greatly expanded their four native human intelligences or capacities. The highest manifestations of these four intelligences are: for mental, vision; for the physical, discipline; for the emotional, passion; for the spiritual, conscience. These manifestations also represent our highest means of expressing our voice. ~Stephen Covey

The power to distinguish between person and performance and to communicate intrinsic worth flows naturally out of our own sense of intrinsic worth. ~Stephen Covey

I find most meetings are a waste of time, because they are so ill-prepared and there's little opportunity for true synergy in producing better solutions than what anyone originally thought of. So I work hard to only attend those meetings that have strategic importance and miss all kinds of other seemingly urgent meetings. ~Stephen Covey

Leadership is communicating people's worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it themselves. ~Stephen Covey

Remember, technology is a great servant, but a terrible master. ~Stephen Covey

All things are created twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation. The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a blueprint. If you don't make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default. ~Stephen Covey

Patience is emotional diligence. ~Stephen Covey

Give no answer to contentious arguments or irresponsible accusations. Let such things "fly out open windows" until they spend themselves. ~Stephen Covey

Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important. ~Stephen Covey

Inevitably, anytime we are too vulnerable we feel the need to protect ourselves from further wounds. So we resort to sarcasm, cutting humor, criticism - anything that will keep from exposing the tenderness within. Each partner tends to wait on the initiative of the other for love, only to be disappointed but also confirmed as to the rightness of the accusations made. ~Stephen Covey

Perform anonymous service. Whenever we do good for others anonymously, our sense of intrinsic worth and self-respect increases. ... Selfless service has always been one of the most powerful methods of influence. ~Stephen Covey

If you want to be trusted, be trustworthy. ~Stephen Covey

In our personal lives, if we do not develop our own self-awareness and become responsible for first creations, we empower other people and circumstances to shape our lives by default. ~Stephen Covey

If you don't choose to do it in leadership time up front, you do it in crisis management time down the road. ~Stephen Covey

Self-awareness involves deep personal honesty. It comes from asking and answering hard questions. ~Stephen Covey

Each of us tends to think we see things as they are, that we are objective. But this is not the case. We see the world, not as it is, but as we are - or as we are conditioned to see it. ~Stephen Covey

Difference is the beginning of synergy. ~Stephen Covey

When trust is high, the dividend you receive is like a performance multiplier, elevating and improving every dimension of your organization and your life.... In a company, high trust materially improves communication, collaboration, execution, innovation, strategy, engagement, partnering, and relationships with all stakeholders. ~Stephen Covey

The greatest risk is the risk of riskless living. ~Stephen Covey

The key to creating passion in your life is to find your unique talents, and your special role and purpose in the world. ~Stephen Covey

You're not a product of your nature. That is your genetic makeup or your nurture, the things that have happened to you. Of course those things affect you powerfully, but they do not determine you. ~Stephen Covey

We are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish those goals. ~Stephen Covey

Principles are deep fundamental truths... lightly interwoven threads running with exactness, consistency, beauty and strength through the fabric of life. ~Stephen Covey

Synergy is everywhere in nature. If you plant two plants close together, the roots commingle and improve the quality of the soil so that both plants will grow better than if they were separated. If you put two pieces of wood together, they will hold much more than the total weight held by each separately. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. One plus one equals three or more. ~Stephen Covey

Instead, I have an abundance mentality: When people are genuinely happy at the successes of others, the pie gets larger. ~Stephen Covey

In this knowledge-worker age, it's now increasingly tied to doing well in school so you can get into better grad schools so you can get better jobs - so the pressure to do well is really high. ~Stephen Covey

I am convinced that if we as a society work diligently in every other area of life and neglect the family, it would be analogous to straightening deck chairs on the Titanic. ~Stephen Covey

Most people struggle with life balance simply because they haven't paid the price to decide what is really important to them. ~Stephen Covey

I try to exercise regularly every day, if I can. It renews you and it gives you more balance in your life. This is a key leverage point. ~Stephen Covey

The struggle comes when we sense a gap between the clock and the compass - when what we do doesn't contribute to what is most important in our lives. ~Stephen Covey

The key to the many is often the one; it is how you regard and talk about the one in that one's absence or presence that communicates to the many how you would regard and talk about them in their presence or absence. ~Stephen Covey

We don't invent our missions, we detect them. ~Stephen Covey

The more people train their counsciousness, the more sensitivie they are to it. It's like you had your own voice coming to you. ~Stephen Covey

Employees are given the chance to help shape their company by participating in a company-wide communications program making suggestions on waste reduction, environmental improvement, customer satisfaction, quality improvement, and safety issues. ~Stephen Covey

The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person. ~Stephen Covey

When people seriously undertake to identify what really matters most to them in their lives, what they really want to be and do, they become very reverent. They start to think in larger terms than today and tomorrow. ~Stephen Covey

When you make a commitment to yourself, do so with the clear understanding that you're pledging your integrity. ~Stephen Covey

Role modeling is the most basic responsibility of parents. Parents are handing life's scripts to their children, scripts that in all likelihood will be acted out for the rest of the children's lives. ~Stephen Covey

I believe that the habit of constant reading of good books and scholarly periodicals and magazines in many disciplines is vital to give a larger perspective and to constantly sense the interdependent nature of life. ~Stephen Covey

Through it all I have learned that parenting is basically a life of self sacrifice. ~Stephen Covey

We are free to choose our response in any situation, but in doing so we chose the attendant consequence. If we pick up one end of the stick, we pick up the other. ~Stephen Covey

Interdependence is a higher value than independence ~Stephen Covey

How can you possibly reconcile the justice of God with the idea that only through Christ can you be saved? Most of the world lives and dies and never even hears of Christ. There has to be some mechanism set up for all those who have ever lived to have an opportunity to hear of Christ. ~Stephen Covey

Every human has four endowments - self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change. ~Stephen Covey

Link yourself to your potential, not to your past. ~Stephen Covey

The world has entered an era of the most profound and challenging change in human history. ~Stephen Covey

Public behavior is merely private character writ large. ~Stephen Covey

We are free to choose our actions, . . . but we are not free to choose the consequences of these actions. ~Stephen Covey

In many situations involving service recovery - the problem itself became the catalyst for the creation of even greater trust as the companies took the issues head-on and worked through the difficult problem in a way that restored confidence. ~Stephen Covey

Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character. ~Stephen Covey

If we live out of our memory, we're tied to the past and to that which is finite. When we live out of our imagination, we're tied to that which is infinite. ~Stephen Covey

Be a function of your values rather than a function of the impulse or desire of any given moment. ~Stephen Covey

Doing the right things for the right reason in the right way is the key to Quality of Life! ~Stephen Covey

The only person I know, is the person I want to be ~Stephen Covey

If you have a family mission statement that clarifies what your purpose is, then you use that as the criterion by which you make the decisions. ~Stephen Covey

The only person over whom you have direct and immediate control is yourself. The most important assets to develop, preserve and enhance, therefore, are your own capabilities. And no one can do it for you. You must cultivate the habit of leadership effectiveness for yourself - and doing so will be the single best investment you will ever make. ~Stephen Covey

What difference would a clear vision of my principles, values, and ultimate objectives make in the way I spend my time? ~Stephen Covey

Time management is a misnomer, the challenge is to manage ourselves. ~Stephen Covey

Make time for planning: Wars are won in the general's tent. ~Stephen Covey

Before a performance, a sales presentation, a difficult confrontation, or the daily challenge of meeting a goal, see it clearly, vividly, relentlessly, over and over again. Create an internal "comfort zone". Then, when you get into the situation, it isn't foreign. It doesn't scare you. ~Stephen Covey

The solutions to our problems are and always will be based upon universal, timeless, self-evident principles common to every enduring, prospering society throughout history. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

The spirit of America has nurtured responsibility and community unlike any other country. ~Stephen Covey

What we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do. There are people we trust because we know their character. Whether they're eloquent or not, whether they have human-relations techniques or not, we trust them and work with them. ~Stephen Covey

The greatest and most inspiring mountain climbing achievements in history are not so much stories of individual achievement, but are stories of the extraordinary power of a unified, talented, prepared team that stays loyally committed to one another and to their shared vision to the end. ~Stephen Covey

The way we see the problem is the problem. ~Stephen Covey

Once you have a clear picture of your priorities - that is values, goals, and high leverage activities - organize around them. ~Stephen Covey

My parents were just constantly affirming me in everything that I did. Late at night, I'd wake up and hear my mother talking over my bed, saying, 'You're going to do great on this test. You can do anything you want.' ~Stephen Covey

At the core, there is one simple, overarching reason why so many people remain unsatisfied in their work and why most organisations fail to draw out the greatest talent, ingenuity, and creativity of their people and never become truly great, enduring organisations. It stems from an incomplete paradigm of who we are - our fundamental view of human nature. The fundamental reality is, human beings are not things needing to be motivated and controlled; they are four-dimensional - body, mind, heart, and spirit. ~Stephen Covey

If you don't set your goals based upon your Mission Statement, you may be climbing the ladder of success only to realize, when you get to the top, you're on the WRONG building. ~Stephen Covey

Remember that our reactions are a product of our perceptions, and our perceptions are a result of what is at the center of our life. ~Stephen Covey

If you are an effective manager of your self, your discipline comes from within; it is a function of your independent will. ~Stephen Covey

One of the things that I have admired about India is the spiritualism of the people. ~Stephen Covey

For me, the essence of the great American Dream is spiritual. I believe that our Constitution is inspired and that it is based on principles that are timeless and universal. This is the reason why % of all written constitutions throughout the world are modeled after our Constitution. ~Stephen Covey

It is futile to put personality ahead of character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving ourselves. ~Stephen Covey

The enemy of the "best" is often the "good." ~Stephen Covey

While you can think in terms of efficiency in dealing with time, a principle-centered person thinks in terms of effectiveness in dealing with people. ~Stephen Covey

Spiritual Intelligence represents our drive for meaning and connection with the infinite. ~Stephen Covey

Moral authority comes from following universal and timeless principles like honesty, integrity, treating people with respect. ~Stephen Covey

People don't listen to understand. They listen to reply. The collective monologue is everyone talking and no one listening. ~Stephen Covey

Distinguish between the person and the behavior or performance. ~Stephen Covey

We can't live without eating, but we don't live to eat. ~Stephen Covey

Network marketing has come of age. It's undeniable that it has become a way to entrepreneurship and independence for millions of people ~Stephen Covey

Principles are the territory. Values are maps. ~Stephen Covey

Happiness can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually. ~Stephen Covey

Trust is central to an economy that works. ~Stephen 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 Covey

Some people achieve the top of the ladder and only then realise it was standing against the wrong wall. ~Stephen Covey

You have to water the flowers you want to grow. ~Stephen Covey

When we listen with the intent to understand others, rather than with the intent to reply, we begin true communication and relationship building. Opportunities to then speak openly and to be understood come much more naturally and easily. ~Stephen Covey

When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That's when you can get more creative in solving problems. ~Stephen Covey

To blame and accuse other people, is to choose to empower them, to control us. ~Stephen Covey

Peace of counscious is greater than peace of mind. Peace of mind is more externally oriented. Peace of consciousness is when you know you have been honest in all your business dealings. ~Stephen Covey

When parents see their children's problems as opportunities to build the relationship instead of as negative, burdensome irritations, it totally changes the nature of parent-child interaction. Parents become more willing, even excited, about deeply understanding and helping their children. . . . This paradigm is powerful in business as well. ~Stephen Covey

To be successful we must live from our imaginations, not from our memories. ~Stephen Covey

If I really want to improve my situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control - myself. ~Stephen Covey

There's strong data that, within companies, the No. reason for ethical violations is the pressure to meet expectations, sometimes unrealistic expectations. ~Stephen Covey

The only thing that endures over time is the 'Law of the Farm.' You must prepare the ground, plant the seed, cultivate, and water if you expect to reap the harvest. ~Stephen Covey

An empowered organisation is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organisational success. ~Stephen Covey

People behave more on the basis of how they feel than how they think; unless there are good feelings between people, it is almost impossible to reason intelligently. ~Stephen Covey

A life of integrity is the most fundamental source of personal worth. ~Stephen Covey

You don't see the world as it is, you see it according to who you are. ~Stephen Covey

Building and repairing relationships are long-term investments. ~Stephen Covey

Make small commitments and keep them. Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic. Be a part of the solution, not the problem. ~Stephen Covey

Paradigms are powerful because they create the lens through which we see the world. ~Stephen Covey

But with the steady disintegration of the family in modern society over the last century, the role of the school in bridging the gap has become vital! ~Stephen Covey

Results matter! They matter to your credibility. ~Stephen Covey

One of the best ways to educate our hearts is to look at our interaction with other people, because our relationships with others are fundamentally a reflection of our relationship with ourselves. ~Stephen Covey

As human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values. ~Stephen Covey

The human will is an amazing thing. Time after time, it has triumphed against unbelievable odds. ~Stephen 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 Covey

The challenge is not to manage time, but to manage ourselves. ~Stephen Covey

Win-win is a belief in the Third Alternative. It's not your way or my way; it's a better way, a higher way. ~Stephen Covey

Once you've found your own voice, the choice to expand your influence, to increase your contribution, is the choice to inspire others to find their voice. ~Stephen Covey

Exercise integrity in the moment of truth. ~Stephen Covey

The exercise of true leadership is inversely proportional to the exercise of power. ~Stephen Covey

By centering our lives on timeless, unchanging principles, we create a fundamental paradigm of effective living. It is the center that puts all other centers in perspective. ~Stephen Covey

The key to acting with integrity is to simply stop playing the game. ~Stephen 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 Covey

Frustration is a function of our expectations, and our expectations are often a reflection of the social mirror rather than our own values and priorities. ~Stephen Covey

There are principles that govern human effectiveness - natural laws in the human dimension that are just as real, just as unchanging and unarguably there as laws such as gravity are in the physical dimension. ~Stephen Covey

Principles are the basis for developing a vision and value system for all. ~Stephen Covey

The amateur salesman sells products; the professional sells solutions to needs and problems. ~Stephen Covey

The reflection of the current social paradigm tells us we are largely determined by conditioning and conditions. ~Stephen Covey

In addition to self-awareness, imagination and conscience, it is the fourth human endowment - independent will - that really makes effective self-management possible. It is the ability to make decisions and choices and to act in accordance with them. It is the ability to act rather than to be acted upon, to proactively carry out the program we have developed through the other three endowments. Empowerment comes from learning how to use this great endowment in the decisions we make every day. ~Stephen Covey

It is one thing to make a mistake, and quite another thing not to admit it. ~Stephen Covey

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out. ~Stephen Covey

One of the most important ways to manifest integrity is to be loyal to those who are not present. In doing so, we build the trust of those who are present. ~Stephen Covey

Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success. ~Stephen Covey

Technology and tools are useful and powerful when they are your servant and not your master. ~Stephen Covey

You can say you love someone - but unless you demonstrate that love through your actions, your words become meaningless. ~Stephen Covey

It is possible to be busy-very busy-without being very effective. ~Stephen Covey

It's not what people do to us that hurts us. In the most fundamental sense, it is our chosen response to what they do to us that hurts us. ~Stephen Covey

Real excellence does not come cheaply. A certain price must be paid in terms of practice, patience, and persistence - natural ability notwithstanding. ~Stephen Covey

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!" ~Stephen Covey

Actually I did not invent the seven habits, they are universal principles and most of what I wrote about is just common sense. I am embarrassed when people talk about the Covey Habits, and dislike the idea of being some sort of guru. ~Stephen Covey

I know it is possible not only to restore trust but to actually enhance it. The difficult things that we got through with the important people in our lives can become fertile ground for the growth of enduring trust - trust that is actually stronger because it's been tested and proved through challenge. ~Stephen Covey

Your power to choose your direction of your life allows you to reinvent yourself, to change your future, and to powerfully influence the rest of creation. ~Stephen Covey

We need to have business leaders who live by deep, strong principles. ~Stephen Covey

The only way we can handle change around us is to know what is changeless about ourselves ~Stephen Covey

Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. ~Stephen Covey

One thing's for sure. If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're getting. One definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect different results. ~Stephen 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 Covey

To me, the essence of keeping the soul nourished is obedience to one's conscience. I don't think that the soul can be nourished unless people have a strong sense of conscience that they have educated and developed and soaked in the universal and timeless principles of integrity and service. This way, the individual's soul becomes part of the universal soul of service, contribution, and making a difference. ~Stephen Covey

The nature of life is to be a study of contrasts: joy/sadness, full/empty. The Main Thing is to Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing. ~Stephen Covey

If the big rocks don't go in first, they aren't going to fit in later. ~Stephen 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 Covey

Most people define greatness through wealth and popularity and position in the corner office. But what I call everyday greatness comes from character and contribution. ~Stephen Covey

A mission statement is not something you write overnight... But fundamentally, your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life. ~Stephen Covey

In the long run, you can never accomplish a worthy end with an unworthy means. ~Stephen Covey

I believe in Coach Louis Wong. He is so much more than just a football coach. ~Stephen Covey

Empathic listening is so powerful because it gives you accurate data to work with. Instead of projecting your own autobiography and assuming thoughts, feelings, motives and interpretation, you're dealing with the reality inside another person's head and heart. You're listening to understand. You're focused on receiving the deep communication of another human soul. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

To ignore the unexpected (even if it were possible) would be to live without opportunity, spontaneity, and the rich moments of which "life" is made. ~Stephen Covey

Our lives are the results of our choices. To blame and accuse other people, the environment, or other extrinsic factors is to choose to empower those things to control us. ~Stephen Covey

It is extremely ironic that the more we care about what people think about us the less we care about people, and the less we care about what people think about us the more we begin to care for others ~Stephen Covey

Where there's no gardener, there's no garden. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

Trust is a competency. It's something you can get good at. It's a strength you personally, and your team and your company can master. Being good at it will elevate every other strength you have. ~Stephen Covey

Everyone chooses one of two roads in life - the old and the young, the rich and the poor, men and women alike. One is the broad, well-traveled road to mediocrity, the other road to greatness and meaning. ~Stephen Covey

Most learning is social, or what I call the cultural DNA. Everyone knows that word of mouth advertising is the best advertising. That's social learning. ~Stephen Covey

It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize. ~Stephen Covey

"You can buy a person's hand, but you can't buy their heart. His heart is where his enthusiasm, his loyalty is. You can buy his back, but you can't buy his brain. That's where his creativity is, his ingenuity, his his resourcefulness." ~Stephen Covey

You basically get what you reward. If you want to achieve the goals and reflect the values in your mission statement, then you need to align the reward system with these goals and values. ~Stephen Covey

Be a light, not a judge, be a model not a critic. Little by little, your circle of influence will explode and you will avoid the emotional metastasizing cancers of complaining, criticizing, competing, comparing and cynicism, all which reflect victimization, all of which are the opposite of being proactive. ~Stephen Covey

To focus on technique is like cramming your way through school. You sometimes get by, perhaps even get good grades, but if you don't pay the price day in and day out, you'll never achieve true mastery of the subjects you study or develop an educated mind. ~Stephen Covey

Free your heart from hatred - forgive. Free your mind from worries - most never happen. Live simply and appreciate what you have. Give more. Expect less. ~Stephen Covey

The essence of the best thinking in the area of time management (practice planning) can be captured in a single phrase: Organize and execute around priorities ~Stephen 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 Covey

Self-awareness is our capacity to stand apart from ourselves and examine our thinking, our motives, our history, our scripts, our actions, and our habits and tendencies. ~Stephen Covey

Don't cheat people of their growth. Empower them to solve problems and generate ideas. Watch them grow! ~Stephen Covey

Fundamentally, we are a product of choice, not nature (genes) or nurture (upbringing, environment). ~Stephen Covey

When people have a real sense of legacy, a sense of mattering, a sense of contribution, it seems to tap into the deepest part of their heart and soul. It brings out the best and subordinates the rest. ~Stephen Covey

When you listen with empathy to another person, you give that person psychological air. ~Stephen Covey

Treat them all the same by treating them differently. ~Stephen Covey

The more people rationalize cheating, the more it becomes a culture of dishonesty. And that can become a vicious, downward cycle. Because suddenly, if everyone else is cheating, you feel a need to cheat, too. ~Stephen Covey

I believe that a life of integrity I the most fundamental source of personal worth. I do not agree with the popular success literature that says that self-esteem is primarily a matter of mind set, of attitude-that you can psych yourself into peace of mind. Peace of mind comes when your life is in harmony with true principles and values and in no other way. ~Stephen Covey

Principles don't die. They aren't here one day and gone the next. They can't be destroyed by fire, earthquake or theft. Principles are deep, fundamental truths, classic truths. ~Stephen Covey

Valuing differences is what really drives synergy. Do you truly value the mental, emotional, and psychological differences among people? Or do you wish everyone would just agree with you so you could all get along? Many people mistake uniformity for unity; sameness for oneness. One word--boring! Differences should be seen as strengths, not weaknesses. They add zest to life. ~Stephen Covey

Our character is basically a composite of our habits. ~Stephen Covey

We accomplish all that we do through delegation - either to time or to other people. ~Stephen Covey

Nothing is as fast as the speed of trust. Nothing is as fulfilling as a relationship of trust. Nothing is as inspiring as an offering of trust. Nothing is as profitable as the economics of trust. Nothing has more influence than a reputation of trust. ~Stephen Covey

Seek to understand rather than be understood. ~Stephen Covey

If you don't have confidence in the diagnosis, you won't have confidence in the prescription. ~Stephen 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 Covey

Taking initiative is a form of self-empowerment. ~Stephen Covey

Reducing children to a test score is the worst form of identity theft we could commit in schools. ~Stephen Covey

You can't talk your way out of problems you behave yourself into. ~Stephen Covey

People and their managers are working so hard to be sure things are done right, that they have hardly have time to decide if they are doing the right things. ~Stephen Covey

You can't live principals you can't understand. ~Stephen Covey

We see the world, not as it is, but as we are──or, as we are conditioned to see it. ~Stephen Covey

An abundance mentality springs from internal security, not from external rankings, comparisons, opinions, possessions, or associations. ~Stephen Covey

I teach people how to treat me by what I will allow. ~Stephen Covey

A moment of choice is a moment of truth. It's the testing point of our character and competence. ~Stephen Covey

Both times I was in India, I could not get people to listen to each other. I had to literally tell people to listen to each other and tell them that they can't get creative and find alternate solutions if they don't listen to each other. There's a lot of arguing and justifying. ~Stephen Covey

To judge individuals before understanding them is a form of human rejection and feeds upon itself. ~Stephen Covey

when you get a good night's sleep and wake up ready to produce throughout the day. ~Stephen Covey

Our behavior is governed by principles. Living in harmony with them brings positive consequences; violating them brings negative consequences. ~Stephen Covey

If I were to summarize in one sentence the single most important principle I have learned in the field of interpersonal relations, it would be this: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. This principle is the key to effective interpersonal communication. ~Stephen 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 Covey

We may find it convenient to live with the illusion that circumstances or other people are responsible for the quality of our lives, but the reality is that we are responsible-response-able-for our choices. ~Stephen Covey

The problems in life come when we're sowing one thing and expecting to reap something entirely different. ~Stephen Covey

A personal mission statement becomes the DNA for every other decision we make. ~Stephen Covey

Every exaggeration of the truth once detected by others destroys our credibility and makes all that we do and say suspect. ~Stephen Covey

Quality relationships are built on principles, especially the principle of trust. ~Stephen Covey

Common sense is not always common practice. ~Stephen Covey

When you engage in a work that taps your talent and fuels your passion-that rises out of a great need in the world that you feel drawn by conscience to meet-therein lies your voice, your calling, your soul's code. ~Stephen Covey

At some time in your life, you probably had someone believe in you when you didn't believe in yourself. ~Stephen Covey

It takes humility to seek feedback. It takes wisdom to understand it, analyze it and appropriately act on it. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

You can't be successful with other people if you haven't paid the price of success with yourself. ~Stephen Covey

Everyone has values; even criminal gangs have values. Values govern people's behavior but principles govern the consequences of those behaviors. ~Stephen Covey

Seek to understand before you seek to be understood. ~Stephen Covey

Love - the feeling - is a fruit of love, the verb. ~Stephen Covey

Creating and integrating an empowering personal mission statement is one of the most important investments we can make. ~Stephen Covey

As long as you think the problem is out there, that very thought is the problem ~Stephen Covey

Would you not agree that relationships are built on trust? Would you not also agree that most individuals think more in terms of "me-my wants, my needs, my rights? What would wisdom dictate - would it not direct us to focus on trust-building principles and sacrificing 'me' for 'we'?" ~Stephen Covey

When we succumb to believing that we are victims of our circumstances and yield to the plight of determinism, we lose hope, we lose drive, and we settle into resignation and stagnation. ~Stephen Covey

Don't get buried in the thick of thin things. ~Stephen Covey

Only as we keep an open communication with our deep inner life will we have the wisdom to make effective choices. ~Stephen Covey

It's like the more you know the more you know you don't know. ~Stephen Covey

To Retain those who are present, be loyal to those who are absent. ~Stephen Covey

Trust is equal parts character and competence... You can look at any leadership failure, and it's always a failure of one or the other. ~Stephen Covey

Family home evening is more for the purpose of teaching values and gospel principles, displaying talents and enjoying different kinds of family fun and activities. ~Stephen Covey

I am senting many books for endorsement purposes, which enables me to stay relevant in my own field, and I have people that help me decide which ones I should read and endorse. ~Stephen Covey

Almost every significant breakthrough is the result of a courageous break with traditional ways of thinking. ~Stephen Covey

When we say that leadership is a choice, it basically means you can choose the level of initiative you want to exercise in response to the question, "˜What is the best I can do under the given circumstances?' ~Stephen Covey

Integrity in the Moment of Choice Quality of life depends on what happens in the space between stimulus and response. ~Stephen Covey

To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

Live out of your imagination, not your history. ~Stephen Covey

Organize and execute around priorities. ~Stephen Covey

Habit is taking the time to sharpen the saw. By renewing the four dimensions of your nature - physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional, you can work more quickly and effortlessly. To do this, we must be proactive. This is a Quadrant II (important, not urgent) activity that must be acted on. It's at the center of our Circle of Influence, so we must do it for ourselves. ~Stephen Covey

We must never be too busy to take time to sharpen the saw. ~Stephen Covey

Life is a mission, not a career. ~Stephen Covey

I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. ~Stephen Covey

If you want the secondary greatness of recognized talent, focus first on primary greatness of character. ~Stephen Covey

Interdependency follows independence. ~Stephen Covey

I won't take time to repeat all the obvious benefits of physical exercise but will only underscore the well-attested fact that a program of regular exercise increases one's efficiency in every facet of life, including the depth and restfulness of sleep. And the time taken can be minimal; just a few minutes of calisthenics and running in place in one's room or jogging around the yard or block is often sufficient. Exercising doesn't take time. It saves time. Still, few consistently do it. ~Stephen Covey

I believe that correct principles are natural laws, and that God, the Creator and Father of us all, is the source of them, and also the source of our conscience. I believe that to the degree people live by this inspired conscience, they will grow to fulfill their natures; to the degree that they do not, they will not rise above the animal plane. ~Stephen Covey

Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment. ~Stephen Covey

Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response. ~Stephen Covey

If you want to have a more pleasant,cooperative teenager, be a more understanding, emphatic, consistent, loving parent. ~Stephen Covey

Effective leadership is the only competitive advantage that will endure. That's because leadership has two sides- what a person is character and what a person does- competence. ~Stephen Covey

'In empathic listening you listen with your ears, but you also, and more importantly, listen with you eyes and with your heart. You listen for feeling, for meaning. You listen for behaviour. You use your right brain as well as your left. You sense, you intuit, you feel.' ... 'You have to open yourself up to be influenced'. ~Stephen Covey

Security represents your sense of worth, your identity, your emotional anchorage, your self-esteem, your basic personal strength or lack of it. ~Stephen Covey

Above all, success in business requires two things: a winning competitive strategy, and superb organizational execution. Distrust is the enemy of both. I submit that while high trust won't necessarily rescue a poor strategy, low trust will almost always derail a good one. ~Stephen Covey

Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers. ~Stephen Covey

If we know how to listen to our own heart, we can listen to the hearts of others. ~Stephen Covey

It's better to be humbled by the word than by the force of circumstances. ~Stephen 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 Covey

The best way to develop courage is to set a goal and achieve it, make a promise and keep it. ~Stephen Covey

Power is the faculty or capacity to act, the strength and potency to accomplish something. It is the vital energy to make choices and decisions. It also includes the capacity to overcome deeply embedded habits and to cultivate higher, more effective ones. ~Stephen Covey

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. ~Stephen Covey

The bottom line is, when people are crystal clear about the most important priorities of the organization and team they work with and prioritized their work around those top priorities, not only are they many times more productive, they discover they have the time they need to have a whole life. ~Stephen Covey

People who exercise their embryonic freedom day after day, little by little, expand that freedom. People who do not will find that it withers until they are literally 'being lived.' They are acting out scripts written by parents, associates, and society. ~Stephen Covey

There are certain things that are fundamental to human fulfillment. The essence of these needs is captured in the phrase 'to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy.' The need to leave a legacy is our spiritual need to have a sense of meaning, purpose, personal congruence, and contribution. ~Stephen Covey

People and organizations don't grow much without delegation and completed staff work because they are confined to the capacities of the boss and reflect both personal strengths and weaknesses ~Stephen Covey

Without exception, empathy is always appropriate. ~Stephen Covey

Whatever your present situation, I assure you that you are not your habits. You can replace old patterns of self-defeating behavior with new patterns, new habits of the effectiveness, happiness and trust-based relationships. ~Stephen 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 Covey

Someone once inquired of a Far Eastern Zen master, who had a great serenity and peace about him no matter what pressures he faced, "How do you maintain that serenity and peace?" He replied, "I never leave my place of meditation." He meditated early in the morning and for the rest of the day, he carried the peace of those moments with him in his mind and heart. ~Stephen Covey

People can't live with change if there's not a changeless core inside them. ~Stephen Covey

Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education. ~Stephen Covey

Principle-centered people are constantly educated by their experiences. ~Stephen 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 Covey

People are your most valuable asset. Only people can be made to appreciate in value. ~Stephen Covey

Affirm people. Affirm your children. Believe in them, not in what you see but in what you don't see - their potential. ~Stephen Covey

Integrity is conforming reality to our words - in other words, keeping promises and fulfilling expectations. ~Stephen Covey

...to learn and not to do is really not to learn. To know and not to do is really not to know. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

When we value correct principles, we have truth - a knowledge of things as they are. ~Stephen Covey

we're responsible for our own lives. ~Stephen Covey

We develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and obstacles. ~Stephen Covey

The ability to manage well doesn't make much difference if you're not even in the right jungle. ~Stephen Covey

Visualising something organises one's ability to accomplish it. ~Stephen Covey

Executives need to understand the economic benefits of trust dividend, especially when the behavior is real, not artificially or superficially created as PR to manipulate trust. ~Stephen Covey

Live, love, laugh, leave a legacy. ~Stephen Covey

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right?" wonder "Am I doing the right things?" ~Stephen Covey

What one thing could you do in your personal and professional life that, if you did on a regular basis, would make a tremendous positive difference in your life? Quadrant II activities have that kind of impact. Our effectiveness takes quantum leaps when we do them. ~Stephen Covey

Writing is another powerful way to sharpen the mental saw. Keeping a journal of our thoughts, experiences, insights, and learnings promotes mental clarity, exactness, and context. ~Stephen Covey

To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you're going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction. ~Stephen Covey

To achieve goals you've never achieved before, you need to start doing things you've never done before. ~Stephen Covey

Live simply and appreciate what you have. Give more. Expect less. ~Stephen Covey

When the external factors over which one has no control in a way start to become negative, it starts to affect our creative juices. ~Stephen Covey

The challenge of work-life balance is without question one of the most significant struggles faced by modern man. ~Stephen Covey

Only after we can learn to forgive ourselves can we accept others as they are because we don't feel threatened by anything about them which is better than us. ~Stephen Covey

Effective people are not problem-minded; they're opportunity minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems. ~Stephen Covey

The real beginning of influence comes as others sense you are being influenced by them - when they feel understood by you - that you have listened deeply and sincerely, and that you are open. ~Stephen Covey

Frustration is a function of our expectations. ~Stephen Covey

All things are created twice. There's a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation of all things. You have to make sure that the blueprint, the first creation, is really what you want, that you've thought everything through. Then you put it into bricks and mortar. Each day you go to the construction shed and pull out the blueprint to get marching orders for the day. You begin with the end in mind. ~Stephen Covey

Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential. ~Stephen Covey

When we look through the lens of each others' weaknesses, we make others' strengths irrelevant and their weaknesses more evident. ~Stephen Covey

It comes from within. ~Stephen Covey

In the end, life teaches us what is important, and that is family. ~Stephen Covey

Anything less then a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant. ~Stephen Covey

By behaving in ways that build trust with one, you build trust with many. ~Stephen Covey

An effective goal focuses primarily on results rather than activity. It identifies where you want to be, and, in the process, helps you determine where you are. It gives you important information on how to get there, and it tells you when you have arrived. It unifies your efforts and energy. It gives meaning and purpose to all you do. ~Stephen Covey

Despite all our gains in technology, product innovation and world markets, most people are not thriving in the organizations they work for. ~Stephen Covey

Self-mastery and self-discipline are the foundation of good relationships with others. ~Stephen Covey

If you don't know yourself, if you don't control yourself, if you don't have mastery over yourself, it's very hard to like yourself, except in some short-term, psych-up, superficial way. ~Stephen Covey

We must seek to understand the intent of communication without prejudging or rejecting the content... Communication, after all, is not so much a matter of intellect as it is of trust and acceptance of others, of their ideas and feelings, acceptance of the fact that they're different, and that from their point of view, they are right. ~Stephen Covey

Effective interdependence can only be built on true independence. ~Stephen Covey

We exhaust ourselves more from the tension and the consequences of internal disharmony than from hard, unremitting work. ~Stephen Covey

To set and work toward any goal is an act of courage. ~Stephen Covey

Private victories precede public victories. You can't invert that process any more than you can harvest a crop before you plant it. ~Stephen Covey

Leadership without mutual trust is a contradiction in terms. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

Peace of mind comes when your life is in harmony with true principles and values and in no other way. ~Stephen Covey

Principles are guidelines for human conduct that are proven to have enduring, permanent value. ~Stephen Covey

Trust is the highest form of human motivation. ~Stephen Covey

You think effectiveness with people and efficiency with things. ~Stephen Covey

Petty things become unimportant when people are impassioned about a purpose higher than self. ~Stephen Covey

When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective. ~Stephen Covey

Almost all of the world-class athletes and other peak performers are visualizers. They see it; they feel it; they experience it before hey actually do it. They begin with the end in mind. ~Stephen Covey

The key to motivation is motive. It's the why. It's the deeper yes! burning inside that makes it easier to say no to the less important. ~Stephen Covey

Once we are self-aware, we must choose purposes and principles to live by; otherwise the vacuum will be filled, and we will lose our self-awareness and become like groveling animals who live primarily for survival and propagation. People who exist on that level aren't living; they are being lived. They are reacting, unaware of the unique endowments that lie dormant and undeveloped within. ~Stephen Covey

Courage isn't absenct of fear, it is the awareness that something else is important ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

In order to have influence, you have to be influenced. ~Stephen Covey

The more authentic you become, the more genuine in your expression, particularly regarding personal experiences and even self-doubts, the more people can relate to your expression and the safer it makes them feel to express themselves. That expression, in turn, feeds on the other person's spirit, and genuine creative empathy takes place, producing new insights and learnings and a sense of excitement and adventure that keeps the process going. ~Stephen Covey

I believe that God is the source of all the universal, timeless principles. And to Him, I give all the credit and the glory. However, to a person who is not religious, I believe they can live to the highest level of their conscience and develop spiritual intelligence that surpasses most people, including many religious people, who profess but do not practice. ~Stephen Covey

Remember, we are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. ~Stephen Covey

While we cannot always choose what happens to us, we can choose our responses. ~Stephen Covey

Trust is the glue that holds everything together. It creates the environment in which all of the other elements win-win stewardship agreements, self-directing individuals and teams, aligned structures and systems, and accountability can flourish. ~Stephen Covey

The proactive approach to a mistake is to acknowledge it instantly, correct and learn from it. This literally turns a failure into a success. ~Stephen Covey

Live the law of love. We encourage obedience to the laws of life when we live the laws of love. ~Stephen Covey

There is a heavy emphasis in Mormonism on initiative, on responsibility, on a work ethic, and on education. If you take those elements together with a free-enterprise system, you've got the chemistry for a lot of industry. ~Stephen Covey

Effective people do two things: they strive to do excellent work, and they prioritize. ~Stephen Covey

Will we act upon life, or will we merely be acted upon? ~Stephen Covey

Be proactive. Ask yourself, "Are my actions based on self-chosen values or on my moods, feelings and circumstances?" ~Stephen Covey

Our struggle to put first things first can be characterized by the contrast between two powerful tools that direct us: the clock and the compass. The clock represents our commitments, appointments, schedules, goals, activities - what we do with, and how we manage our time. The compass represents our vision, values, principles, mission, conscience, direction - what we feel is important and how we lead our lives. In an effort to close the gap between the clock and the compass in our lives, many of us turn to the field of "time management." ~Stephen Covey

If two people have the same opinion, one is unnecessary. ... I don't want to talk, to communicate, with someone who agrees with me; I want to communicate with you because you see it differently. I value that difference. ~Stephen Covey

Intrinsic security doesn't come from what other people think of us or how they treat us. It doesn't come from our circumstance or out position. It comes from within. It comes from accurate paradigms and correct principles deep in our own mind and heart. It comes from inside-out congruence, from living a life of integrity in which our daily habits reflect our deepest values. ~Stephen Covey

Develop all four intelligences. PQ (physical intelligence) which represents trillion cells that fight disease and digest your breakfast. IQ (intellectual intelligence) EQ (emotional intelligence) the sensing and wisdom of the heart - - and SQ (spiritual intelligence) having to do with meaning, purpose and integrity around your selected value system and your believed source. When combined, they change the world for good. ~Stephen Covey

The key to growth is to learn to make promises and to keep them. ~Stephen Covey

Listen to your conscience regarding something that you simply know you should do, then start small on it - make a promise and keep it. Then move forward and make a little larger promise and keep it. Eventually you'll discover that your sense of honor will become greater than your moods, and that will give you a level of confidence and excitement that you can move to other areas where you feel you need to make improvements or give service. ~Stephen Covey

Do what is important, not what is urgent. ~Stephen Covey

In school, many of us procrastinate and then successfully cram for tests. We get the grades and degrees we need to get the jobs we want, even if we fail to get a good general education. ~Stephen Covey

The essence of synergy is to value differences-to respect them, to build on strengths, to compensate for weaknesses ~Stephen Covey

Leadership is a choice, not a position ~Stephen 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 Covey

What you do has far greater impact than what you say. ~Stephen Covey

The roots of the problems we face in the world, in our national life, and in our family and personal lives are spiritual. ~Stephen Covey

Whether we are aware of it or not, whether we are in control of it or not, there is a first creation to every part of our lives. We are either the second creation of our own proactive design, or we are the second creation of other people's agendas, of circumstances, or of past habits. ~Stephen Covey

Management works in the system; leadership works on the system. ~Stephen Covey

What is important to another person must be as important to you as the other person is to you ~Stephen 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 Covey

Trust is a function of two things: character and competence. Character includes your integrity, your motive and your intent with people. Competence includes your capabilities, your skills, and your track record. Both are vital. ~Stephen Covey

Live your life by a compass, not a clock. ~Stephen Covey

If you were to fault yourself in one of three areas, which would it be: () the inability to prioritize; () the inability or desire to organize around those priorities; or () the lack of discipline to execute around them? ... Most people say their main fault is a lack of discipline. On deeper thought, I believe that is not the case. The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds. They haven't really internalized Habit [Begin with the end in mind]. ~Stephen Covey

Look at the word responsibility-"response-ability"-the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling. ~Stephen Covey

What is common sense isn't common practice. ~Stephen Covey

Humility is the mother of all virtues: the humble in spirit progress and are blessed because they willingly submit to higher powers and try to live in harmony with natural laws and universal principles. Courage is the father of all virtues; we need great courage to lead our lives by correct principles and to have integrity in the moment of choice. ~Stephen Covey

If you put good people in bad systems you get bad results. You have to water the flowers you want to grow. ~Stephen Covey

We not not our feelings. We are not our moods. We not even our thoughts. ~Stephen Covey

To judge someone before understanding that person is a form of human rejection and feeds upon itself. It intensifies personal insecurities, necessitating more judgment (prejudice) and less understanding. The processes continue in this vicious cycle. ~Stephen Covey

The deepest hunger of [a child's] human heart is to be understood, for understanding implicitly affirms, validates, recognizes and appreciates the intrinsic worth of another. ~Stephen Covey

We are limited but we can push back the borders of our limitations ~Stephen Covey

Often we are so busy with sawing that we forget to sharpen the saw. ~Stephen Covey

The key is taking responsibility and initiative, deciding what your life is about and prioritizing your life around the most important things. ~Stephen Covey

Sacrifice really means giving up something good for something better. ~Stephen 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 Covey

The need to leave a legacy is our spiritual need to have a sense of meaning, purpose, personal congruence, and contribution. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

In effective personal leadership, visualization and affirmation techniques emerge naturally out of a foundation of well thought through purposes and principles that become the center of a person's life. ~Stephen Covey

You can't have the fruits without the roots. ~Stephen Covey

When two people in a marriage are more concerned about getting the golden eggs, the benefits, than they are in preserving the relationship that makes them possible, they often become insensitive and inconsiderate, neglecting the little kindnesses and courtesies so important to a deep relationship. They begin to use control levers to manipulate each other, to focus on their own needs, to justify their own position and look for evidence to show the wrongness of the other person. The love, the richness, the softness and spontaneity begin to deteriorate. ~Stephen Covey

When you have too many top priorities, you effectively have no top priorities. ~Stephen Covey

The fire inside people is like a match; the way to ignite that flame is initially through friction, then other matches are lit through warmth. ~Stephen Covey

We're often so busy cutting through the undergrowth we don't even realise we're in the wrong jungle. ~Stephen Covey

You always reap what you sow; there is no shortcut. ~Stephen Covey

The first principle of ethical power is Purpose. By purpose, I don't mean your objective or intention-something toward which you are always striving. Purpose is something bigger. It is the picture you have of yourself-the kind of person you want to be or the kind of life you want to lead. ~Stephen 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 Covey

Involve people in the problem and work out the solution together. ~Stephen Covey

Little kindness and courtesies are so important. In relationships, the little things are the big things. ~Stephen Covey

The true identity theft is not financial. It's not in cyberspace. It's spiritual. It's been taken. ~Stephen Covey

If we do not teach our children, societ will. And they-and we-will live with the results. ~Stephen Covey

Empathic listening takes time, but it doesn't take anywhere near as much time as it takes to back up and correct misunderstandings when you're already miles down the road; to redo; to live with unexpressed and unsolved problems; to deal with the results of not giving people psychological air. ~Stephen Covey

Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic ~Stephen Covey

More essential than working on attitudes and behaviors is examining the paradigms out of which those attitudes and behaviors flow. ~Stephen Covey

None of us see the world as it is but as we are, as our frames of reference, or maps, define the territory. ~Stephen Covey

When we pick up one end of the stick, we pick up the other. ~Stephen Covey

You can't change the fruit without changing the root. ~Stephen Covey

Unless you're continually improving your skills, you're quickly becoming irrelevant. ~Stephen Covey

Lose/Win people bury a lot of feelings. And unexpressed feelings come forth later in uglier ways. Psychosomatic illnesses often are the reincarnation of cumulative resentment, deep disappointment and disillusionment repressed by the Lose/Win mentality. Disproportionate rage or anger, overreaction to minor provocation, and cynicism are other embodiments of suppressed emotion. People who are constantly repressing, not transcending feelings toward a higher meaning find that it affects the quality of their relationships with others. ~Stephen Covey

Humility is the mother of all virtues. Humility says we are not in control, principles are in control, therefore we submit ourselves to principles. Pride says that we are in control, and since our values govern our behavior, we can simply do life our way. ~Stephen Covey

A good affirmation has five basic ingredients: it's personal, it's positive, it's present tense, it's visual, and it's emotional. ~Stephen Covey

Management is formal authority given from above. Leadership is moral authority given from below and all around. ~Stephen Covey

How does humility manifest itself in leadership and in life? A humble person is more concerned about what is right than about being right, about acting on good ideas than having the ideas, about embracing new truth than defending outdated position, about building the team than exalting self, about recognizing contribution than being recognized for making it. ~Stephen Covey

If my sense of security lies in my reputation or in the things I have, my life will be in a constant state of threat and jeopardy-a fear that these possessions may be lost, stolen, or devalued. If I'm in the presence of someone of greater net worth, fame, or status, I feel inferior. If I'm in the presence of someone of lesser net worth, fame or status, I feel superior. My sense of self-worth constantly fluctu-ates. I don't have any sense of constancy, anchorage, or persistent selfhood. I am constantly trying to protect and insure my assets, properties, securities, position, or reputation. ~Stephen Covey

Whenever you experience stress of any kind, look into yourself and ask, In what way am I compromising my innermost values in this situation? ~Stephen Covey

You can retire from a job, but don't ever retire from making extremely meaningful contributions in life. ~Stephen Covey

Trust is the one thing that affects everything else you're doing. It's a performance multiplier which takes your trajectory upwards, for every activity you engage in, from strategy to execution. ~Stephen Covey

Trust is a powerful accelerator to performance and when trust goes up, speed also goes up while cost comes down - producing what we call a trust dividend. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

The proactive approach to a mistake is to acknowledge it instantly, correct and learn from it. ~Stephen Covey

How many on their deathbeds wished they'd spent more time at the office - or watching TV? The answer is, No one. ~Stephen Covey

Empathy takes time, and efficiency is for things, not people. ~Stephen Covey

True leadership is moral authority, not formal authority. Leadership is a choice, not a position. The choice is to follow universal timeless principles, which will build trust and respect from the entire organization. Those with formal authority alone will lose this trust and respect. ~Stephen Covey

Putting first things first means organizing and executing around your most important priorities. It is living and being driven by the principles you value most, not by the agendas and forces surrounding you. ~Stephen 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 Covey

If you want small changes in your life, work on your attitude. But if you want big and primary changes, work on your paradigm. ~Stephen Covey

Highly effective people tend to be proactive. They decide to find a better job or to have better health, rather than of responding to whatever curves life throws at them. ~Stephen Covey

As you care less about what people think of you, you will care more about what others think of themselves. ~Stephen Covey

They [Nazi captors]had more liberty, more options to choose from in their environment; but he [Viktor Frankl] had more freedom, more internal power to exercise his options. ~Stephen Covey

We all go through stages. Concerns about appearances, making good impressions, being popular, comparing yourself to others, having unbridled ambition, wanting to make money, striving to be recognized and noticed and trying to establish yourself, all fade as your responsibilities and character grow. ~Stephen Covey

Only percent of employees working in large organizations surveyed feel their strengths are in play every day. Thus, eight our of ten employees surveyed feel somewhat miscast in their role. ~Stephen Covey

Seek first to understand, then to be understood. ~Stephen Covey

Anytime we think the problem is 'out there,' that thought is the problem. We empower what's out there to control us. The change paradigm is 'outside-in' - what's out there has to change before we can change. The proactive approach is to change from the 'inside-out': to be different, and by being different, to effect positive change in what's out there - I can be more resourceful, I can be more diligent, I can be more creative, I can be more cooperative. ~Stephen Covey

The leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells, 'Wrong jungle!' ... Busy, efficient producers and managers often respond ... 'Shut up! We're making progress!' ~Stephen Covey

An empowering mission statement has to become a living document, part of our very nature, so that the criteria we've put into it are also in us, in the way we live our lives day by day. ~Stephen Covey

The average family spends hours in front of a television, and they say they don't have the time to have a balanced, integrated life. ~Stephen Covey

Love is a verb. Love is something you do: the sacrifices you make, the giving of self. If you want to study love, study those who sacrifice for others. Love - the feeling - is a fruit of love the verb.... ~Stephen Covey

The commitments we make to ourselves and to others, and our integrity to those commitments, is the essence and clearest manifestation of our proactivity. ~Stephen Covey

Principles are the simplicity on the far side of complexity. ~Stephen Covey

The principle of fasting is taught in almost all major world religions as a means of developing a higher level of self-mastery and self-control, and also a deeper awareness of how really dependent we are. ~Stephen Covey

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 Covey

The process of building trust is an interesting one, but it begins with yourself, with what I call self trust, and with your own credibility, your own trustworthiness. If you think about it, it's hard to establish trust with others if you can't trust yourself. ~Stephen Covey

Happen to things, don't let things happen to you ~Stephen Covey

Private victories precede public victories. ~Stephen Covey

Historically, the family has played the primary role in educating children for life, with the school providing supplemental scaffolding to the family. ~Stephen Covey

We become what we repeatedly do. ~Stephen Covey

When a person has access to both the intuitive, creative and visual right brain, and the analytical, logical, verbal left brain, then the whole brain is working...And this tool is best suited to the reality of what life is, because life is not just logical-it is also emotional. ~Stephen Covey

Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do). ~Stephen Covey

If you say to one flower, 'Grow,' but you water another, the first one won't grow. ~Stephen 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 Covey

All things are created twice. There's a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things ~Stephen Covey

The heart and soul of loving yourself is integrity and the peace of conscience it inspires. ~Stephen Covey

Being proactive is more than taking initiative. It is recognizing that we are responsible for our own choices and have the freedom to choose based on principles and values rather than on moods or condition. Proactive people are agents of change and choose not to be victims, to be reactive, or to blame others. ~Stephen Covey

The character ethic, which I believe to be the foundation of success, teaches that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

I love interaction with audiences. If were my choice, I would spend most of my time interacting with audiences. Walking around and asking them to challenge me. ~Stephen 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 Covey

As you begin to think more in terms of importance, you begin to see time differently. ~Stephen Covey

Moving along the upward spiral requires us to learn, commit, and do on increasingly higher planes. We deceive ourselves if we think that any one of these is sufficient. To keep progressing, we must learn, commit, and do-learn, commit, and do-and learn, commit, and do again. ~Stephen Covey

Most people think of leadership as a position and therefore don't see themselves as leaders. ~Stephen Covey

I can change. I can live out of my imagination instead of my memory. I can tie myself to my limitless potential instead of my limiting past ~Stephen Covey

While I believe in the power of positive thought, I do not believe that you or I can simply psyche ourselves into success or peace of mind. ~Stephen Covey

People simply feel better about themselves when they're good at something. ~Stephen Covey

He who has a why can deal with any what or how. ~Stephen Covey

Nothing tastes as good as thin feels. ~Stephen Covey

If you focus on principles, you empower everyone who understands those principles to act without constant monitoring, evaluating, correcting, or controlling. ~Stephen Covey

Nothing is as fast as the speed of trust. ~Stephen 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 Covey

This is the single most powerful investment we can ever make in life—investment in ourselves, in the only instrument we have with which to deal with life and to contribute. ~Stephen Covey

Every time I see high-trust cultures, I see a lessening of adversarialism. ~Stephen Covey

Make specific appointments with yourself to work on goals, and treat an appointment with yourself as you'd treat an appointment with anybody else. ~Stephen Covey

Whether you're on a sports team, in an office or a member of a family, if you can't trust one another there's going to be trouble. ~Stephen Covey

To know and not to do is not to know. ~Stephen Covey

In the absence of wake-up calls, many of us never really confront the critical issues of life. ~Stephen Covey

If the only vision we have of ourselves comes from the social mirror - from the current social paradigm and from the opinions, perceptions, and paradigms of the people around us - our view of ourselves is like the reflection in a crazy mirror room at the carnival. ~Stephen Covey

Don't prioritize your schedule, schedule those priorities. ~Stephen Covey

The more involved you are, the more significant your learning will be. ~Stephen Covey

True effectiveness is a function of two things: what is produced (the golden eggs) and the producing asset (the goose). ~Stephen Covey

Just as the education of nerve and sinew is vital to the excellent athlete and education of the mind is vital to the scholar, education of the conscience is vital to the truly proactive, highly effective person. Training and educating the conscience, however, requires even greater concentration, more balanced discipline, more consistently honest living. It requires regular feasting on inspiring literature, thinking noble thoughts and, above all, living in harmony with its still small voice. ~Stephen Covey

Belief is another word for paradigm. It's a synonymous. Your belief of the way things are. Values are the way things should be, it's a paradigm of the way things should be. Beliefs are the paradigms of the way things are. ~Stephen Covey

We could not have gotten where we are without coming the way we came. ~Stephen Covey

It takes courage to realize that you are greater than your moods, greater than your thoughts, and that you can control your moods and thoughts. ~Stephen Covey

What one great idea resonates deeper in the soul than any other...that we are free to choose. Next to life itself, the power to choose is your greatest gift. ~Stephen Covey

Vision is seeing a future state with the mind's eye. Vision is applied imagination. ~Stephen 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 Covey

We do make a difference - one way or the other. We are responsible for the impact of our lives. Whatever we do with whatever we have, we leave behind us a legacy for those who follow. ~Stephen Covey

You can't hold someone accountable for results if you supervise their methods. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

See every problem as an opportunity to exercise creative energy. ~Stephen Covey

When you really listen to another person from their point of view, and reflect back to them that understanding, it's like giving them emotional oxygen. ~Stephen Covey

The key to the is the one. Or, put another way, the key to the group is the one individual. Think about the one, talk to the one, regard the one, serve the one. If you are sincere and constant, you will discover that gradually your influence with the many will be magnified. ~Stephen Covey

During the first few minutes in lift-off, the astronauts were strictly controlled and were powerfully buffeted by the forces of nature struggling to keep them on earth. This is somewhat comparable to the pull of the flesh when our alarm goes off early in the morning. Unless we put "mind over mattress" and carry out the resolves made the night before, we will experience our first defeat that day. Not sufficient to finish. Mission aborted. ~Stephen Covey

Two people can see the same thing, disagree, and yet both be right. It's not logical; it's psychological. ~Stephen Covey

When our honor becomes greater than our moods, that is where transformation happens ~Stephen Covey

When the trust is high, you get the trust dividend. Investors invest in brands people trust. Consumers buy more from companies they trust, they spend more with companies they trust, they recommend companies they trust, and they give companies they trust the benefit of the doubt when things go wrong. ~Stephen Covey

As we make and keep commitments, even small commitments, we begin to establish an inner integrity that gives us the awareness of self-control and the courage and strength to accept more of the responsibility for our own lives. By making and keeping promises to ourselves and others, little by little, our honor becomes greater than our moods. ~Stephen Covey

I keep my phone number unlisted and rely on my associates to handle all voice mail, e-mail, faxes. ~Stephen Covey

Fulfilling the four needs [spiritual, mental, physical, social] in an integrated way is like combining elements in chemistry. When we reach a "critical mass" of integration, we experience spontaneous combustion-an explosion of inner synergy that ignites the fire within and gives vision, passion, and a spirit of adventure to life. ~Stephen Covey

While values drive behaviors, principles govern consequences. ~Stephen Covey

Find your voice, and inspire others to find theirs. Don't ignore that longing to make a difference. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen 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 Covey

Private Victory precedes Public Victory. Algebra comes before calculus. ~Stephen Covey

Principles are natural laws that are external to us and that ultimately control the consequences of our actions. Values are internal and subjective and represent that which we feel strongest about in guiding our behavior. ~Stephen Covey

There are three constants in life... change, choice and principles. ~Stephen Covey

The core of any family is what is changeless, what is going to be there──shared vision and values. ~Stephen Covey

If you want to get something done, give it to a busy man. ~Stephen 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 Covey

...people have character strength but they lack communication skills, and that undoubtedly affects the quality of relationships as well. ~Stephen Covey

We think we see the world as it is, when in fact we see the world as we are. ~Stephen Covey

The reality is that everybody makes mistakes. The issue isn't whether you will make them, it's what you will do about them. It's whether you will choose the path of humility and courage or the path of ego and pride. ~Stephen Covey

If I try to use human influence strategies and tactics of how to get other people to do what I want, to work better, to be more motivated, to like me and each other-while my character is fundamentally flawed, marked by duplicity and insincerity-then, in the long run, I cannot be successful. My duplicity will breed distrust, and everything I do-even using so-called good human relations techniques-will be perceived as manipulative. ~Stephen Covey

Innocent pleasures in moderation can provide relaxation for the body and mind and can foster family and other relationships. But pleasure, per se, offers no deep, lasting satisfaction or sense of fulfillment. The pleasure-centered person, too soon bored with each succeeding level of "fun," constantly cries for more and more. So the next new pleasure has to be bigger and better, more exciting, with a bigger "high." A person in this state becomes almost entirely narcissistic, interpreting all of life in terms of the pleasure it provides to the self here and now. ~Stephen Covey

Humility is the mother of all virtues, courage the father, integrity the child and wisdom the grandchild. ~Stephen Covey

Response-ability is the ABILITY to choose our response to any circumstance or condition. ~Stephen Covey

The highest challenge inside organizations is to enable each person to contribute his or her unique talents and passion to accomplish the organization's purpose. ~Stephen Covey

As people enable themselves to achieve one or two goals for the year that are most meaningful, they will find power, peace of mind, and confidence in their abilities because they have achieved what they set out to accomplish. Your commitment to achieving what matters most will become the foundation for tremendous accomplishments and contributions. You will become the change you seek to make. ~Stephen Covey

Vital to quality of life is the ability to work together, learn from each other, and help each other grow. ~Stephen Covey

Prepare your mind and heart before you prepare your speech . What we say may be less important than how we say it. ~Stephen Covey

People with a scarcity mentality think there is only so much in the world to go around. It's as if they see life as a pie. When another person gets a big piece, then they get less. Such people are always trying to get even, to pull others down to their level so they can get an equal or even bigger piece of the pie. ~Stephen Covey

If our feelings control our actions, it is because we have abdicated our responsibility and empowered them to do so. ~Stephen Covey

It is in the ordinary events of every day that we develop the proactive capacity to handle the extraordinary pressures of life. It's how we make and keep commitments, how we handle a traffic jam, how we respond to an irate customer or a disobedient child. It's how we view our problems and where we focus our energies. It's the language we use. ~Stephen Covey

People who end up with the good jobs are the proactive ones who are solutions to problems, not problems themselves, who seize the initiative to do whatever is necessary to get the job done. ~Stephen Covey

We immediately become more effective when we decide to change ourselves rather than asking things to change for us. ~Stephen Covey

Until we take how we see ourselves (and how we see others) into account, we will be unable to understand how others see and feel about themselves and their world. Unaware, we will project our intentions on their behavior and call ourselves objective. ~Stephen Covey

Trust is the glue in relationships and organizations ~Stephen Covey

The key to success is dedication to life-long learning. ~Stephen Covey

What does it matter how much we do if what we're doing isn't what matters most? ~Stephen Covey

Personal leadership is the process of keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to be congruent with them. ~Stephen Covey

My temptation is emotional, and resisting will further my needed weight loss and strengthen my character. Furthermore, nothing tastes as good as thin feels. ~Stephen Covey

Balance isn't either/or; it's 'and'. ~Stephen Covey

To listen with empathy is the most important human skill. ~Stephen Covey

If we can't make and keep commitments to ourselves as well as to others, our commitments become meaningless. ~Stephen Covey

You can learn great things from your mistakes when you aren't busy denying them. ~Stephen Covey

Look at the weaknesses of others with compassion, not accusation. It's not what they're not doing or should be doing that's the issue. The issue is your own chosen response to the situation and what you should be doing. If you start to think the problem is "out there," stop yourself. That thought is the problem. ~Stephen Covey

The deepest desire of the human spirit is to be acknowledged. ~Stephen Covey

In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do. ~Stephen Covey

The person who is truly effective has the humility and reverence to recognize his own perceptual limitations and to appreciate the rich resources available through interaction with the hearts and minds of other human beings. ~Stephen Covey

Nothing is more exciting and bonding in relationships than creating together. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

Your economic security does not lie in your job; it lies in your own power to produce - to think, to learn, to create, to adapt. That's true financial independence. It's not having wealth; it's having the power to produce wealth. ~Stephen Covey

Trust is a function of both character and competence. Of course you can't trust someone who lacks integrity, but if someone is honest but they can't perform, you're not going to trust them either. You won't trust them to get the job done. ~Stephen Covey

It's not enough to have values without vision ; you want to be good, but you want to be good for something. On the other hand, vision without values can create a Hitler . An empowering mission statement deals with both character and competence; what you want to be and what you want to do in your life. ~Stephen Covey

I am fortunate to have a very helpful team that enables me to spend time doing things that are important but not necessarily urgent. People who have no such team need to also make these larger decisions so that they can cheerfully say No to that which is urgent but not important. ~Stephen Covey

Beginners are many; finishers are few. ~Stephen Covey

The way we see things is the source of the way we think or the way we act ~Stephen 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 Covey

True greatness will be achieved through the abundant mind that works selflessly - with mutual respect, for mutual benefit. ~Stephen Covey

Those who get the most out of life and those who give the most are those who make the choice to act. ~Stephen Covey

The key is in not spending time, but in investing it. ~Stephen Covey

Independent thinking alone is not suited to interdependent reality. ~Stephen Covey

The more deeply you understand other people, the more you will appreciate them, the more reverent you will feel about them. To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground. ~Stephen Covey

If you carefully consider what you want to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success. ~Stephen Covey

Values determine behavior; Principles determine the consequences of behavior. ~Stephen Covey

Every person in the organization must change inside their hearts and minds, so that they themselves become principle centred. ~Stephen Covey

Many people seem to think that success in one area can compensate for failure in other areas. But can it really?... True effectiveness requires balance. ~Stephen Covey

Success is when you realize obstacles you face are challenges to help you become better - and your response equals the challenge. ~Stephen Covey

The most important ingredient we put into any relationship is not what we say or what we do, but what we are. ~Stephen Covey

A long, healthy, and happy life is the result of making contributions, of having meaningful projects that are personally exciting and contribute to and bless the lives of others. ~Stephen Covey

Brands need to reinvent themselves from time to time to stay relevant. ~Stephen Covey

Being is seeing in the human dimension. ~Stephen Covey

The power of transcendent vision is greater than the power of the scripting deep inside the human personality and it subordinates it [the scripting], submerges it, until the whole personality is reorganized in the accomplishment of that vision. ~Stephen Covey

Most of us think we don't have enough time to exercise. What a distorted paradigm! We don't have time not to. We're talking about three to six hours a week - or a minimum of thirty minutes a day, every other day. That hardly seems an inordinate amount of time considering the tremendous benefits in terms of the impact on the other - hours of the week. ~Stephen Covey

Stop setting goals. Goals are pure fantasy unless you have a specific plan to achieve them. ~Stephen Covey

We hear a lot about identity theft when someone takes your wallet and pretends to be you and uses your credit cards. But the more serious identity theft is to get swallowed up in other people's definition of you. ~Stephen Covey

Synergy is better than my way or your way. It's our way. ~Stephen Covey

It's amazing how confused and distracted and misdirected so many people are. ~Stephen Covey

Feedback often tells you more about the person who is giving it than about you. ~Stephen 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 Covey

You can buy a person's hands but you can't buy his heart. His heart is where his enthusiasm, his loyalty is. ~Stephen Covey

The great contributors in life are those who, though afraid of the knock at the door, still answer it. ~Stephen Covey

The greatest thing you can do for your children is love your spouse. ~Stephen Covey

What you see often depends on what you are looking for. ~Stephen Covey

Perhaps a sense of possessing needs to come to come before a sense of genuine sharing. ~Stephen Covey

Listen with the intent to understand, not the intent to reply. ~Stephen Covey

Perhaps the most important vision of all is develop a sense of self, a sense of your own destiny, a sense of unique mission and role in life. ~Stephen Covey

Your systems are perfectly designed to get the results that you are getting. ~Stephen Covey

Strength lies in differences, not in similarities ~Stephen Covey

You can't have the fruits without the roots. It's the principle of sequencing: Private Victories proceed Public Victories. Self-mastery and self-discipline are the foundation of good relationships with others. ~Stephen Covey

Strategy is important, but trust is the hidden variable. On paper you can have clarity around your objectives, but in a low-trust environment, your strategy won't be executed. ~Stephen Covey

A moment of choice is a moment of truth. ~Stephen Covey

The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions ~Stephen Covey

When it comes to developing character strength, inner security and unique personal and interpersonal talents and skills in a child, no institution can or ever will compare with, or effectively substitute for, the home's potential for positive influence. ~Stephen Covey

Outsourcing is inevitable, and I don't think it's necessarily treating people like things. ~Stephen Covey

Human beings are not things needing to be motivated and controlled; they are four dimensional - body, mind, heart, and spirit. ~Stephen Covey

Management is clearly different from leadership. Leadership is primarily a high-powered, right-brain activity. It's more of an art it's based on a philosophy. You have to ask the ultimate questions of life when you're dealing with personal leadership issues. ~Stephen Covey

We can never really change someone; people must change themselves. ~Stephen Covey

If we spend most of our time concerned about things we cannot truly directly influence, what we can influence will be reduced. If we spend our energies on those things over which we can expect positive results, we will expand our influence. ~Stephen Covey

The worldly fountain does not breed spiritual depth. ~Stephen Covey

Efficient management without effective leadership is, as one individual phrased, it, "like straightening deck chairs on the Titanic". ~Stephen Covey

The role of the leader is to foster mutual respect and build a complementary team where each strength is made productive and each weakness irrelevant. ~Stephen Covey

Perhaps the greatest role of parenting, more than directing and telling children what to do, [is] helping [children] connect with their own gifts, particularly conscience. ~Stephen Covey

We're constantly making choices about the way we spend our time. The issue is not between the good and the bad, but between the good and the best. So often, the enemy of the best is the good. ~Stephen Covey

The place to begin building any relationship is inside ourselves, inside our circle of influence, our own character. ~Stephen Covey

When your happiness comes primarily from the happiness of others, you know you have moved from a 'me' experience to a 'we' experience. And the whole problem-solving and opportunity-seizing process changes. ~Stephen Covey

The personal power that comes from principle-centered living is the power of a self-aware, knowledgeable, proactive individual, unrestricted by the attitudes, behaviors, and actions of others or by many of the circumstances and environmental influences that limit other people. ~Stephen Covey

'Efficient' scheduling and control of time are often counterproductive. The efficiency focus creates expectations that clash with the opportunities to develop rich relationships, to meet human needs, and to enjoy spontaneous moments on a daily basis. ~Stephen 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 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 Covey

Most leaders would agree that they'd be better off having an average strategy with superb execution than a superb strategy with poor execution. Those who execute always have the upper hand. ~Stephen Covey

Satisfied needs do not motivate. It's only the unsatisfied need that motivates. Next to physical survival, the greatest need of a human being is psychological survival - to be understood, to be affirmed, to be validated, to be appreciated. ~Stephen Covey

Highly proactive people don't blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice. ~Stephen Covey

Our capacity for production and enjoyment is ?a function, in the last analysis, of our character, our integrity. ~Stephen Covey

As we create synergy among the roles of our lives, there's more of us to put into the time we have. ~Stephen Covey

Character grows in the soil of experience with the fertilization of example, the moisture of ambition, and the sunshine of satisfaction. Character cannot be purchased, bargained for, inherited, rented or imported from afar. It must be home-grown. Purely intellectual development without commensurate internal character development makes as much sense as putting a high-powered sports car in the hands of a teenager who is high on drugs. Yet all too often in the academic world, that's exactly what we do by not focusing on the character development of young people. ~Stephen Covey

It's easy to say ''no!'' when there's a deeper ''yes!'' burning inside. ~Stephen Covey

When I started teaching I realized that I had never had such a level of satisfaction and such a feeling of fulfillment and sense of contribution. Just like that. But, usually it's more cumulative, slow, evolutionary and less revolutionary. ~Stephen Covey

How you treat the one reveals how you regard the many, because everyone is ultimately a one. ~Stephen Covey

If you don't let a teacher know what level you are -- by asking a question, or revealing your ignorance -- you will not learn or grow ~Stephen Covey

Through imagination, we can visualize the uncredited worlds of potential that lie within us. ~Stephen Covey

There is so much we can do to render service, to make a difference in the world - no matter how large or small our circle of influence. ~Stephen Covey

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success ~Stephen 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 Covey

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. They're either speaking or preparing to speak. They're filtering everything through their own paradigms, reading their autobiography into other people's lives. ~Stephen Covey

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. ~Stephen Covey

Keeping a personal journal a daily in-depth analysis and evaluation of your experiences is a high-leverage activity that increases self-awareness and enhances all the endowments and the synergy among them. ~Stephen Covey

Each of us guard a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside. ~Stephen Covey

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. ~Stephen Covey

Communication is the most important skill in life. We spend most of our waking hours communicating. But consider this: You've spent years learning how to read and write, years learning how to speak. But what about listening? ~Stephen Covey

Where you are headed is more important than how fast you are going. Rather than always focusing on what's urgent, learn to focus on what is really important. ~Stephen Covey

As you live your values, your sense of identity, integrity, control, and inner-directedness will infuse you with both exhilaration and peace. You will define yourself from within, rather than by people's opinions or by comparisons to others. ~Stephen Covey

Over time, I have come to this simple definition of leadership: Leadership is getting results in a way that inspires trust. ~Stephen Covey

Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs. ~Stephen Covey

Success comes from the ability to view each arising problem as an opportunity for self improvement. ~Stephen Covey

Consequences are governed by principles, and behavior is governed by values; therefore, value principles! ~Stephen Covey

You will never be able to truly step inside another person, to see the world as he sees it, until you develop the pure desire, the strength of personal character, and the positive Emotional Bank Account, as well as the empathetic listening skills to do it. ~Stephen Covey

I don't read blogs but occasionally people tell me about what they contain, and I do take questions that come from blogs. ~Stephen Covey

It's sometimes a painful process. It's a change that has to be motivated by a higher purpose, by the willingness to subordinate what you think you want now for what you want later. ~Stephen Covey

Consult the wisdom of your heart as well as your mind. ~Stephen Covey

Some habits of ineffectiveness are rooted in our social conditioning toward quick-fix, short-term thinking. ~Stephen Covey

To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions. ~Stephen Covey

We value the clock for its speed and efficiency. The clock has its place, efficiency has its place, after effectiveness. The symbol of effectiveness is the compass a sense of direction, purpose, vision, perspective, and balance. But the empowerment process itself is not efficient. ~Stephen Covey

You may be good, but what are you good for? You've got to be good for something. You've got to be about some project, some task that requires you to be humble and obedient to the universal principles of service. You've got to live a life of complete and total integrity in order to give this kind of service. This integrity enables you to love other people unconditionally, to be courageous and kind at the same time, because you have integratedness inside your own soul. ~Stephen Covey

Improve relationships with others by assuming that they can hear everything you say about them ~Stephen Covey

Anyone can count the seeds of an apple. Who can count the apples in a seed? ~Stephen 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 Covey

You can't talk your way out of a problem you behaved your way into! ~Stephen Covey

When air is charged with emotions, an attempt to teach is often perceived as a form of judgment and rejection. ~Stephen Covey

A little over % of the world's population produces almost % of the world's goods and services. ~Stephen Covey

Vision is about more than just getting things done, accomplishing some task, achieving something; it is about discovering and expanding our view of others, affirming them, believing in them, and helping them discover and realize the potential within them-helping them find their own voice. ~Stephen Covey

It doesn't really matter how fast you're going if you're heading in the wrong direction. ~Stephen Covey

Unless people feel that they are accepted and that they have a right to express their feelings without fear of embarrassment or ridicule, all they will do is react and rebel and struggle for their identity. ~Stephen Covey

Accountability breeds response-ability. ~Stephen Covey

We can act instead of being acted upon. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen 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 Covey

Studies have identified a significant 'skills gap' between what students are currently being taught and the skills employers are seeking in today's global economy. Our children must be better prepared than they are now to meet the future challenges of our ever-changing world. ~Stephen Covey

The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about and what you value. ~Stephen Covey

All broken relationships can be traced back to broken agreements ~Stephen Covey

We judge ourselves by our intentions. And others by their actions. ~Stephen Covey

The environment you fashion out of your thoughts, your beliefs, your ideals, your philosophy is the only climate you will ever live in. The key is in not spending time, but in investing it. ~Stephen Covey

When one side benefits more than the other, that's a win-lose situation. To the winner it might look like success for a while, but in the long run, it breeds resentment and distrust. ~Stephen Covey

Proactive people carry their own weather with them. ~Stephen Covey

I define discipline as the ability to make + keep promises and to honor commitments. ~Stephen Covey

"If I make deposits into an Emotional Bank Account with you through courtesy, kindness, honesty, and keeping my commitments to you, I build up a reserve. Your trust toward me becomes higher, and I can call upon that trust many times if I need to. I can even make mistakes and that trust level, that emotional reserve, will compensate for it. My communication may not be clear, but you'll get my meaning anyway. You won't make me "an offender for a word." When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective." ~Stephen Covey

Without trust, the best we can do is compromise. ~Stephen Covey

The ability to establish, grow, extend, and restore trust is the key professional and personal competency of our time. ~Stephen Covey

Priority is a function of context. ~Stephen Covey

It's better to be trusted than to be liked. ~Stephen Covey

Conscience connects us with the wisdom of the ages and the wisdom of the heart. ~Stephen Covey

Doing more things faster is no substitute for doing the right things. ~Stephen Covey

We must not let the actions or words of others determine our responses. Magnanimous people make the choice to respond to the indignities of others based upon their own principles and their own value system rather than their moods or anger. ~Stephen Covey

Contrary to what most people believe, trust is not some soft, illusive quality that you either have or you don't; rather, trust is a pragmatic, tangible, actionable asset that you can create. ~Stephen Covey

Mind over mattress. ~Stephen Covey

Want to improve your relationships? See love as a verb rather than as a feeling? ~Stephen 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 Covey

Employers and business leaders need people who can think for themselves - who can take initiative and be the solution to problems. ~Stephen Covey

Effective communication is built on the cement of trust. And trust is based on trustworthiness, not politics. ~Stephen Covey

Be part of the solution, not part of the problem. ~Stephen Covey

If we want to make a change in our lives, we should first focus on our personal attitudes and behaviors. ~Stephen Covey

Retire from your job but never from meaningful projects. If you want to live a long life, you need eustress, that is, a deep sense of meaning and of contribution to worthy projects and causes, particularly, your intergenerational family. ~Stephen Covey

Compliance does not foster innovation, trust does. You can't sustain long-term innovation, for example, in a climate of distrust. ~Stephen Covey

Basing our happiness on our ability to control everything is futile. ~Stephen Covey

Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it's holy ground. There's no greater investment. ~Stephen Covey

But borrowing strength builds weakness. ~Stephen Covey

Want balance in your life? Then sure, get your own act together, but don't forget four powerful disciplines of execution in your team and organization. ~Stephen Covey

Most people say their main fault is a lack of discipline. On deeper thought, I believe this is not the case. The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds. ~Stephen Covey

The 'Inside-Out' approach to personal and interpersonal effectiveness means to start first with self; even more fundamentally, to start with the most inside part of self, with your paradigms, your character, and your motives. The inside-out approach says that private victories precede public victories, that making and keeping promises to ourselves recedes making and keeping promises to others. It says it is futile to put personality ahead of character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving ourselves. ~Stephen Covey

All things are created twice, but not all first creations are by conscious design. In our personal lives, if we do not develop our own self-awareness and become responsible for first creations, we empower other people and circumstances outside our Circle of Influence to shape much of our lives by default. We reactively live the scripts handed to us by family, associates, other people's agendas, the pressures of circumstance - scripts from our earlier years, from our training, our conditioning. ~Stephen Covey

If there is no gardener there is no garden. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

When life does not go our way or we inadvertently make a mistake, it is so easy to make excuses, place blame on others, or argue that circumstances were against us. But we only progress in life to the extent that we take responsibility for our actions and attitudes, and put forth the initiative necessary to create our own circumstances. ~Stephen Covey

The most important ingredient we put into any relationship is not what we say or what we do, but what we are. And if our words and our actions come from superficial human relations techniques (the Personality Ethic) rather than from our own inner core (the Character Ethic), others will sense that duplicity. We simply won't be able to create and sustain the foundation necessary for effective interdependence. ~Stephen Covey

It's incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busy-ness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it's leaning against the wrong wall. It is possible to be busy - very busy - without being very effective. ~Stephen Covey

In a very real sense, there are only two roles in organisations: customers and suppliers. Everybody functions simultaneously in both roles, whether inside or outside the organisation the essence of good business, therefore, is the quality of the relationship between customer and supplier. ~Stephen Covey

Always surround yourself with people who are even more talented and competent than you. ~Stephen Covey

Leaders are not born or made - they are self made ~Stephen Covey

It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity. ~Stephen Covey

Trust is the glue that holds everything together. ~Stephen Covey

Reactive people... are often affected by their physical environment. They find external sources to blame for their behavior. ~Stephen Covey

Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice. ~Stephen Covey

Your most important work is always ahead of you, never behind you. ~Stephen Covey

It's not that we ignore our weaknesses; rather, we make our weaknesses irrelevant by working effectively with others so that we compensate for our weaknesses through their strengths and they compensate for their weaknesses through our strengths. ~Stephen Covey

The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. ~Stephen Covey

Writing distills, crystallizes, and clarifies thought. ~Stephen Covey

Be sure that, as you scramble up the ladder of success, it is leaning against the right building. ~Stephen Covey

You are dependent if you allow the weaknesses of other people to ruin your emotional life! ~Stephen Covey

To receive gratitude with grace is a form of gratitude by itself, and not always an easy art to master. ~Stephen Covey

In our own lives, having a mind-set of expecting to win increases our odds of winning. It helps us get better results. And better results help us increase our credibility and self-confidence, which leads to more positive self-expectancy, and more winning - and the upward cycle continues. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. ~Stephen Covey

Trust is the highest form of human motivation. It brings out the very best in people. But it takes time and patience. ~Stephen Covey

We are not animals. We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice. ~Stephen Covey

Communication is the most important single activity of man. ~Stephen Covey

Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us. ~Stephen Covey

The most effective way I know to begin with the end in mind is to develop a personal mission statement or philosophy or creed. It focused on what you want to be (character) and to do (contributions and achievements) and on the values or principles upon which being and doing are based. ~Stephen Covey

If I really want to improve my situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control-myself. I can stop trying to shape up my wife and can work on my own weaknesses. I can focus an being a great marriage partner, a source of unconditional love and support. Hopefully, my wife will feel the power of proactive example and respond in kind. But, whether she does or doesn't, the most positive way I can influence my situation is to work on myself, on my being. ~Stephen Covey

One thing about trust is that everyone's for it. ~Stephen Covey

Success in one role can't justify failure in another. ~Stephen Covey

Interdependence is a choice only independent people can make ~Stephen 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 Covey

Creating a warm, caring, supportive, encouraging environment is probably the most important thing you can do for your family. ~Stephen Covey

Nevertheless, the only way we can move from where we are now to where we would like to be is to accept where we are now. ~Stephen Covey

The great apparent dichotomy is that the more we give, the more we get. ~Stephen Covey

Most people are basically a victim of the circumstances of their life. They have things like /, they have terrorism threats, they have new war threats, they have economy problems, and they think, 'What can I do? I'm basically a victim.' ~Stephen Covey

The first job of a leader-at work or at home-is to inspire trust. It's to bring out the best in people by entrusting them with meaningful stewardships, and to create an environment in which high-trust interaction inspires creativity and possibility. ~Stephen Covey

Whether or not we belong to a church or service organization or have a job that provides meaningful service opportunities, not a day goes by that we can't at least serve one other human being by making deposits of unconditional love. ~Stephen Covey

Life is not accumulation, it is about contribution. ~Stephen Covey

You have two ears and one mouth. Use them accordingly. ~Stephen Covey

Inspire (from the Latin inspirare) means to breathe life into another. ~Stephen Covey

All things are created twice; first mentally; then physically. The key to creativity is to begin with the end in mind, with a vision and a blue print of the desired result. ~Stephen Covey

If there's one thing that's certain in business, it's uncertainty. ~Stephen Covey

True independence of character empowers us to act rather than be acted upon. ~Stephen Covey

Our greatest joy and our greatest pain comes in our relationships with others. ~Stephen Covey

Many people think in terms of either/or: either you're nice or you're tough. Win-win requires that you be both. It is a balancing act between courage and consideration. To go for win-win, you not only have to be empathic, but you also have to be confident. You not only have to be considerate and sensitive, you also have to be brave. To do that-to achieve that balance between courage and consideration-is the essence of real maturity and is fundamental to win-win. ~Stephen Covey

Being humble does not mean being weak, reticent, or self-effacing. It means recognizing principle and putting it ahead of self. It means standing firmly for principle, even in the fact of opposition. ~Stephen Covey

Everyone must be proactive and do all they can to help themselves to stay employed. ~Stephen Covey

I see myself living by correct principles and accomplishing worthy purposes. One of my favorite quotes is, "The greatest battles of life are fought out every day in the silent chambers of one's own soul." (David O. McKay). ~Stephen Covey

Synergy is the highest activity of life; it creates new untapped alternatives; it values and exploits the mental, emotional, and psychological differences between people. ~Stephen Covey

I'm convinced that we can write and live our own scripts more than most people will acknowledge. I also know the price that must be paid. It's a real struggle to do it. It requires visualization and affirmation. It involves living a life of integrity, starting with making and keeping promises, until the whole human personality the senses, the thinking, the feeling, and the intuition are ultimately integrated and harmonized. ~Stephen Covey

Passion is the fire, enthusiasm and courage that an individual feels when she is doing something she loves while accomplishing worthy ends, something that satisfies her deepest needs. ~Stephen Covey

People and organizations don't grow much without delegation and completed staff work because they are confined to the capacities of the boss and reflect both personal strengths and weaknesses. ~Stephen Covey

The creative process is also the most terrifying part because you don't know exactly what's going to happen or where it is going to lead. You don't know what new dangers and challenges you'll find. It takes an enormous amount of internal security to begin with the spirit of adventure, discovery, and creativity. Without doubt, you have to leave the comfort zone of base camp and confront an entirely new and unknown wilderness. ~Stephen Covey

The th Habit, then, is not about adding one more habit to the - one that somehow got forgotten. It's about seeing and harnessing the power of a third dimension to the Habits that meets the central challenge of the new Knowledge Worker Age. The th Habit is to Find Your Voice and Inspire Others to Find Theirs. ~Stephen Covey

I win the private victory when I have made my mind up and commit to live by correct principles and to serve worthy purposes. ~Stephen Covey

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. ~Stephen Covey

To live; to love; to learn; and to leave a legacy. ~Stephen Covey

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