Stephen Covey quotes:

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  • Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

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

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

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.

  • 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.

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

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

  • The spirit of America has nurtured responsibility and community unlike any other country.

  • We become what we repeatedly do.

  • If there's one thing that's certain in business, it's uncertainty.

  • 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.'

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

  • 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.

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

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

  • Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response.

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • We need to have business leaders who live by deep, strong principles.

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

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

  • There are three constants in life... change, choice and principles.

  • 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!

  • Remember, we are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

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

  • Most people are basically a victim of the circumstances of their life. They have things like 9/11, 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.'

  • Live out of your imagination, not your history.

  • 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.

  • Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition - such as lifting weights - we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.

  • Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

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

  • 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.

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

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

  • 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.

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

  • Every time I see high-trust cultures, I see a lessening of adversarialism.

  • Principles are guidelines for human conduct that are proven to have enduring, permanent value.

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

  • 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.

  • You can't talk your way out of problems you behave yourself into.

  • 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.

  • A little over 5% of the world's population produces almost 29% of the world's goods and services.

  • The average family spends 30 hours in front of a television, and they say they don't have the time to have a balanced, integrated life.

  • It's amazing how confused and distracted and misdirected so many people are.

  • Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.

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

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

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

  • 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.

  • Accountability breeds response-ability.

  • Life is not accumulation, it is about contribution.

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

  • Private Victory precedes Public Victory. Algebra comes before calculus.

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

  • Live simply and appreciate what you have. Give more. Expect less.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Nothing is more exciting and bonding in relationships than creating together.

  • All broken relationships can be traced back to broken agreements

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice.

  • Habit 7 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.

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success

  • Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.

  • 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.

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

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

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

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

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

  • Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.

  • 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.

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

  • 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

  • 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.

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

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