Stephen R. Covey Quotes Page 3

“If you don’t have a mission statement, spend a few moments connecting with your inner compass and thinking about what really matters most in your life.”

“It is that a meaningful life is not a matter of speed or efficiency. It’s much more a matter of what you do and why you do it, than how fast you get it done.”

“It’s easy to say 'no!' when there’s a deeper 'yes!' burning inside.”

“It’s not enough to dream. It’s not enough to try. It’s not enough to set goals or climb ladders. It’s not enough to value. The effort has to be based on practical realities that produce the result. Only then can we dream, set goals, and work to achieve them with confidence.”

“Keeping a personal journal empowers you to see and improve, on a day-by-day basis, the way you’re developing and using your endowments. Because writing truly imprints the brain, it also helps you remember and apply the things you’re trying to do. In addition, it gives you a powerful contextual tool. As you take occasion—perhaps on a mission statement renewal retreat—to read over your experiences of past weeks, months, or years, you gain invaluable insight into repeating patterns and themes in your life.”

“More important than how fast you’re going, is where you’re headed.”

“Personal leadership is cultivating the wisdom to recognize our need for renewal and to ensure that each week provides activities that are genuinely re-creational in nature.”

“Recognize we’ve been scripted in ways that are not in harmony with our deep inner conscience.”

“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”

“The Chinese bamboo tree is planted after the land is well prepared. During the first four years, all the growth of this tree is in the underground part.

The only thing visible from it during that time was a small ball from which a very small plant came out. In the fifth year this tree grows eighty feet at once.

This system applies to the leader whose leadership is based on the principles of truth and knows the theory of the Chinese bamboo tree. This type of leader knows the value of work and knows the value of preparing the land, planting seeds, putting fertilizer, water and taking care of it, as well as the value of not rushing to results early.

They know that the excellent harvest will come later. What a wonderful harvest.”

“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.

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.”

“The greatest battles we fight are in the silent chambers of our own souls.”

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

“The problems in life come when we’re sowing one thing and expecting to reap something entirely different.”

“The Urgency Addiction

Some of us get so used to the adrenaline rush of handling crises that we become dependent on it for a sense of excitement and energy. How does urgency feel? Stressful? Pressured? Tense? Exhausting? Sure.

But let’s be honest. It’s also sometimes exhilarating. We feel useful. We feel successful. We feel validated. And we get good at it. Whenever there’s trouble, we ride into town, pull out our six shooter, do the varmint in, blow the smoke off the gun barrel, and ride into the sunset like a hero. It brings instant results and instant gratification. We get a temporary high from solving urgent and important crises. Then when the importance isn’t there, the urgency fix is so powerful we are drawn to do anything urgent, just to stay in motion.

People expect us to be busy, overworked. It’s become a status symbol in our society—if we’re busy, we’re important; if we’re not busy, we’re almost embarrassed to admit it. Busyness is where we get our security. It’s validating, popular, and pleasing. It’s also a good excuse for not dealing with the first things in our lives. “I’d love to spend quality time with you, but I have to work. There’s this deadline. It’s urgent. Of course you understand.” “I just don’t have time to exercise. I know it’s important, but there are so many pressing things right now. Maybe when things slow down a little.”

“There’s no way we can escape accountability. We do make a difference—one way or the other. We are responsible for the impact of our lives.”

“We are free to choose our actions, but we are not free to choose the consequences of these actions.”

“We have to water, cultivate, and weed on a regular basis if we’re going to enjoy the harvest.”

“What is needed out there, and what is my unique strength, my gift?”

“What we believe about ourselves and our purpose has a powerful impact on how we live, how we love, and what we learn.”

“What we sow, we must inevitably reap.”

“What you alone can contribute, no one else can contribute. Viktor Frankl said we don’t invent our mission; we detect it. It’s within us waiting to be realized.”

“When we talk about time management, it seems ridiculous to worry about speed before direction, about saving minutes when we may be wasting years.”

“When man created the mirror, he began to lose his soul. He became more concerned with his image than with his self.”

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

“As you care less about what people think of you, you will care more about what others think of themselves.”

“Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.”

“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.”

“Courage isn't absence of fear, it is the awareness that something else is important.”

“Effective people are not problem-minded; they're opportunity-minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems.”