Stephen R. Covey Quotes Page 4

“Habit 1: Be Proactive
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Habit 3: Put First Things First
Habit 4: Think Win/Win
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
Habit 6: Synergize
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw”

“Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do).”

“Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice.”

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

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

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

“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.”

“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 the space between stimulus 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.”

“Independent people who do not have the maturity to think and act interdependently may be good individual producers, but they won't be good leaders or team players.”

“Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential.”

“It is possible to be busy-very busy-without being very effective.”

“It's not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us.”

“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.”

“Leadership is communicating others’ worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.”

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

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

“Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.”

“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, consistent with correct principles, to get the job done.”

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”

“Start with the end in mind.”

“The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person.”

“The person who doesn’t read is no better off than the person who can’t read.”

“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.”

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

“To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.”

“To learn and not to do is really not to learn. To know and not to do is really not to know.”

“Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be.”

“Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships. When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.”