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Stephen Covey

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Famous Stephen Covey Quotes

“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.”

WorldWellsPersonsCharacterMotivationalAbleDesireStepsEmotionalListeningPureSkillsAccountsBank AccountsEmpatheticPersonal Character
Book:Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE Every Day
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“If you are an effective manager of your self, your discipline comes from within; it is a function of your independent will. You are a disciple, a follower, of your own deep values and their source. And you have the will, the integrity, to subordinate your feelings, your impulses, your moods to those values.”

IfsSelfFeelingsValuesFreedomSourceDisciplineIntegrityEmpowermentFunctionIndependentMoodManagersImpulseFollowersDiscipleSubordinates
Book:Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE Every Day
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“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.”

MindPersonsSelfStatesBodyNextFunTermPleasureLevelsCryOffersSucceedBiggerExcitingSatisfactionInnocentBoredFulfillmentLastingModerationRelaxationMind And BodyHere And NowPursuit Of HappinessNarcissisticInterpretingBigger And Better
Author:Stephen Covey
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“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.”

NeedsTryingMomentsLawSpiritMotherChoicesFatherNaturalPrinciplesVirtueOur LivesProgressHumilityHigherIntegrityUniversalHarmonyBlessedHumbleLive BySubmitNatural LawHigher Power
Author:Stephen Covey
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“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.”

HumansFeelingsValuesHuman BeingsDecisionConditionsBehaviorFunctionResponsiblePersonal DevelopmentSubordinates
Book:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Interactive Edition
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“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.”

WayMotherValuesPrinciplesVirtueHumilityPrideBehaviorPersonal DevelopmentSubmit
Book:The Stephen R. Covey Interactive Reader - 4 Books in 1: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, First Things First, and the Best of the Most Renowned Leadership Teacher of our Time
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“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.”

IfsKnowsWayHardTermLike YouPersonal DevelopmentOver YouMasterySuperficialKnow YourselfShort TermLike YourselfPsych
Book:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Interactive Edition
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“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.”

IfsWantLawNaturalChallengesResultsActingPrinciplesCreativityAchieveTalentHighestUniqueOvercomingHarmonyDeterminedPersonal DevelopmentAspirationEndeavorTiedVaryNatural Law
Book:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
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“It is futile to put personality ahead of character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving ourselves.”

TryingCharacterPersonalityPersonal DevelopmentImprovingRelationships With OthersInterpersonalKeeping PromisesInterpersonal Relationship
Book:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Interactive Edition
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“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.”

ThinkingMindPersonsStillsLiteratureVoiceGreaterHonestDisciplineTrainingConscienceHarmonyAthleteNoblePersonal DevelopmentExcellentConcentrationNervesScholarBalancedConsistentlyProactiveSmall VoiceFeastingHonest Living
Book:Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE Every Day
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“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".”

PeopleSelfLyingPurposeLosesAnimalLevelsPrinciplesAwarenessSurvivalUniqueSelf AwarenessFilledPersonal DevelopmentLive ByVacuumsReactingDormantEndowmentPropagationGroveling
Author:Stephen Covey
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“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.”

PeopleFirstsPastOur LivesDesignCreationHabitCircumstancesPersonal DevelopmentAgendasProactive
Book:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Interactive Edition
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“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.”

KnowsNaturalPrinciplesGreaterConsequenceNegativeUniversalHarmonyLimitationPersonal FreedomNatural ConsequencesNegative Consequences
Book:Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE Every Day
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“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.”

FeelsActionLawValuesNaturalPrinciplesBehaviorConsequenceInternalsStrongestSubjectiveOur ActionsNatural LawConsequences Of Our Actions
Book:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
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“'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.”

NeedsHumansMomentsOpportunityEnjoyRichFocusExpectationsBasesManagementTime ManagementEfficientEfficiencySpontaneousClashHuman NeedsCounterproductiveScheduling
Book:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
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“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.”

PeopleIfsYearsFirstsSelfValuesVisionOur LivesInfluenceAwarenessDesignCreationCircumstancesShapesTrainingConsciousAll ThingsPressureResponsibleSelf AwarenessScriptsCirclesEmpoweringAgendasLive ByAssociatesPersonal LifeConditioningDefaultCircle Of Influence
Author:Stephen Covey
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“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.”

ThinkingDoeJobsLyingWealthEconomicSecurityProduceIndependenceFinancialFinancial FreedomFinancial IndependenceEconomic Security
Book:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
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“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.”

ProblemLightJudgingModelsSolutionsCommitmentCriticsProblem SolvingProblems And SolutionsSolution To A Problem
Book:Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE Every Day
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“It takes humility to seek feedback. It takes wisdom to understand it, analyze it and appropriately act on it.”

HumilityFeedback
Book:The Stephen R. Covey Interactive Reader - 4 Books in 1: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, First Things First, and the Best of the Most Renowned Leadership Teacher of our Time
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