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Stephen Covey

Stephen Covey Quotes

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Famous Stephen Covey Quotes

“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'?"”

ThinkingWantNeedsMotivationalIndividualTermPrinciplesFocusRightsSacrificeBuildingBuiltDirectAgree
Book:The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
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“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.”

WantMindHeartPersonsHandsBrainCreativityTreatsCustomersEnthusiasmEmployeeVolunteerHeart And Mind
Book:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
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“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.”

WantEnoughCharacterHandsValuesDealsVisionMissionsBe GoodWhat You WantStatementsEmpoweringCompetenceMission Statement
Book:First Things First
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“If you want to get something done, give it to a busy man.”

IfsMenWantGivingDoneEthicsBusyProductivityWork EthicBusy Man
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 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.”

IfsWayWantFeelsTryingKindDoeI CanMy OwnSituationSupportFocusWifeOne ThingInfluenceExampleSourceShapesWeaknessMy WifePartnersHopefullyUnconditional LoveUnconditionalStop TryingProactiveGreat MarriageControl Myself
Author:Stephen Covey
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“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.”

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

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

ThinkingWantSometimesPurposeProcessHigherPainfulWhat You WantWillingnessMotivatedSubordinatesHigher Purpose
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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“Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.”

WantInspirationalBusinessTreatsAppreciationCustomersRecognitionEngagedEmployeeTeamworkEngagementStaffEngagingRecognizingTeam BuildingEmployee EngagementTeam WorkingCompany Culture7 HabitsBest PerformanceMotivational TeamworkTop ManagementEmployee InspirationalMotivate EmployeesTeam Work MotivationalRewards And RecognitionEmployee RecognitionRecognition And AppreciationSatisfaction In WorkEmployee Appreciation
Book:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Interactive Edition
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“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.”

KnowsWayWantMindEndsPhilosophyCharacterValuesPrinciplesFocusAchievementMissionsFocusedWhat You WantStatementsContributionCreedsMission StatementPersonal MissionPersonal Mission Statement
Book:Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE Every Day
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“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.”

IfsWantNeedsValuesGoalAchieveManagementRewardsMissionsStatementsMission Statement
Book:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Interactive Edition
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“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.”

PeopleIfsWantFirstsDreamEffortCreationBuildingCircumstancesShapesConsciousAll ThingsWho You AreWhat You WantEmpoweringDefaultBlueprints
Author:Stephen Covey
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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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“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.”

PeopleIfsWantTwoValuesDifferencesOpinionAgreeCommunicateUnnecessaryCooperative Learning
Book:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
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“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.”

PeopleIfsWantTryingHumansLongCharacterUseRunningSuccessfulInfluenceRelationStrategyTechniqueLike MeBeing SuccessfulMotivatedLong RunsDistrustTacticsFlawedHuman RelationsManipulativeInsincerityDuplicity
Book:Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE Every Day
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“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.”

WantMindFirstsEndsOrderCreationAll ThingsWhat You WantEach DayConstructionShedBricksBlueprintsMortarBricks And Mortar
Book:Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE Every Day
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