Stephen Covey Quotes & Sayings

I win the private victory when I have made my mind up and commit to live by correct principles and to serve worthy purposes. — Stephen Covey

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

Inspire (from the Latin inspirare) means to breathe life into another. — Stephen Covey

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. — Stephen Covey

The spirit of America has nurtured responsibility and community unlike any other country. — Stephen Covey

Effective communication is built on the cement of trust. And trust is based on trustworthiness, not politics. — Stephen Covey

I keep my phone number unlisted and rely on my associates to handle all voice mail, e-mail, faxes. — Stephen Covey

Our capacity for production and enjoyment is ?a function, in the last analysis, of our character, our integrity. — Stephen Covey

Unless people feel that they are accepted and that they have a right to express their feelings without fear of embarrassment or ridicule, all they will do is react and rebel and struggle for their identity. — Stephen Covey

Anyone can count the seeds of an apple. Who can count the apples in a seed? — Stephen Covey

When you study the lives of all great achievers-those who have had the greatest influence on others, those who have made things happen-you will find a pattern. Through their persistent efforts and inner struggle, they have greatly expanded their four native human intelligences or capacities. The highest manifestations of these four intelligences are: for mental, vision; for the physical, discipline; for the emotional, passion; for the spiritual, conscience. These manifestations also represent our highest means of expressing our voice. — Stephen Covey

Most of us think we don't have enough time to exercise. What a distorted paradigm! We don't have time not to. We're talking about three to six hours a week - or a minimum of thirty minutes a day, every other day. That hardly seems an inordinate amount of time considering the tremendous benefits in terms of the impact on the other 162 - 165 hours of the week. — Stephen Covey

Those who get the most out of life and those who give the most are those who make the choice to act. — Stephen Covey

Empathic listening takes time, but it doesn't take anywhere near as much time as it takes to back up and correct misunderstandings when you're already miles down the road; to redo; to live with unexpressed and unsolved problems; to deal with the results of not giving people psychological air. — Stephen Covey

If we overcome the pull and "get up and get at it," we will have won a victory. We have kept our own resolve. We can then move to other things, for by small means great things are accomplished. Thus, even this one small step is also in another sense a giant leap. — Stephen Covey

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. — Stephen Covey

By centering our lives on timeless, unchanging principles, we create a fundamental paradigm of effective living. It is the center that puts all other centers in perspective. — Stephen Covey

In many situations involving service recovery - the problem itself became the catalyst for the creation of even greater trust as the companies took the issues head-on and worked through the difficult problem in a way that restored confidence. — Stephen Covey

It is extremely ironic that the more we care about what people think about us the less we care about people, and the less we care about what people think about us the more we begin to care for others — Stephen Covey

Someone once inquired of a Far Eastern Zen master, who had a great serenity and peace about him no matter what pressures he faced, "How do you maintain that serenity and peace?" He replied, "I never leave my place of meditation." He meditated early in the morning and for the rest of the day, he carried the peace of those moments with him in his mind and heart. — Stephen Covey

Personal leadership is the process of keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to be congruent with them. — Stephen Covey

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. — Stephen Covey

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. — Stephen Covey

Trust is equal parts character and competence ... You can look at any leadership failure, and it's always a failure of one or the other. — Stephen Covey

Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree.
"What are you doing?" you ask.
"Can't you see?" comes the impatient reply. "I'm sawing down this tree."
"You look exhausted!" you exclaim. "How long have you been at it?"
"Over five hours," he returns, "and I'm beat! This is hard work."
'Well, why don't you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?" you inquire. "I'm sure it would go a lot faster."
"I don't have time to sharpen the saw," the man says emphatically. "I'm too busy sawing!" — Stephen Covey

I'm convinced that we can write and live our own scripts more than most people will acknowledge. I also know the price that must be paid. It's a real struggle to do it. It requires visualization and affirmation. It involves living a life of integrity, starting with making and keeping promises, until the whole human personality the senses, the thinking, the feeling, and the intuition are ultimately integrated and harmonized. — Stephen Covey

True effectiveness is a function of two things: what is produced (the golden eggs) and the producing asset (the goose). — Stephen Covey

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. — Stephen Covey

It's amazing how confused and distracted and misdirected so many people are. — Stephen Covey

The deepest hunger of [a child's] human heart is to be understood, for understanding implicitly affirms, validates, recognizes and appreciates the intrinsic worth of another. — Stephen Covey

Listen with your eyes for feelings. — Stephen Covey

An empowering mission statement has to become a living document, part of our very nature, so that the criteria we've put into it are also in us, in the way we live our lives day by day. — Stephen Covey

When you have too many top priorities, you effectively have no top priorities. — Stephen Covey

Highly proactive people don't blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice. — Stephen Covey

It's not what people do to us that hurts us. In the most fundamental sense, it is our chosen response to what they do to us that hurts us. — Stephen Covey

If we can't make and keep commitments to ourselves as well as to others, our commitments become meaningless. — Stephen Covey

While we cannot always choose what happens to us, we can choose our responses. — Stephen Covey

Only after we can learn to forgive ourselves can we accept others as they are because we don't feel threatened by anything about them which is better than us. — Stephen Covey

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. — Stephen Covey

What you see often depends on what you are looking for. — Stephen Covey

We develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and obstacles. — Stephen Covey

In the end, life teaches us what is important, and that is family. — Stephen Covey

Vital to quality of life is the ability to work together, learn from each other, and help each other grow. — Stephen Covey

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. — Stephen Covey

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

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. — Stephen Covey

Conscience connects us with the wisdom of the ages and the wisdom of the heart. — Stephen Covey

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

While you can think in terms of efficiency in dealing with time, a principle-centered person thinks in terms of effectiveness in dealing with people. — Stephen Covey

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. — Stephen Covey

You may be good, but what are you good for? You've got to be good for something. You've got to be about some project, some task that requires you to be humble and obedient to the universal principles of service. You've got to live a life of complete and total integrity in order to give this kind of service. This integrity enables you to love other people unconditionally, to be courageous and kind at the same time, because you have integratedness inside your own soul. — Stephen Covey

Values determine behavior; Principles determine the consequences of behavior. — Stephen Covey

Without exception, empathy is always appropriate. — Stephen Covey

I won't take time to repeat all the obvious benefits of physical exercise but will only underscore the well-attested fact that a program of regular exercise increases one's efficiency in every facet of life, including the depth and restfulness of sleep. And the time taken can be minimal; just a few minutes of calisthenics and running in place in one's room or jogging around the yard or block is often sufficient. Exercising doesn't take time. It saves time. Still, few consistently do it. — Stephen Covey

Happen to things, don't let things happen to you — Stephen Covey

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. — Stephen Covey

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'?" — Stephen Covey

Self-awareness involves deep personal honesty. It comes from asking and answering hard questions. — Stephen Covey

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. — Stephen Covey

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. — Stephen Covey

To learn something but not to do is really not to learn. To know something but not to do is really not to know. — Stephen Covey

People are social beings and want interaction and social learning is the primary form of learning, just as word of mouth advertising is the highest form of advertising. — Stephen Covey

Compliance does not foster innovation, trust does. You can't sustain long-term innovation, for example, in a climate of distrust. — Stephen Covey

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

Most people define greatness through wealth and popularity and position in the corner office. But what I call everyday greatness comes from character and contribution. — Stephen Covey

Success is when you realize obstacles you face are challenges to help you become better - and your response equals the challenge. — Stephen Covey

If we spend most of our time concerned about things we cannot truly directly influence, what we can influence will be reduced. If we spend our energies on those things over which we can expect positive results, we will expand our influence. — Stephen Covey

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. — Stephen Covey

Integrity is conforming reality to our words - in other words, keeping promises and fulfilling expectations. — Stephen Covey

Make time for planning: Wars are won in the general's tent. — Stephen Covey

Proactive people carry their own weather with them. — Stephen Covey

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 to shape our lives by default. — Stephen Covey

Every time I see high-trust cultures, I see a lessening of adversarialism. — Stephen Covey

When you listen with empathy to another person, you give that person psychological air. — Stephen Covey

I believe in this concept that you learn by teaching. — Stephen Covey

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. — Stephen Covey

It's easy to say 'no!' when there's a deeper 'yes!' burning inside. — Stephen Covey

It's not only a matter of when to do things, but whether or not to do them at all. — Stephen Covey

Taking initiative is a form of self-empowerment. — Stephen Covey

Every time you think the problem is 'out there,' that very thought is the problem. — Stephen Covey

When you get a good night's sleep and wake up ready to produce throughout the day. — Stephen Covey

Synergy is everywhere in nature. If you plant two plants close together, the roots commingle and improve the quality of the soil so that both plants will grow better than if they were separated. If you put two pieces of wood together, they will hold much more than the total weight held by each separately. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. One plus one equals three or more. — Stephen Covey

To set and work toward any goal is an act of courage. — Stephen Covey

Difference is the beginning of synergy. — Stephen Covey

Writing bridges conscious and subconscious mind. It is a psycho-neuromuscular activity and literally imprints the brain. — Stephen Covey

Your systems are perfectly designed to get the results that you are getting. — Stephen Covey

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

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. — Stephen Covey

I must change in order to change the world. The only revolution with any permanent value takes part in the breast of the individual person. — Stephen Covey

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.' — Stephen Covey

Fulfilling the four needs [spiritual, mental, physical, social] in an integrated way is like combining elements in chemistry. When we reach a "critical mass" of integration, we experience spontaneous combustion-an explosion of inner synergy that ignites the fire within and gives vision, passion, and a spirit of adventure to life. — Stephen Covey

Patience is emotional diligence. — Stephen Covey

Being humble does not mean being weak, reticent, or self-effacing. It means recognizing principle and putting it ahead of self. It means standing firmly for principle, even in the fact of opposition. — Stephen Covey

Writing is another powerful way to sharpen the mental saw. Keeping a journal of our thoughts, experiences, insights, and learnings promotes mental clarity, exactness, and context. — Stephen Covey

We can never really change someone; people must change themselves. — Stephen Covey

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

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

While values drive behaviors, principles govern consequences. — Stephen Covey

The essence of synergy is to value differences-to respect them, to build on strengths, to compensate for weaknesses — Stephen Covey

I am fortunate to have a very helpful team that enables me to spend time doing things that are important but not necessarily urgent. People who have no such team need to also make these larger decisions so that they can cheerfully say No to that which is urgent but not important. — Stephen Covey