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Character Grows In The Soil Of Experience With The Fertilization Of Example, The Moisture Of Ambition, And The Sunshine Of Satisfaction. Character Cannot Be Purchased, Bargained For, Inherited, Rented Or Imported From Afar. It Must Be Home-grown. Purely Intellectual Development Without Commensurate Internal Character Development Makes As Much Sense As Putting A High-powered Sports Car In The Hands Of A Teenager Who Is High On Drugs. Yet All Too Often In The Academic World, That's Exactly What We Do By Not Focusing On The Character Development Of Young People.

-Stephen Covey

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Character Grows In The

Stephen Covey

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Character Grows In The Soil Of Experience With The Fertilization Of Example, The Moisture Of Ambition, And The Sunshine Of Satisfaction. Character Cannot Be Purchased, Bargained For, Inherited, Rented Or Imported From Afar. It Must Be Home-grown. Purely Intellectual Development Without Commensurate Internal Character Development Makes As Much Sense As Putting A High-powered Sports Car In The Hands Of A Teenager Who Is High On Drugs. Yet All Too Often In The Academic World, That's Exactly What We Do By Not Focusing On The Character Development Of Young People.

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Peace Of Mind Comes When Your Life Is In Harmony With True Principles And Values And In No Other Way.

When We Value Correct Principles, We Have Truth - A Knowledge Of Things As They Are.

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True Effectiveness Is A Function Of Two Things: What Is Produced (the Golden Eggs) And The Producing Asset (the Goose).

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We're Often So Busy Cutting Through The Undergrowth We Don't Even Realise We're In The Wrong Jungle.

Once You've Found Your Own Voice, The Choice To Expand Your Influence, To Increase Your Contribution, Is The Choice To Inspire Others To Find Their Voice.

If You Put Good People In Bad Systems You Get Bad Results. You Have To Water The Flowers You Want To Grow.

Accountability Breeds Response-ability.

The Core Of Any Family Is What Is Changeless, What Is Going To Be There──shared Vision And Values.

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We May Be Very Busy, We May Be Very 'efficient', But We Will Also Be Truly 'effective' Only When We Begin With The End In Mind.

Love - The Feeling - Is A Fruit Of Love, The Verb.

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Internal Victories Precede External Victories.

The Great Apparent Dichotomy Is That The More We Give, The More We Get.

Law Of Attraction

Live Out Of Your Imagination, Not Your History.

Most Of Us Spend Too Much Time On What Is Urgent And Not Enough Time On What Is Important.

Priorities In Life

The Worldly Fountain Does Not Breed Spiritual Depth.

Synergy: The Combined Effect Of Individuals In Collaboration That Exceeds The Sum Of Their Individual Effects.

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I Believe That A Life Of Integrity I The Most Fundamental Source Of Personal Worth. I Do Not Agree With The Popular Success Literature That Says That Self-esteem Is Primarily A Matter Of Mind Set, Of Attitude-that You Can Psych Yourself Into Peace Of Mind. Peace Of Mind Comes When Your Life Is In Harmony With True Principles And Values And In No Other Way.

Most Learning Is Social, Or What I Call The Cultural Dna. Everyone Knows That Word Of Mouth Advertising Is The Best Advertising. That's Social Learning.

Beginners Are Many; Finishers Are Few.

The Great Contributors In Life Are Those Who, Though Afraid Of The Knock At The Door, Still Answer It.

If I Were To Summarize In One Sentence The Single Most Important Principle I Have Learned In The Field Of Interpersonal Relations, It Would Be This: Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood. This Principle Is The Key To Effective Interpersonal Communication.

Success In One Role Can't Justify Failure In Another.

One Thing About Trust Is That Everyone's For It.

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.

You Are Dependent If You Allow The Weaknesses Of Other People To Ruin Your Emotional Life!

Be Patient With Yourself. Self-growth Is Tender; It's Holy Ground. There's No Greater Investment.

To Be Successful We Must Live From Our Imaginations, Not From Our Memories.

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

It's Easy To Say ''no!'' When There's A Deeper ''yes!'' Burning Inside.

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.

My Behavior Is A Product Of My Own Conscious Choices Based On Principles, Rather Than A Product Of My Conditions, Based On Feelings.

We Immediately Become More Effective When We Decide To Change Ourselves Rather Than Asking Things To Change For Us.

Change For The Better

Sometimes Poor Behavior Is Simply Bad Execution Of Good Intent.

In This Knowledge-worker Age, It's Now Increasingly Tied To Doing Well In School So You Can Get Into Better Grad Schools So You Can Get Better Jobs - So The Pressure To Do Well Is Really High.

Habit 7 Is Taking The Time To Sharpen The Saw. By Renewing The Four Dimensions Of Your Nature - Physical, Spiritual, Mental And Social/emotional, You Can Work More Quickly And Effortlessly. To Do This, We Must Be Proactive. This Is A Quadrant Ii (important, Not Urgent) Activity That Must Be Acted On. It's At The Center Of Our Circle Of Influence, So We Must Do It For Ourselves.

We Must Not Let The Actions Or Words Of Others Determine Our Responses. Magnanimous People Make The Choice To Respond To The Indignities Of Others Based Upon Their Own Principles And Their Own Value System Rather Than Their Moods Or Anger.

I See Myself Living By Correct Principles And Accomplishing Worthy Purposes. One Of My Favorite Quotes Is, "the Greatest Battles Of Life Are Fought Out Every Day In The Silent Chambers Of One's Own Soul." (david O. Mckay).

We Are Free To Choose Our Actions, . . . But We Are Not Free To Choose The Consequences Of These Actions.

Patience Is Emotional Diligence.

Common Sense Is Not Always Common Practice.

If You Want To Have A More Pleasant, Cooperative Teenager, Be A More Understanding, Empathic, Consistent, Loving Parent. If You Want To Have More Freedom, More Latitude In Your Job, Be A More Responsible, A More Helpful, A More Contributing Employee.

While Values Drive Behaviors, Principles Govern Consequences.

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!"

The Main Thing Is To Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing.

If You Want To Get Something Done, Give It To A Busy Man.

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If You're Proactive, You Don't Have To Wait For Circumstances Or Other People To Create Perspective Expanding Experiences. You Can Consciously Create Your Own.

At The Core, There Is One Simple, Overarching Reason Why So Many People Remain Unsatisfied In Their Work And Why Most Organisations Fail To Draw Out The Greatest Talent, Ingenuity, And Creativity Of Their People And Never Become Truly Great, Enduring Organisations. It Stems From An Incomplete Paradigm Of Who We Are - Our Fundamental View Of Human Nature. The Fundamental Reality Is, Human Beings Are Not Things Needing To Be Motivated And Controlled; They Are Four-dimensional - Body, Mind, Heart, And Spirit.

'in Empathic Listening You Listen With Your Ears, But You Also, And More Importantly, Listen With You Eyes And With Your Heart. You Listen For Feeling, For Meaning. You Listen For Behaviour. You Use Your Right Brain As Well As Your Left. You Sense, You Intuit, You Feel.' ... 'you Have To Open Yourself Up To Be Influenced'.

What You See Often Depends On What You Are Looking For.

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Vision Is Seeing A Future State With The Mind's Eye. Vision Is Applied Imagination.

Trust Is The Glue In Relationships And Organizations

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.

The Personal Power That Comes From Principle-centered Living Is The Power Of A Self-aware, Knowledgeable, Proactive Individual, Unrestricted By The Attitudes, Behaviors, And Actions Of Others Or By Many Of The Circumstances And Environmental Influences That Limit Other People.

Over Time, I Have Come To This Simple Definition Of Leadership: Leadership Is Getting Results In A Way That Inspires Trust.

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.

Listen To Your Conscience Regarding Something That You Simply Know You Should Do, Then Start Small On It - Make A Promise And Keep It. Then Move Forward And Make A Little Larger Promise And Keep It. Eventually You'll Discover That Your Sense Of Honor Will Become Greater Than Your Moods, And That Will Give You A Level Of Confidence And Excitement That You Can Move To Other Areas Where You Feel You Need To Make Improvements Or Give Service.

The Key To Creating Passion In Your Life Is To Find Your Unique Talents, And Your Special Role And Purpose In The World.

The Essence Of Synergy Is To Value Differences-to Respect Them, To Build On Strengths, To Compensate For Weaknesses

The More People Rationalize Cheating, The More It Becomes A Culture Of Dishonesty. And That Can Become A Vicious, Downward Cycle. Because Suddenly, If Everyone Else Is Cheating, You Feel A Need To Cheat, Too.

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.

Wisdom Is Your Perspective On Life, Your Sense Of Balance, Your Understanding Of How The Various Parts And Principles Apply And Relate To Each Other.

If You Are An Effective Manager Of Your Self, Your Discipline Comes From Within; It Is A Function Of Your Independent Will.

Treat Them All The Same By Treating Them Differently.

Interpersonal Skills

Begin Each Day With The Blueprint Of My Deepest Values Firmly In Mind Then When Challenges Come, Make Decisions Based On Those Values.

Develop All Four Intelligences. Pq (physical Intelligence) Which Represents 70 Trillion Cells That Fight Disease And Digest Your Breakfast. Iq (intellectual Intelligence) Eq (emotional Intelligence) The Sensing And Wisdom Of The Heart - - And Sq (spiritual Intelligence) Having To Do With Meaning, Purpose And Integrity Around Your Selected Value System And Your Believed Source. When Combined, They Change The World For Good.

The Ability To Manage Well Doesn't Make Much Difference If You're Not Even In The Right Jungle.

Creating And Integrating An Empowering Personal Mission Statement Is One Of The Most Important Investments We Can Make.

We Are Limited But We Can Push Back The Borders Of Our Limitations

Integrity Is Conforming Reality To Our Words - In Other Words, Keeping Promises And Fulfilling Expectations.

Keeping Promises

Trust Is The Glue That Holds Everything Together. It Creates The Environment In Which All Of The Other Elements Win-win Stewardship Agreements, Self-directing Individuals And Teams, Aligned Structures And Systems, And Accountability Can Flourish.

Want To Improve Your Relationships? See Love As A Verb Rather Than As A Feeling?

A Personal Mission Statement Becomes The Dna For Every Other Decision We Make.

Decisions We Make

Visualising Something Organises One's Ability To Accomplish It.

Perhaps The Most Important Vision Of All Is Develop A Sense Of Self, A Sense Of Your Own Destiny, A Sense Of Unique Mission And Role In Life.

To Set And Work Toward Any Goal Is An Act Of Courage.

Acts Of Courage

Seek To Understand Before You Seek To Be Understood.

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.

True Leadership Is Moral Authority, Not Formal Authority. Leadership Is A Choice, Not A Position. The Choice Is To Follow Universal Timeless Principles, Which Will Build Trust And Respect From The Entire Organization. Those With Formal Authority Alone Will Lose This Trust And Respect.

To Receive Gratitude With Grace Is A Form Of Gratitude By Itself, And Not Always An Easy Art To Master.

In Effective Personal Leadership, Visualization And Affirmation Techniques Emerge Naturally Out Of A Foundation Of Well Thought Through Purposes And Principles That Become The Center Of A Person's Life.

We Judge Ourselves By Our Intentions. And Others By Their Actions.

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.

Security Represents Your Sense Of Worth, Your Identity, Your Emotional Anchorage, Your Self-esteem, Your Basic Personal Strength Or Lack Of It.

Nevertheless, The Only Way We Can Move From Where We Are Now To Where We Would Like To Be Is To Accept Where We Are Now.

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.

Most People Do Not Listen With The Intent To Understand; They Listen With The Intent To Reply.

I Keep My Phone Number Unlisted And Rely On My Associates To Handle All Voice Mail, E-mail, Faxes.

To Me, The Essence Of Keeping The Soul Nourished Is Obedience To One's Conscience. I Don't Think That The Soul Can Be Nourished Unless People Have A Strong Sense Of Conscience That They Have Educated And Developed And Soaked In The Universal And Timeless Principles Of Integrity And Service. This Way, The Individual's Soul Becomes Part Of The Universal Soul Of Service, Contribution, And Making A Difference.

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.

Give No Answer To Contentious Arguments Or Irresponsible Accusations. Let Such Things "fly Out Open Windows" Until They Spend Themselves.

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.

As You Care Less About What People Think Of You, You Will Care More About What Others Think Of Themselves.

Trust Is The Glue That Holds Everything Together.

If There Is No Gardener There Is No Garden.

The Only Person Over Whom You Have Direct And Immediate Control Is Yourself. The Most Important Assets To Develop, Preserve And Enhance, Therefore, Are Your Own Capabilities. And No One Can Do It For You. You Must Cultivate The Habit Of Leadership Effectiveness For Yourself - And Doing So Will Be The Single Best Investment You Will Ever Make.

I Believe That There Are Parts To Human Nature That Cannot Be Reached By Either Legislation Or Education, But Require The Power Of God To Deal With.

Will We Act Upon Life, Or Will We Merely Be Acted Upon?

Creating A Warm, Caring, Supportive, Encouraging Environment Is Probably The Most Important Thing You Can Do For Your Family.

Inevitably, Anytime We Are Too Vulnerable We Feel The Need To Protect Ourselves From Further Wounds. So We Resort To Sarcasm, Cutting Humor, Criticism - Anything That Will Keep From Exposing The Tenderness Within. Each Partner Tends To Wait On The Initiative Of The Other For Love, Only To Be Disappointed But Also Confirmed As To The Rightness Of The Accusations Made.

The First Job Of A Leader-at Work Or At Home-is To Inspire Trust. It's To Bring Out The Best In People By Entrusting Them With Meaningful Stewardships, And To Create An Environment In Which High-trust Interaction Inspires Creativity And Possibility.

The Character Ethic, Which I Believe To Be The Foundation Of Success, Teaches That There Are Basic Principles Of Effective Living, And That People Can Only Experience True Success And Enduring Happiness As They Learn And Integrate These Principles Into Their Basic Character.

Where You Are Headed Is More Important Than How Fast You Are Going. Rather Than Always Focusing On What's Urgent, Learn To Focus On What Is Really Important.

Be Part Of The Solution, Not Part Of The Problem.

The 'inside-out' Approach To Personal And Interpersonal Effectiveness Means To Start First With Self; Even More Fundamentally, To Start With The Most Inside Part Of Self, With Your Paradigms, Your Character, And Your Motives. The Inside-out Approach Says That Private Victories Precede Public Victories, That Making And Keeping Promises To Ourselves Recedes Making And Keeping Promises To Others. It Says It Is Futile To Put Personality Ahead Of Character, To Try To Improve Relationships With Others Before Improving Ourselves.

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