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The Essence Of The Best Thinking In The Area Of Time Management (practice Planning) Can Be Captured In A Single Phrase: Organize And Execute Around Priorities

-Stephen Covey

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The Essence Of The

Stephen Covey

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The Essence Of The Best Thinking In The Area Of Time Management (practice Planning) Can Be Captured In A Single Phrase: Organize And Execute Around Priorities

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When Our Honor Becomes Greater Than Our Moods, That Is Where Transformation Happens

People Behave More On The Basis Of How They Feel Than How They Think; Unless There Are Good Feelings Between People, It Is Almost Impossible To Reason Intelligently.

Nothing Tastes As Good As Thin Feels.

Every Exaggeration Of The Truth Once Detected By Others Destroys Our Credibility And Makes All That We Do And Say Suspect.

You Can Learn Great Things From Your Mistakes When You Aren’t Busy Denying Them.

Perhaps A Sense Of Possessing Needs To Come To Come Before A Sense Of Genuine Sharing.

There Are Principles That Govern Human Effectiveness - Natural Laws In The Human Dimension That Are Just As Real, Just As Unchanging And Unarguably There As Laws Such As Gravity Are In The Physical Dimension.

Anything Less Than A Conscious Commitment To The Important Is An Unconscious Commitment To The Unimportant.

The Undisciplined Are Slaves To Moods, Appetites And Passions

The First Principle Of Ethical Power Is Purpose. By Purpose, I Don't Mean Your Objective Or Intention-something Toward Which You Are Always Striving. Purpose Is Something Bigger. It Is The Picture You Have Of Yourself-the Kind Of Person You Want To Be Or The Kind Of Life You Want To Lead.

Values Determine Behavior; Principles Determine The Consequences Of Behavior.

Life Is Not Accumulation, It Is About Contribution.

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.

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.

People And Their Managers Are Working So Hard To Be Sure Things Are Done Right, That They Have Hardly Have Time To Decide If They Are Doing The Right Things.

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.

Time Management Is A Misnomer, The Challenge Is To Manage Ourselves.

Time Management

Trust Is The Highest Form Of Human Motivation.

If The Only Vision We Have Of Ourselves Comes From The Social Mirror - From The Current Social Paradigm And From The Opinions, Perceptions, And Paradigms Of The People Around Us - Our View Of Ourselves Is Like The Reflection In A Crazy Mirror Room At The Carnival.

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

What One Great Idea Resonates Deeper In The Soul Than Any Other...that We Are Free To Choose. Next To Life Itself, The Power To Choose Is Your Greatest Gift.

They [nazi Captors]had More Liberty, More Options To Choose From In Their Environment; But He [viktor Frankl] Had More Freedom, More Internal Power To Exercise His Options.

Many People Think In Terms Of Either/or: Either You're Nice Or You're Tough. Win-win Requires That You Be Both. It Is A Balancing Act Between Courage And Consideration. To Go For Win-win, You Not Only Have To Be Empathic, But You Also Have To Be Confident. You Not Only Have To Be Considerate And Sensitive, You Also Have To Be Brave. To Do That-to Achieve That Balance Between Courage And Consideration-is The Essence Of Real Maturity And Is Fundamental To Win-win.

Peace Of Counscious Is Greater Than Peace Of Mind. Peace Of Mind Is More Externally Oriented. Peace Of Consciousness Is When You Know You Have Been Honest In All Your Business Dealings.

Management Works In The System; Leadership Works On The System.

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

Our Ultimate Freedom Is The Right And Power To Decide How Anybody Or Anything Outside Ourselves Will Affect Us.

It Takes Humility To Seek Feedback. It Takes Wisdom To Understand It, Analyze It And Appropriately Act On It.

We Are Free To Choose Our Response In Any Situation, But In Doing So We Chose The Attendant Consequence. If We Pick Up One End Of The Stick, We Pick Up The Other.

Executives Need To Understand The Economic Benefits Of Trust Dividend, Especially When The Behavior Is Real, Not Artificially Or Superficially Created As Pr To Manipulate Trust.

We Don't Invent Our Missions, We Detect Them.

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.

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

As A Principle-centered Person You Try To Stand Apart From The Emotion Of The Situation And From Other Factors That Would Act On You, And Evaluate The Options. Looking At The Balanced Whole-the Work Needs, The Family Needs, The Other Needs That May Be Involved, And The Possible Implications Of The Various Alternatives - You'll Try To Come Up With The Best Solution Taking All Factors Into Consideration. We Are Limited But We Can Push Back The Borders Of Our Limitations.

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.

Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood.

Strength Lies In Differences, Not In Similarities

Always Treat Your Employees Exactly As You Want Them To Treat Your Best Customers.

Most People Are Basically A Victim Of The Circumstances Of Their Life. They Have Things Like 9/11, They Have Terrorism Threats, They Have New War Threats, They Have Economy Problems, And They Think, 'what Can I Do? I'm Basically A Victim.'

Reactive People... Are Often Affected By Their Physical Environment. They Find External Sources To Blame For Their Behavior.

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

What Difference Would A Clear Vision Of My Principles, Values, And Ultimate Objectives Make In The Way I Spend My Time?

Moral Authority Comes From Following Universal And Timeless Principles Like Honesty, Integrity, Treating People With Respect.

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.

When You Listen With Empathy To Another Person, You Give That Person Psychological Air.

The Creative Process Is Also The Most Terrifying Part Because You Don't Know Exactly What's Going To Happen Or Where It Is Going To Lead. You Don't Know What New Dangers And Challenges You'll Find. It Takes An Enormous Amount Of Internal Security To Begin With The Spirit Of Adventure, Discovery, And Creativity. Without Doubt, You Have To Leave The Comfort Zone Of Base Camp And Confront An Entirely New And Unknown Wilderness.

Patience Is Emotional Diligence.

One Of The Best Ways To Educate Our Hearts Is To Look At Our Interaction With Other People, Because Our Relationships With Others Are Fundamentally A Reflection Of Our Relationship With Ourselves.

If There's One Thing That's Certain In Business, It's Uncertainty.

If My Sense Of Security Lies In My Reputation Or In The Things I Have, My Life Will Be In A Constant State Of Threat And Jeopardy-a Fear That These Possessions May Be Lost, Stolen, Or Devalued. If I'm In The Presence Of Someone Of Greater Net Worth, Fame, Or Status, I Feel Inferior. If I'm In The Presence Of Someone Of Lesser Net Worth, Fame Or Status, I Feel Superior. My Sense Of Self-worth Constantly Fluctu-ates. I Don't Have Any Sense Of Constancy, Anchorage, Or Persistent Selfhood. I Am Constantly Trying To Protect And Insure My Assets, Properties, Securities, Position, Or Reputation.

In A Very Real Sense, There Are Only Two Roles In Organisations: Customers And Suppliers. Everybody Functions Simultaneously In Both Roles, Whether Inside Or Outside The Organisation The Essence Of Good Business, Therefore, Is The Quality Of The Relationship Between Customer And Supplier.

If We Want To Make A Change In Our Lives, We Should First Focus On Our Personal Attitudes And Behaviors.

I Think That [respect For People] Is Of Profound Importance Because It Means You Are Caring And You Trust Them To Do The Right Thing.

To Judge Individuals Before Understanding Them Is A Form Of Human Rejection And Feeds Upon Itself.

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.

We're Constantly Making Choices About The Way We Spend Our Time. The Issue Is Not Between The Good And The Bad, But Between The Good And The Best. So Often, The Enemy Of The Best Is The Good.

Taking Initiative Is A Form Of Self-empowerment.

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

Priorities In Life

When One Side Benefits More Than The Other, That's A Win-lose Situation. To The Winner It Might Look Like Success For A While, But In The Long Run, It Breeds Resentment And Distrust.

The Greatest Thing You Can Do For Your Children Is Love Your Spouse.

Conscience Connects Us With The Wisdom Of The Ages And The Wisdom Of The Heart.

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.

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

Involve People In The Problem And Work Out The Solution Together.

Beginners Are Many; Finishers Are Few.

Your Most Important Work Is Always Ahead Of You, Never Behind You.

Perhaps The Greatest Role Of Parenting, More Than Directing And Telling Children What To Do, [is] Helping [children] Connect With Their Own Gifts, Particularly Conscience.

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.

Live Out Of Your Imagination, Not Your History.

Trust Is The Glue In Relationships And Organizations

Make Time For Planning: Wars Are Won In The General's Tent.

Time Management

If You Want To Be Trusted, Be Trustworthy.

True Independence Of Character Empowers Us To Act Rather Than Be Acted Upon.

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.

When Air Is Charged With Emotions, An Attempt To Teach Is Often Perceived As A Form Of Judgment And Rejection.

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

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.

Pursuit Of Happiness

How Different Our Lives Are When We Really Know What Is Deeply Important To Us, And Keeping That Picture In Mind, We Manage Ourselves Each Day To Be And To Do What Really Matters Most.

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.

I Am Convinced That If We As A Society Work Diligently In Every Other Area Of Life And Neglect The Family, It Would Be Analogous To Straightening Deck Chairs On The Titanic.

Doing More Things Faster Is No Substitute For Doing The Right Things.

Time Management

The Greatest And Most Inspiring Mountain Climbing Achievements In History Are Not So Much Stories Of Individual Achievement, But Are Stories Of The Extraordinary Power Of A Unified, Talented, Prepared Team That Stays Loyally Committed To One Another And To Their Shared Vision To The End.

There Are Certain Things That Are Fundamental To Human Fulfillment. The Essence Of These Needs Is Captured In The Phrase 'to Live, To Love, To Learn, To Leave A Legacy.' The Need To Leave A Legacy Is Our Spiritual Need To Have A Sense Of Meaning, Purpose, Personal Congruence, And Contribution.

When We Listen With The Intent To Understand Others, Rather Than With The Intent To Reply, We Begin True Communication And Relationship Building. Opportunities To Then Speak Openly And To Be Understood Come Much More Naturally And Easily.

Synergy Is What Happens When One Plus One Equals Ten Or A Hundred Or Even A Thousand! It's The Profound Result When Two Or More Respectful Human Beings Determine To Go Beyond Their Preconceived Ideas To Meet A Great Challenge.

It's Better To Be Trusted Than To Be Liked.

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

It's Like The More You Know The More You Know You Don't Know.

We Can Act Instead Of Being Acted Upon.

Affirm People. Affirm Your Children. Believe In Them, Not In What You See But In What You Don't See - Their Potential.

Leadership Is Communicating People's Worth And Potential So Clearly That They Come To See It Themselves.

Independent Thinking Alone Is Not Suited To Interdependent Reality.

Consult The Wisdom Of Your Heart As Well As Your Mind.

Interdependency Follows Independence.

Management Is Efficiency In Climbing The Ladder Of Success

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.

We See The World, Not As It Is, But As We Are──or, As We Are Conditioned To See It.

What Does It Matter How Much We Do If What We're Doing Isn't What Matters Most?

The Only Way We Can Handle Change Around Us Is To Know What Is Changeless About Ourselves

In The Space Between Stimulus (what Happens) 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.

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

To Know And Not To Do Is Not To Know.

How Does Humility Manifest Itself In Leadership And In Life? A Humble Person Is More Concerned About What Is Right Than About Being Right, About Acting On Good Ideas Than Having The Ideas, About Embracing New Truth Than Defending Outdated Position, About Building The Team Than Exalting Self, About Recognizing Contribution Than Being Recognized For Making It.

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.

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.

Petty Things Become Unimportant When People Are Impassioned About A Purpose Higher Than Self.

Vision Is About More Than Just Getting Things Done, Accomplishing Some Task, Achieving Something; It Is About Discovering And Expanding Our View Of Others, Affirming Them, Believing In Them, And Helping Them Discover And Realize The Potential Within Them-helping Them Find Their Own Voice.

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

As You Live Your Values, Your Sense Of Identity, Integrity, Control, And Inner-directedness Will Infuse You With Both Exhilaration And Peace. You Will Define Yourself From Within, Rather Than By People's Opinions Or By Comparisons To Others.

When It Comes To Developing Character Strength, Inner Security And Unique Personal And Interpersonal Talents And Skills In A Child, No Institution Can Or Ever Will Compare With, Or Effectively Substitute For, The Home's Potential For Positive Influence.

We're Responsible For Our Own Lives.

Whether You're On A Sports Team, In An Office Or A Member Of A Family, If You Can't Trust One Another There's Going To Be Trouble.

Real Excellence Does Not Come Cheaply. A Certain Price Must Be Paid In Terms Of Practice, Patience, And Persistence - Natural Ability Notwithstanding.

If We Know How To Listen To Our Own Heart, We Can Listen To The Hearts Of Others.

When We Succumb To Believing That We Are Victims Of Our Circumstances And Yield To The Plight Of Determinism, We Lose Hope, We Lose Drive, And We Settle Into Resignation And Stagnation.

The Average Family Spends 30 Hours In Front Of A Television, And They Say They Don't Have The Time To Have A Balanced, Integrated Life.

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

The 8th Habit, Then, Is Not About Adding One More Habit To The 7 - One That Somehow Got Forgotten. It's About Seeing And Harnessing The Power Of A Third Dimension To The 7 Habits That Meets The Central Challenge Of The New Knowledge Worker Age. The 8th Habit Is To Find Your Voice And Inspire Others To Find Theirs.

Most Leaders Would Agree That They’d Be Better Off Having An Average Strategy With Superb Execution Than A Superb Strategy With Poor Execution. Those Who Execute Always Have The Upper Hand.

We Can Never Really Change Someone; People Must Change Themselves.

Attending Church Does Not Necessarily Mean Living The Principles Taught In Those Meeting. You Can Be Active In A Church But Inactive In Its Gospel.

Historically, The Family Has Played The Primary Role In Educating Children For Life, With The School Providing Supplemental Scaffolding To The Family.

If Our Feelings Control Our Actions, It Is Because We Have Abdicated Our Responsibility And Empowered Them To Do So.

Organize And Execute Around Priorities.

Put First Things First

When You Make A Commitment To Yourself, Do So With The Clear Understanding That You're Pledging Your Integrity.

Little Kindness And Courtesies Are So Important. In Relationships, The Little Things Are The Big Things.

Treat Them All The Same By Treating Them Differently.

Interpersonal Skills

All The Well-meaning Advice In The World Won't Amount To A Hill Of Beans If We're Not Even Addressing The Real Problem.

Private Victories Precede Public Victories.

Keeping Promises

It's Better To Be Humbled By The Word Than By The Force Of Circumstances.

By Behaving In Ways That Build Trust With One, You Build Trust With Many.

Integrity In The Moment Of Choice: Quality Of Life Depends On What Happens In The Space Between Stimulus And Response.

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.

What Is Common Sense Isn't Common Practice.

Don't Cheat People Of Their Growth. Empower Them To Solve Problems And Generate Ideas. Watch Them Grow!

Keep In Mind That You Are Always Saying "no" To Something. If It Isn't To The Apparent And Urgent Things In Your Life, It Is Probably To The Most Fundamental, Highly Important Things.

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.

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.

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.

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.

It's Not That We Ignore Our Weaknesses; Rather, We Make Our Weaknesses Irrelevant By Working Effectively With Others So That We Compensate For Our Weaknesses Through Their Strengths And They Compensate For Their Weaknesses Through Our Strengths.

There's Strong Data That, Within Companies, The No. 1 Reason For Ethical Violations Is The Pressure To Meet Expectations, Sometimes Unrealistic Expectations.

A Moment Of Choice Is A Moment Of Truth.

Moment Of Truth

..people Are Working Harder Than Ever, But Because They Lack Clarity And Vision, They Aren’t Getting Very Far. They, In Essence, Are Pushing A Rope...with All Of Their Might.

I Don't Read Blogs But Occasionally People Tell Me About What They Contain, And I Do Take Questions That Come From Blogs.

The Reflection Of The Current Social Paradigm Tells Us We Are Largely Determined By Conditioning And Conditions.

The Key To The Many Is Often The One; It Is How You Regard And Talk About The One In That One's Absence Or Presence That Communicates To The Many How You Would Regard And Talk About Them In Their Presence Or Absence.

Our Character Is Basically A Composite Of Our Habits.

Too Many Vacations That Last Too Long, Too Many Movies, Too Much Tv, Too Much Video Game Playing - Too Much Undisciplined Leisure Time In Which A Person Continually Takes The Course Of Least Resistance Gradually Wastes A Life. It Ensures That A Person's Capacities Stay Dormant, That Talents Remain Undeveloped, That The Mind And Spirit Become Lethargic And That The Heart Remains Unfulfilled.

A Moment Of Choice Is A Moment Of Truth. It's The Testing Point Of Our Character And Competence.

If You Organize Your Family Life To Spend Even Ten Or Fifteen Minutes A Morning Reading Something That Connects You With These Timeless Principles, Its Almost Guaranteed That You Will Make Better Choices During The Day--in The Family, On The Job, In Every Dimension Of Life. Your Thoughts Will Be Higher. Your Interactions Will Be More Satisfying. You Will Have A Greater Perspective. You Will Increase That Space Between What Happens To You And Your Response To It. You Will Be More Connected To What Really Matters Most.

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.

Unfortunately, Too Many Executives Believe The Myths About Trust. Myths Like How Trust Is Soft And Is Merely A Social Virtue. The Reality Is That Trust Is Hard-edged And Is An Economic Driver.

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 Your Happiness Comes Primarily From The Happiness Of Others, You Know You Have Moved From A 'me' Experience To A 'we' Experience. And The Whole Problem-solving And Opportunity-seizing Process Changes.

The Place To Begin Building Any Relationship Is Inside Ourselves, Inside Our Circle Of Influence, Our Own Character.

A Cardinal Principle Of Total Quality Escapes Too Many Managers: You Cannot Continuously Improve Interdependent Systems And Processes Until You Progressively Perfect Interdependent, Interpersonal Relationships.

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.

Personal Development

Building And Repairing Relationships Are Long-term Investments.

Accountability Breeds Response-ability.

When Two People In A Marriage Are More Concerned About Getting The Golden Eggs, The Benefits, Than They Are In Preserving The Relationship That Makes Them Possible, They Often Become Insensitive And Inconsiderate, Neglecting The Little Kindnesses And Courtesies So Important To A Deep Relationship. They Begin To Use Control Levers To Manipulate Each Other, To Focus On Their Own Needs, To Justify Their Own Position And Look For Evidence To Show The Wrongness Of The Other Person. The Love, The Richness, The Softness And Spontaneity Begin To Deteriorate.

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.

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.

It Is Futile To Put Personality Ahead Of Character, To Try To Improve Relationships With Others Before Improving Ourselves.

Keeping Promises

There Are Three Constants In Life... Change, Choice And Principles.

People Are Your Most Valuable Asset. Only People Can Be Made To Appreciate In Value.

Technology And Tools Are Useful And Powerful When They Are Your Servant And Not Your Master.

Every Human Has Four Endowments - Self Awareness, Conscience, Independent Will And Creative Imagination. These Give Us The Ultimate Human Freedom... The Power To Choose, To Respond, To Change.

You Have To Decide What Your Highest Priorities Are And Have The Courage—pleasantly, Smilingly, Nonapologetically, To Say “no” To Other Things. And The Way You Do That Is By Having A Bigger “yes” Burning Inside. The Enemy Of The “best” Is Often The “good.

Independent Will Is Our Capacity To Act. It Gives Us The Power To Transcend Our Paradigms, To Swim Upstream, To Rewrite Our Scripts, To Act Based On Principle Rather Than Reacting Based On Emotion Or Circumstance.

People Don't Listen To Understand. They Listen To Reply. The Collective Monologue Is Everyone Talking And No One Listening.

Without Trust, The Best We Can Do Is Compromise.

The Enemy Of The "best" Is Often The "good."

Priorities In Life

As People Enable Themselves To Achieve One Or Two Goals For The Year That Are Most Meaningful, They Will Find Power, Peace Of Mind, And Confidence In Their Abilities Because They Have Achieved What They Set Out To Accomplish. Your Commitment To Achieving What Matters Most Will Become The Foundation For Tremendous Accomplishments And Contributions. You Will Become The Change You Seek To Make.

Synergy Is The Highest Activity Of Life; It Creates New Untapped Alternatives; It Values And Exploits The Mental, Emotional, And Psychological Differences Between People.

Trust Is The One Thing That Affects Everything Else You're Doing. It's A Performance Multiplier Which Takes Your Trajectory Upwards, For Every Activity You Engage In, From Strategy To Execution.

I Teach People How To Treat Me By What I Will Allow.

Response-ability Is The Ability To Choose Our Response To Any Circumstance Or Condition.

You Can't Have The Fruits Without The Roots. It's The Principle Of Sequencing: Private Victories Proceed Public Victories. Self-mastery And Self-discipline Are The Foundation Of Good Relationships With Others.

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.

In My Own Experience, Both Personally And Professionally, I've Learned That You Don't Wait To Confront Reality. It Doesn't Get Easier. It Doesn't Get Better. And, In Some Cases, If You Don't Get The Relevant Information From People And Act Quickly, You Start Losing Options. You're Into Damage Control.

Anyone Can Count The Seeds Of An Apple. Who Can Count The Apples In A Seed?

Be Governed By Your Internal Compass, Not By Some Clock On The Wall.

The Ability To Subordinate An Impulse To A Value Is The Essence Of The Proactive Person.

Impulse Control

If You Want The Secondary Greatness Of Recognized Talent, Focus First On Primary Greatness Of Character.

Effective People Do Two Things: They Strive To Do Excellent Work, And They Prioritize.

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

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

Leaders Are Not Born Or Made - They Are Self Made

It Takes Courage To Realize That You Are Greater Than Your Moods, Greater Than Your Thoughts, And That You Can Control Your Moods And Thoughts.

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).

Those Who Get The Most Out Of Life And Those Who Give The Most Are Those Who Make The Choice To Act.

Don't Prioritize Your Schedule, Schedule Those Priorities.

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.

You Can't Be Successful With Other People If You Haven't Paid The Price Of Success With Yourself.

We Must Seek To Understand The Intent Of Communication Without Prejudging Or Rejecting The Content... Communication, After All, Is Not So Much A Matter Of Intellect As It Is Of Trust And Acceptance Of Others, Of Their Ideas And Feelings, Acceptance Of The Fact That They're Different, And That From Their Point Of View, They Are Right.

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

Nothing Is As Fast As The Speed Of Trust.

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.

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