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

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

Understanding the Quote: "we are free to choose our actions, . . . but we..."

This quote by Stephen Covey reflects deeply on the theme of inspiration. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Inspiration, Our Actions, Management, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Stephen Covey interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Stephen Covey

Stephen Covey is celebrated for insightful thoughts on inspiration and our actions. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Inspiration
Our Actions
Management
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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.
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The Fire Inside People Is Like A Match; The Way To Ignite That Flame Is Initially Through Friction, Then Other Matches Are Lit Through Warmth.
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The Ability To Subordinate An Impulse To A Value Is The Essence Of The Proactive Person. Reactive People Are Driven By Feelings, By Circumstances, By Conditions, By Their Environment. Proactive People Are Driven By Values - Carefully Thought About, Selected And Internalized Values.
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Strategy Is Important, But Trust Is The Hidden Variable. On Paper You Can Have Clarity Around Your Objectives, But In A Low-trust Environment, Your Strategy Won't Be Executed.
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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.
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Remember, Technology Is A Great Servant, But A Terrible Master.
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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.
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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.
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When Our Honor Becomes Greater Than Our Moods, That Is Where Transformation Happens
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Love Is A Verb. Love Is Something You Do: The Sacrifices You Make, The Giving Of Self. If You Want To Study Love, Study Those Who Sacrifice For Others. Love - The Feeling - Is A Fruit Of Love The Verb.
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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.
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Network Marketing Has Come Of Age. It's Undeniable That It Has Become A Way To Entrepreneurship And Independence For Millions Of People
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Listen, Involve, Synergize At Work. Then You Will Bury The Old And Create An Entirely New Winning Culture Which Will Unleash People's Talents And Create Complementary Teams Where Strengths Are Made Productive And Weakness Are Made Irrelevant Through The Strengths Of Others.
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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.
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The Universal Elements Are Integrity, Vision, Discipline, Passion, Governed By Conscience. Conscience Has Been Educated Through Studying And Pondering The Universal, Timeless Principles Of All Six Major World Religions.
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As We Make And Keep Commitments, Even Small Commitments, We Begin To Establish An Inner Integrity That Gives Us The Awareness Of Self-control And The Courage And Strength To Accept More Of The Responsibility For Our Own Lives. By Making And Keeping Promises To Ourselves And Others, Little By Little, Our Honor Becomes Greater Than Our Moods.
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The Way We See Things Is The Source Of The Way We Think Or The Way We Act
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Highly Proactive People Don't Blame Circumstances, Conditions, Or Conditioning For Their Behavior. Their Behavior Is A Product Of Their Own Conscious Choice.
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Admission Of Ignorance Is Often The First Step In Our Education.
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When You Engage In A Work That Taps Your Talent And Fuels Your Passion-that Rises Out Of A Great Need In The World That You Feel Drawn By Conscience To Meet-therein Lies Your Voice, Your Calling, Your Soul's Code.
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Beginners Are Many; Finishers Are Few.
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Be Sure That, As You Scramble Up The Ladder Of Success, It Is Leaning Against The Right Building.
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You Are Dependent If You Allow The Weaknesses Of Other People To Ruin Your Emotional Life!
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When You Have A Challenge And The Response Is Equal To The Challenge, That's Called 'success'. But Once You Have A New Challenge, The Old, Once-successful Response No Longer Works. That's Why It Is Called A 'failure'.
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More Essential Than Working On Attitudes And Behaviors Is Examining The Paradigms Out Of Which Those Attitudes And Behaviors Flow.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Be A Function Of Your Values Rather Than A Function Of The Impulse Or Desire Of Any Given Moment.
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Effective People Do Two Things: They Strive To Do Excellent Work, And They Prioritize.
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We Not Not Our Feelings. We Are Not Our Moods. We Not Even Our Thoughts.
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As Long As You Think The Problem Is Out There, That Very Thought Is The Problem
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I Love Interaction With Audiences. If Were My Choice, I Would Spend Most Of My Time Interacting With Audiences. Walking Around And Asking Them To Challenge Me.
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By Behaving In Ways That Build Trust With One, You Build Trust With Many.
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When The Trust Is High, You Get The Trust Dividend. Investors Invest In Brands People Trust. Consumers Buy More From Companies They Trust, They Spend More With Companies They Trust, They Recommend Companies They Trust, And They Give Companies They Trust The Benefit Of The Doubt When Things Go Wrong.
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Doubt
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Reflection
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Mirrors
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Leadership
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Communicate
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Trust
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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.
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Self
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Principles Are The Basis For Developing A Vision And Value System For All.
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Culture
When We Value Correct Principles, We Have Truth - A Knowledge Of Things As They Are.
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Giving
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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.
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To Achieve Goals You've Never Achieved Before, You Need To Start Doing Things You've Never Done Before.
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To Live; To Love; To Learn; And To Leave A Legacy.
Legacy
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The Real Beginning Of Influence Comes As Others Sense You Are Being Influenced By Them - When They Feel Understood By You - That You Have Listened Deeply And Sincerely, And That You Are Open.
Leadership
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Treat Them All The Same By Treating Them Differently.
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Perhaps A Sense Of Possessing Needs To Come To Come Before A Sense Of Genuine Sharing.
Needs
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Possessing
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Relationship
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When We Look Through The Lens Of Each Others' Weaknesses, We Make Others' Strengths Irrelevant And Their Weaknesses More Evident.
Weakness
Lenses
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Integrity
Character
Analysis
Empathic Listening Is So Powerful Because It Gives You Accurate Data To Work With. Instead Of Projecting Your Own Autobiography And Assuming Thoughts, Feelings, Motives And Interpretation, You're Dealing With The Reality Inside Another Person's Head And Heart. You're Listening To Understand. You're Focused On Receiving The Deep Communication Of Another Human Soul.
Powerful
Communication
Heart
I Keep My Phone Number Unlisted And Rely On My Associates To Handle All Voice Mail, E-mail, Faxes.
Phones
Voice
Numbers
Taking Initiative Is A Form Of Self-empowerment.
Self
Empowerment
Initiative
Sometimes Poor Behavior Is Simply Bad Execution Of Good Intent.
Execution
Sometimes
Behavior
Trust Is Central To An Economy That Works.
Economy
If You Were To Fault Yourself In One Of Three Areas, Which Would It Be: (1) The Inability To Prioritize; (2) The Inability Or Desire To Organize Around Those Priorities; Or (3) The Lack Of Discipline To Execute Around Them? ... Most People Say Their Main Fault Is A Lack Of Discipline. On Deeper Thought, I Believe That Is Not The Case. The Basic Problem Is That Their Priorities Have Not Become Deeply Planted In Their Hearts And Minds. They Haven't Really Internalized Habit 2 [begin With The End In Mind].
Inspirational
Believe
Heart
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.
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Insperational
Perfect
My Temptation Is Emotional, And Resisting Will Further My Needed Weight Loss And Strengthen My Character. Furthermore, Nothing Tastes As Good As Thin Feels.
Fitness
Character
Health
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.
Mean
Caring
Thinking
The Ability To Manage Well Doesn't Make Much Difference If You're Not Even In The Right Jungle.
Inspirational
Differences
Ability
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.
Dream
People
Empowering
The Undisciplined Are Slaves To Moods, Appetites And Passions
Freedom
Passion
Empowerment
Trust Is A Function Of Both Character And Competence. Of Course You Can't Trust Someone Who Lacks Integrity, But If Someone Is Honest But They Can't Perform, You're Not Going To Trust Them Either. You Won't Trust Them To Get The Job Done.
Jobs
Integrity
Character
One Thing About Trust Is That Everyone's For It.
One Thing
If We Want To Make Relatively Minor Changes In Our Lives, We Can Perhaps Appropriately Focus On Our Attitudes And Behaviors. But If We Want To Make Significant, Quantum Change, We Need To Work On Our Basic Paradigms.
Attitude
Focus
Want
Self-mastery And Self-discipline Are The Foundation Of Good Relationships With Others.
Self
Discipline
Good Relationship
I Believe That Correct Principles Are Natural Laws, And That God, The Creator And Father Of Us All, Is The Source Of Them, And Also The Source Of Our Conscience. I Believe That To The Degree People Live By This Inspired Conscience, They Will Grow To Fulfill Their Natures; To The Degree That They Do Not, They Will Not Rise Above The Animal Plane.
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Effective Communication Is Built On The Cement Of Trust. And Trust Is Based On Trustworthiness, Not Politics.
Communication
Trustworthiness
Cement
The Power Of Transcendent Vision Is Greater Than The Power Of The Scripting Deep Inside The Human Personality And It Subordinates It [the Scripting], Submerges It, Until The Whole Personality Is Reorganized In The Accomplishment Of That Vision.
Accomplishment
Personality
Vision
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.
Inspirational
Life
Mind
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.
Unconditional Love
Control Myself
Wife
The Key Is Taking Responsibility And Initiative, Deciding What Your Life Is About And Prioritizing Your Life Around The Most Important Things.
Life
Change
Responsibility
If You Don't Choose To Do It In Leadership Time Up Front, You Do It In Crisis Management Time Down The Road.
Management
Crisis
Down The Road
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.
Running
Character
Successful
If You Don't Have Confidence In The Diagnosis, You Won't Have Confidence In The Prescription.
Life
Diagnosis
Have Confidence
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.
Decision
Feelings
Personal Development
Interdependence Is A Choice Only Independent People Can Make
Inspiration
Independent
People
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.
People
Want
Mouths
In The Long Run, You Can Never Accomplish A Worthy End With An Unworthy Means.
Running
Mean
Long
If We Can't Make And Keep Commitments To Ourselves As Well As To Others, Our Commitments Become Meaningless.
Commitment
Wells
Ifs
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.
Life
Change
Ideas
Empathy Takes Time, And Efficiency Is For Things, Not People.
Effectiveness
People
Empathy
Technology And Tools Are Useful And Powerful When They Are Your Servant And Not Your Master.
Teamwork
Powerful
Technology
Motivation Is A Fire From Within. If Someone Else Tries To Light That Fire Under You, Chances Are It Will Burn Very Briefly.
Inspirational
Success
Motivational Sports
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.
Inspiring
Moving
Heart
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.
Organization
Choices
Principles
If We Do Not Teach Our Children, Societ Will. And They-and We-will Live With The Results.
Change
Children
Results
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.
Perspective
Understanding
Balance
When People Have A Real Sense Of Legacy, A Sense Of Mattering, A Sense Of Contribution, It Seems To Tap Into The Deepest Part Of Their Heart And Soul. It Brings Out The Best And Subordinates The Rest.
Real
Heart
People
Humility Is The Mother Of All Virtues, Courage The Father, Integrity The Child And Wisdom The Grandchild.
Mother
Children
Father
Seek To Understand Rather Than Be Understood.
Empathy
Understood
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.
Mother
Humility
Pride
If You Want To Be Trusted, Be Trustworthy.
Want
Trustworthy
Trusted
Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood.
Love
Inspirational
Relationship
Priority Is A Function Of Context.
Priorities
Time Management
Function
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.
Thinking
Purpose
Want
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.
Communication
Acceptance
Views
Our Problems And Pain Are Universal And Increasing, And The Solutions To The Problems Are And Always Will Be Based Upon Universal, Timeless, Self-evident Principles Common To Every Enduring, Prospering Society Throughout History.
Pain
Self
Principles
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.
Success
Business
Character
People With A Scarcity Mentality Tend To See Everything In Terms Of Win-lose. There Is Only So Much; And If Someone Else Has It, That Means There Will Be Less For Me. The More Principle-centered We Become, The More We Develop An Abundance Mentality, The More We Are Genuinely Happy For The Successes, Well-being, Achievements, Recognition, And Good Fortune Of Other People. We Believe Their Success Adds To...rather Than Detracts From...our Lives.
Believe
Mean
Winning
When Air Is Charged With Emotions, An Attempt To Teach Is Often Perceived As A Form Of Judgment And Rejection.
Air
Rejection
Emotion
It's A Fact That More People Watch Television And Get Their Information That Way Than Read Books. I Find New Technology And New Ways Of Communication Very Exciting And Would Like To Do More In This Field.
Success
Business
Book
If You Want The Secondary Greatness Of Recognized Talent, Focus First On Primary Greatness Of Character.
Inspirational
Character
Greatness
Security Represents Your Sense Of Worth, Your Identity, Your Emotional Anchorage, Your Self-esteem, Your Basic Personal Strength Or Lack Of It.
Strength
Self Esteem
Emotional
Basing Our Happiness On Our Ability To Control Everything Is Futile.
Happiness
Pursuit Of Happiness
Planning
Strength Lies In Differences, Not In Similarities
Teamwork
Lying
Inspiration
If You Say To One Flower, 'grow,' But You Water Another, The First One Won't Grow.
Motivational
Flower
Water
Leadership Is A Choice, Not A Position
Choices
Position
The Most Important Ingredient We Put Into Any Relationship Is Not What We Say Or What We Do, But What We Are.
Relationship
Duplicity
Important
Building And Repairing Relationships Are Long-term Investments.
Long
Investment
Building
While We Cannot Always Choose What Happens To Us, We Can Choose Our Responses.
Effectiveness
Efficiency
Response
The More Aware We Are Of Our Basic Paradigms, Maps, Or Assumptions, And The Extent To Which We Have Been Influenced By Our Experience, The More We Can Take Responsibility For Those Paradigms, Examine Them, Test Them Against Reality, Listen To Others And Be Open To Their Perceptions, Thereby Getting A Larger Picture And A Far More Objective View.
Responsibility
Reality
Views
It Is Futile To Put Personality Ahead Of Character, To Try To Improve Relationships With Others Before Improving Ourselves.
Character
Keeping Promises
Personality
The More Involved You Are, The More Significant Your Learning Will Be.
Learning
Significant
Involved
Opposition Is A Natural Part Of Life. Just As We Develop Our Physical Muscles Through Overcoming Opposition - Such As Lifting Weights - We Develop Our Character Muscles By Overcoming Challenges And Adversity.
Life
Motivational
Change
The More Authentic You Become, The More Genuine In Your Expression, Particularly Regarding Personal Experiences And Even Self-doubts, The More People Can Relate To Your Expression And The Safer It Makes Them Feel To Express Themselves. That Expression, In Turn, Feeds On The Other Person's Spirit, And Genuine Creative Empathy Takes Place, Producing New Insights And Learnings And A Sense Of Excitement And Adventure That Keeps The Process Going.
Adventure
Self
Expression
Live The Law Of Love. We Encourage Obedience To The Laws Of Life When We Live The Laws Of Love.
Law
Laws Of Life
Obedience
We Often Get So Busy "sawing" (producing Results) That We Forget To "sharpen Our Saw" (maintain Or Increase Our Capacity To Produce Results In The Future).
Saws
Busy
Forget
It's Better To Be Humbled By The Word Than By The Force Of Circumstances.
Force
Circumstances
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.
Children
Heart
Appreciate
Success In One Role Can't Justify Failure In Another.
Balance
Roles
Justify
...people Have Character Strength But They Lack Communication Skills, And That Undoubtedly Affects The Quality Of Relationships As Well.
Communication
Character
Skills
Through It All I Have Learned That Parenting Is Basically A Life Of Self Sacrifice.
Sacrifice
Self
Self Sacrifice
We Do Make A Difference - One Way Or The Other. We Are Responsible For The Impact Of Our Lives. Whatever We Do With Whatever We Have, We Leave Behind Us A Legacy For Those Who Follow.
Impact
Differences
Making A Difference
The Commitments We Make To Ourselves And To Others, And Our Integrity To Those Commitments, Is The Essence And Clearest Manifestation Of Our Proactivity.
Integrity
Commitment
Essence
When Life Does Not Go Our Way Or We Inadvertently Make A Mistake, It Is So Easy To Make Excuses, Place Blame On Others, Or Argue That Circumstances Were Against Us. But We Only Progress In Life To The Extent That We Take Responsibility For Our Actions And Attitudes, And Put Forth The Initiative Necessary To Create Our Own Circumstances.
Attitude
Freedom
Mistake
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.
Lying
Effectiveness
Space
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