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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.

-Stephen Covey

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Whether We Are Aware

Stephen Covey

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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.

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

If You Say To One Flower, 'grow,' But You Water Another, The First One Won't Grow.

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

Without Trust, The Best We Can Do Is Compromise.

If You Focus On Principles, You Empower Everyone Who Understands Those Principles To Act Without Constant Monitoring, Evaluating, Correcting, Or Controlling.

When We Say That Leadership Is A Choice, It Basically Means You Can Choose The Level Of Initiative You Want To Exercise In Response To The Question, ‘what Is The Best I Can Do Under The Given Circumstances?’

While Values Drive Behaviors, Principles Govern Consequences.

Inspire (from The Latin Inspirare) Means To Breathe Life Into Another.

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What Is Important To Another Person Must Be As Important To You As The Other Person Is To You

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.

It's Not Only A Matter Of When To Do Things, But Whether Or Not To Do Them At All.

Taking Initiative Is A Form Of Self-empowerment.

The Need To Leave A Legacy Is Our Spiritual Need To Have A Sense Of Meaning, Purpose, Personal Congruence, And Contribution.

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You Always Reap What You Sow; There Is No Shortcut.

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Principles Are Deep Fundamental Truths... Lightly Interwoven Threads Running With Exactness, Consistency, Beauty And Strength Through The Fabric Of Life.

Compliance Does Not Foster Innovation, Trust Does. You Can't Sustain Long-term Innovation, For Example, In A Climate Of Distrust.

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Emotional Appeal

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Decisions We Make

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Climbing The Ladder

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Unconditional Love

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Live The Law Of Love. We Encourage Obedience To The Laws Of Life When We Live The Laws Of Love.

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

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Habit Is The Intersection Of Knowledge (what To Do), Skill (how To Do), And Desire (want To Do).

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The Challenge Is Not To Manage Time, But To Manage Ourselves.

Time Management

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

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

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.

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World Religions

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.

While I Believe In The Power Of Positive Thought, I Do Not Believe That You Or I Can Simply Psyche Ourselves Into Success Or Peace Of Mind.

Positive Thoughts

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.

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.

All Things Are Created Twice. All Things. Vision Is The First Creation. For A House It's Called The Blueprint. For A Life It's Called A Mission. For A Day It's Called A Goal And A Plan. For A Parent It's Called A Belief In The Unseen Potential Of A Child. For All, It Is The Mental Creation Which Always Precedes The Physical, Or Second, Creation.

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

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.

Feedback Often Tells You More About The Person Who Is Giving It Than About You.

Once You Have A Clear Picture Of Your Priorities - That Is Values, Goals, And High Leverage Activities - Organize Around Them.

To Achieve Goals You've Never Achieved Before, You Need To Start Doing Things You've Never Done Before.

A Good Affirmation Has Five Basic Ingredients: It's Personal, It's Positive, It's Present Tense, It's Visual, And It's Emotional.

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

The Only Thing That Endures Over Time Is The 'law Of The Farm.' You Must Prepare The Ground, Plant The Seed, Cultivate, And Water If You Expect To Reap The Harvest.

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

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

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

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

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.

Nothing Tastes As Good As Thin Feels.

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.

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.

Private Victories Precede Public Victories. You Can't Invert That Process Any More Than You Can Harvest A Crop Before You Plant It.

The Key To Motivation Is Motive. It's The Why. It's The Deeper Yes! Burning Inside That Makes It Easier To Say No To The Less Important.

What You Do Has Far Greater Impact Than What You Say.

The Principle Of Fasting Is Taught In Almost All Major World Religions As A Means Of Developing A Higher Level Of Self-mastery And Self-control, And Also A Deeper Awareness Of How Really Dependent We Are.

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.

If You Want To Achieve Your Highest Aspirations And Overcome Your Greatest Challenges, Identify And Apply The Principle Or Natural Law That Governs The Results You Seek. How We Apply A Principle Will Vary Greatly And Will Be Determined By Our Unique Strengths, Talents, And Creativity, But, Ultimately, Success In Any Endeavor Is Always Derived From Acting In Harmony With The Principles To Which The Success Is Tied.

To Touch The Soul Of Another Human Being Is To Walk On Holy Ground.

I Think The Most Significant Work We'll Do In Our Whole Life, In Our Whole World Is Done Within The Four Walls Of Our Home.

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.

A Mission Statement Is Not Something You Write Overnight... But Fundamentally, Your Mission Statement Becomes Your Constitution, The Solid Expression Of Your Vision And Values. It Becomes The Criterion By Which You Measure Everything Else In Your Life.

Win-win Is A Belief In The Third Alternative. It's Not Your Way Or My Way; It's A Better Way, A Higher Way.

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 You Don't Have Confidence In The Diagnosis, You Won't Have Confidence In The Prescription.

Have Confidence

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.

Everyone Has Values; Even Criminal Gangs Have Values. Values Govern People's Behavior But Principles Govern The Consequences Of Those Behaviors.

The Roots Of The Problems We Face In The World, In Our National Life, And In Our Family And Personal Lives Are Spiritual.

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.

Leadership Is A Choice, Not A Position

But Borrowing Strength Builds Weakness.

Personal Development

Perform Anonymous Service. Whenever We Do Good For Others Anonymously, Our Sense Of Intrinsic Worth And Self-respect Increases. ... Selfless Service Has Always Been One Of The Most Powerful Methods Of Influence.

Patience Is Emotional Diligence.

The Nature Of Life Is To Be A Study Of Contrasts: Joy/sadness, Full/empty. The Main Thing Is To Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing.

Keep Moving Forward

We Value The Clock For Its Speed And Efficiency. The Clock Has Its Place, Efficiency Has Its Place, After Effectiveness. The Symbol Of Effectiveness Is The Compass A Sense Of Direction, Purpose, Vision, Perspective, And Balance. But The Empowerment Process Itself Is Not Efficient.

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

Without Involvement, There Is No Commitment. Mark It Down, Asterisk It, Circle It, Underline It. No Involvement, No Commitment.

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.

The Challenge Of Work-life Balance Is Without Question One Of The Most Significant Struggles Faced By Modern Man.

If You Don't Let A Teacher Know What Level You Are -- By Asking A Question, Or Revealing Your Ignorance -- You Will Not Learn Or Grow

The More People Train Their Counsciousness, The More Sensitivie They Are To It. It's Like You Had Your Own Voice Coming To You.

A Moment Of Choice Is A Moment Of Truth.

Moment Of Truth

This Is The Single Most Powerful Investment We Can Ever Make In Life—investment In Ourselves, In The Only Instrument We Have With Which To Deal With Life And To Contribute.

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.

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.

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.

During The First Few Minutes In Lift-off, The Astronauts Were Strictly Controlled And Were Powerfully Buffeted By The Forces Of Nature Struggling To Keep Them On Earth. This Is Somewhat Comparable To The Pull Of The Flesh When Our Alarm Goes Off Early In The Morning. Unless We Put "mind Over Mattress" And Carry Out The Resolves Made The Night Before, We Will Experience Our First Defeat That Day. Not Sufficient To Finish. Mission Aborted.

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).

People With A Scarcity Mentality Think There Is Only So Much In The World To Go Around. It's As If They See Life As A Pie. When Another Person Gets A Big Piece, Then They Get Less. Such People Are Always Trying To Get Even, To Pull Others Down To Their Level So They Can Get An Equal Or Even Bigger Piece Of The Pie.

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 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.

Organize And Execute Around Priorities.

Put First Things First

Our Character Is Basically A Composite Of Our Habits.

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.

Satisfied Needs Do Not Motivate. It's Only The Unsatisfied Need That Motivates. Next To Physical Survival, The Greatest Need Of A Human Being Is Psychological Survival - To Be Understood, To Be Affirmed, To Be Validated, To Be Appreciated.

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

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

Your Economic Security Does Not Lie In Your Job; It Lies In Your Own Power To Produce - To Think, To Learn, To Create, To Adapt. That's True Financial Independence. It's Not Having Wealth; It's Having The Power To Produce Wealth.

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

The World Has Entered An Era Of The Most Profound And Challenging Change In Human History.

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

You Have Two Ears And One Mouth. Use Them Accordingly.

Two Ears And One Mouth

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.

Trust Is The Glue That Holds Everything Together.

Distinguish Between The Person And The Behavior Or Performance.

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

In The Absence Of Wake-up Calls, Many Of Us Never Really Confront The Critical Issues Of Life.

Priority Is A Function Of Context.

Time Management

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!"

Visualising Something Organises One's Ability To Accomplish It.

Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood.

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

The Role Of The Leader Is To Foster Mutual Respect And Build A Complementary Team Where Each Strength Is Made Productive And Each Weakness Irrelevant.

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

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