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.

Stephen Covey

Categorized in : Change Encouragement Freedom

..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.

Stephen Covey

vision essence people

When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That's when you can get more creative in solving problems.

Stephen Covey

empathy change life

But until a person can say deeply and honestly, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday," that person cannot say, "I choose otherwise.

Stephen Covey

yesterday integrity inspirational

You will never be able to truly step inside another person, to see the world as he sees it, until you develop the pure desire, the strength of personal character, and the positive Emotional Bank Account, as well as the empathetic listening skills to do it.

Stephen Covey

emotional motivational character

We tend to get what we expect - both from ourselves and from others. When we expect more, we tend to get more; when we expect less, we tend to get less.

Stephen Covey

motivational

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.

Stephen Covey

change motivational life

A moment of choice is a moment of truth.

Stephen Covey

moment-of-truth moments choices

Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

Stephen Covey

inspirational love relationship

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.

Stephen Covey

strong integrity 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.

Stephen Covey

insperational business perfect

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right?" wonder "Am I doing the right things?"

Stephen Covey

right-thing doing-the-right-thing wonder

If I really want to improve my situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control - myself.

Stephen Covey

control-myself positive-thinking freedom

The great apparent dichotomy is that the more we give, the more we get.

Stephen Covey

dichotomy law-of-attraction giving

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.

Stephen Covey

sacrifice love-you love-is

Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential.

Stephen Covey

efficiency effectiveness people

Reducing children to a test score is the worst form of identity theft we could commit in schools.

Stephen Covey

identity children school

Each of us guard a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside.

Stephen Covey

emotional-appeal change motivational

If you want small changes in your life, work on your attitude. But if you want big and primary changes, work on your paradigm.

Stephen Covey

change attitude life

Everyone chooses one of two roads in life - the old and the young, the rich and the poor, men and women alike. One is the broad, well-traveled road to mediocrity, the other road to greatness and meaning.

Stephen Covey

greatness success men

Most people think of leadership as a position and therefore don't see themselves as leaders.

Stephen Covey

leadership people thinking