Stephen Covey Quotes

While the average person is home watching TV, the Leader Without a Title is in the gym getting stronger or at the library getting smarter or at the office getting better (or with their family growing kinder). Make this day count.

Most people say their main fault is a lack of discipline. On deeper thought, I believe this is not the case. The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds.

The secret to success can be found in people's daily agendas. If they do something intentional to grow every day, they move closer to reaching their potential. If they don't, their potential slowly slips away over the course of their lifetime.

I'm condemned by some inner compulsion to think about the daily rituals of my life. I have a low grade fever for improving myself in many ways, including everyday tasks.

I guess I am conscious of my weaknesses, and I think pacing is probably my biggest. I don't know if I think the clarity thing is actually a weakness. It was a stylistic choice.

I think it's important how you spend your time. I try to make sure that I'm growing.

We're too passive. We're feeding on too much rubbish and I think we should strive to just shrug away that comfort zone and be able to get the most of each one of us, which means restructuring the way we deal with time and the priorities we have in life, so being what we want to be I think should be something that we should keep in mind.

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].

I wasn't at all focused on school, and I didn't achieve much. But I've got a sense of urgency now. I feel I can't let any more time waste away.

I think even lying on my bed I can still do something.

If your activities don't match your priorities, you are wasting your life.

So much working, reading, thinking, living to do! A lifetime is not long enough.

We do not know today whether we are busy or idle. In times when we thought ourselves indolent, we have afterwards discovered that much was accomplished, and much was begun in us.

I try not to get caught up on how cool I am. That way nothing ever gets done. I'm always thinking about what I haven't done.

Plan your hours to be productive...Plan your weeks to be educational...Plan your years to be purposeful. Plan your life to be an experience of growth. Plan to change. Plan to grow.

Think first. Talk less. Start today.

I aim for weekly routines with clear goals but make sure I do some stuff that I think I'll value in the long run.

If you employed study, thinking, and planning time daily, you could develop and use the power that can change the course of your destiny.

Do not love leisure. Waste not a minute. Be bold. Realize the Truth, here and now!

I work hard to improve myself as a person - as a father, as a husband, as a manager. I'm always on that mission.

People tell me all the time I should stop and smell the roses, but I can't. I'm always thinking of what I can do to make what I have better and do more.

You had better live your best and act your best and think your best today; for today is the sure preparation for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that follow.

I vividly remember a conversation I had many years ago in 1974, which marked a turning point in my leadership journey. I was sitting at a Holiday Inn with my friend, Kurt Campmeyer, when he asked me if I had a personal growth plan. I didn't. In fact, I didn't even know you were supposed to have one.

I'm always looking for a new challenge. There are a lot of mountains to climb out there. When I run out of mountains, I'll build a new one.

I'm a very thoughtful, forward-thinking, planner kind of person. I love Excel spreadsheets and five-year-plans, and I love to review every year how my New Year's resolutions went.