Quote

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.

Stephen Covey

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Stephen Covey
Age: 79 †
Born: 1932
Born: October 24
Died: 2012
Died: July 16
Author
Businessperson
Professor
Writer
Salt Lake City
Utah
Stephen Richards Covey
Enemy
Burning
Often
Decide
Inspirational
Bigger
Change
Highest
Best
Motivational
Way
Courage
Good
Inside
Pleasantly
Things
Trust
Priorities

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Life is not accumulation, it is about contribution.
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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.
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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.
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You can buy a person's hands but you can't buy his heart. His heart is where his enthusiasm, his loyalty is.
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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.
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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.
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Instead, I have an abundance mentality: When people are genuinely happy at the successes of others, the pie gets larger.
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While values drive behaviors, principles govern consequences.
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The environment you fashion out of your thoughts, your beliefs, your ideals, your philosophy is the only climate you will ever live in. The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.
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Reducing children to a test score is the worst form of identity theft we could commit in schools.
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If you carefully consider what you want to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success.
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Frustration is a function of our expectations, and our expectations are often a reflection of the social mirror rather than our own values and priorities.
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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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An effective goal focuses primarily on results rather than activity. It identifies where you want to be, and, in the process, helps you determine where you are. It gives you important information on how to get there, and it tells you when you have arrived. It unifies your efforts and energy. It gives meaning and purpose to all you do.
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It's better to be trusted than to be liked.
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When we look through the lens of each others' weaknesses, we make others' strengths irrelevant and their weaknesses more evident.
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Balance isn't either/or it's 'and'.
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Humility is the mother of all virtues, courage the father, integrity the child and wisdom the grandchild.
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We are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish those goals.
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..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.
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