Stephen Covey – Habits of Highly Effective People
Stephen Covey – Habits of Highly Effective People – Contents
- Stephen Covey Biography
- Stephen Covey – Key Books and Big Ideas
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
- The 8th Habit
- Interesting Facts and Insights about Stephen Covey
- Franklin Covey
- Career Advice Quotes by Stephen Covey
- Business Advice Quotes by Stephen Covey
- Leadership and Management Advice Quotes by Stephen Covey
- Stephen Covey Inspirational Quotes
- Books by Stephen Covey
- Common Questions about Stephen Covey
- Videos about Stephen Covey
- Stephen Covey Quotes
Stephen Covey Biography
Stephen Covey (1932 – 2012) was an educator, author, and businessman. His most popular book is “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” In 1996, Times magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people. He was a professor at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University at the time of his death.
Stephen Covey’s most popular books include:
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
- First Things First, Principle-Centered Leadership
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families,
- The 8th Habit, and The Leader In Me — How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness
- One Child at a Time.
Stephen Covey – Key Books and Big Ideas:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was first published in 1989, by Stephen Covey. Covey presents an approach to being effective in attaining goals. Covey’s book has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. The audio version became the first non-fiction audio-book in U.S. publishing history to sell more than one million copies.
Habit 1: Be Proactive
“Be Proactive” is about taking responsibility for your reaction to your experiences, and to taking the initiative to respond positively to improve the situation.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
“Begin with the End in Mind” is about envisioning what you want in the future so you can work and plan towards it.
Habit 3: Put First Things First
“Put First Things First”, talks about the difference between leadership and management. Ths habit distinguishes between what is important and what is urgent. Priority should be given in the following order:
Habit 4: Think Win/Win
“Think Win/Win” is about a “win” for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten their way.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
“Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood” is about using empathetic listening to genuinely understand a person. This, in turn, compels them to reciprocate and take an open mind to be influenced by you.
Habit 6: Synergize
“Synergize!” is about combining the strengths of people through positive teamwork, to achieve goals that no one could have done alone.
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
“Sharpen the Saw” is about continuous improvement in the personal and interpersonal spheres of influence.
The 8th Habit
The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness was written by Stephen R. Covey, published in 2004. The eighth habit is, “Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.” The central idea of the book is the whole person paradigm, which holds that persons have four aspects – physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. Denial of any of these reduces or diminishes an individual, inviting many problems.
Interesting Facts and Insights about Stephen Covey
- Born: Stephen Richards Covey, 1932, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
- Mother: Stephen Covey’s mother was the daughter of an apostle and counselor in the first presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Education: Covey earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Utah, an MBA from Harvard Business School at Harvard University, and a Doctor of Religious Education from Brigham Young University.
- Doctoral Dissertation: Covey was influenced by his study of American self-help books that he researched for his Ph.D. doctoral dissertation.
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Covey’s best-known book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, publication in 1989, has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.
- First non-fiction Audio-Book: The audio version “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” became the first non-fiction audio-book in U.S. publishing history to sell more than one million copies.
- Principles and Values: Covey sees principles as external natural laws, while values remain internal and subjective. Covey believes that values govern people’s behavior, but principles ultimately determine the consequences.
- Covey Leadership Center: In 1985 Covey established Stephen R. Covey and Associates which in 1987 became The “Covey Leadership Center.”
- Franklin Covey: In 1997, the Covey Leadership Center merged with Franklin Quest to form Franklin Covey, a global professional services firm and retailer selling training and productivity tools.
- Stephen Covey’s Online Community: In 2008, Covey launched “Stephen Covey’s Online Community”. The site provided online courses and social networking.
- Religion: Covey was a practicing member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Brigham Young University: Covey was a professor at the School of Management at Brigham Young University for several years, and also served as an assistant to the university president.
- Home: Covey lived with his wife Sandra and their family in Provo, Utah, home to Brigham Young University.
- Family: Covey was a father of nine and a grandfather of fifty-two.
- Honors and Awards: Covey has many Honors and Awards:
- 2004 Golden Gavel award from Toastmasters International
- The 1994 International Entrepreneur of the Year Award
- One of Time Magazine’s 25 most influential Americans of 1996
- Died: Stephen Covey died in 2012, at the age of 79, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, U.S.
- Website: stephencovey.com
FranklinCovey
Franklin Covey Co., trading as FranklinCovey, is a provider of time management training and assessment services. The company was formed in 1997, as a result of an acquisition by Franklin Quest of Stephen R. Covey’s Covey Leadership Center.
Among other products, the company markets the FranklinCovey planning system, modeled in part on the writings of Benjamin Franklin, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, based on Covey’s research.
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. Stephen Covey
– Stephen Covey
Career Advice Quotes by Stephen Covey
“Link yourself to your potential, not to your past.”
“I am not a product of my circumstances; I am a product of my decisions.”
“There are three constants in life – change, choice, and principles.”
“He who has a why can deal with any what or how.”
“Each of us guards a gate of change that can be opened only from the inside.”
“Put first things first.”
“Seek first to understand, and then to be understood.”
“If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting.”
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule but to schedule your priorities.”
“Listen with your eyes for feelings.”
“Start small, make a promise. and keep it. Then, make larger promises and keep them.”
“Setbacks are inevitable; misery is a choice.”
“Live out of your imagination, not your history.”
“In relationships, the little things are the big things.”
“It is possible to be busy-very busy-without being very effective.”
“Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition – such as lifting weights – we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.”
“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”
“Courage is not the absence of fear but the awareness that something else is more important.”
“To achieve goals you’ve never achieved before you need to start doing things you’ve never done before.”
“We judge ourselves by our intentions. And others by their actions.”
“Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tried to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.”
“Highly proactive people don’t blame circumstances, conditions or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is their own conscious choice.”
“We see the world, not as it is, but as we are – or, as we are conditioned to see it.”
“Unless you’re continually improving your skills, you’re quickly becoming irrelevant.”
“By behaving in ways that build trust with one, you build trust with many.”
“Our character is basically a composite of our habits because they are consistent. Often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.”
“Don’t argue for other people’s weaknesses. Don’t argue for your own. When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from it- immediately.”
“Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do).”
“If you want small changes in your life, work on your attitude. But if you want big and primary changes, work on your paradigm.”
“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.”
“There’s no better way to inform and expand your mind on a regular basis than to get into the habit of reading good literature.”
“The quality of our thoughts determine our actions and our actions develop our habit. Our habit creates our character and our character forges our destiny.”
“The proactive approach to a mistake is to acknowledge it instantly, correct and learn from it. “
“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.”
“Live, love, laugh, leave a legacy.”
“We become what we repeatedly do.”
– Stephen Covey
Business Advice Quotes by Stephen Covey
“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
“Make time for planning; Wars are won in the general’s tent.”
“Think win-win.”
“You have to water the flowers you want to grow.”
“The way we see the problem is the problem.”
“If you put good people in bad systems, you get bad results.”
“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.”
“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.”
“The only thing that endures over time is the Law of the Farm. You must prepare the ground, plant the seed, cultivate, and water it if you expect to reap the harvest.”
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
“Don’t get buried in the thick of thin things.”
“Effective people are not problem-minded; they’re opportunity-minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems.”
“The wonderful thing is that vision is greater than baggage.”
“If two people have the same opinion, one is unnecessary.”
“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.”
“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
Leadership and Management Advice Quotes by Stephen Covey
“Treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.”
“Seek to understand before you seek to be understood.”
“Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a choice. be part of the solution not part of the problem.”
“Begin with the end in mind.”
“You can buy a person’s hands, but you can’t buy his heart.”
“Being influenceable is the key to influencing others.”
“Leadership is a choice, not a position.”
“Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic.”
“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand. Most people listen with the intent to reply.”
“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.”
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
“I teach people how to treat me by what I will allow.”
“Any time we think the problem is “out there,” that very thought is the problem.”
“Empathy takes time, and efficiency is for things, not people.”
“We develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and obstacles.”
“If you wish to communicate effectively and to influence others, you would need to understand them first. And understanding can only come from listening.”
“Moral authority comes from following universal and timeless principles like honesty, integrity, treating people with respect.”
“How you treat the one reveals how you regard the many because everyone is ultimately a one.”
“My experience tells me that people instinctively trust those whose personality is founded upon correct principles.”
“Empathy is not sympathy. Sympathy is a form of agreement. Empathy is not agreeing with someone; it is fully, deeply understanding that person, emotionally as well as intellectually.”
“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage – pleasantly, smiling, non-apologetically – to say ‘no’ to other things. And the way to do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside.”
“Wisdom is the child of integrity—being integrated around principles. And integrity is the child of humility and courage.”
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response.”
– Stephen Covey
Share this Information to increase Your Influence
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Books by Stephen Covey
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey, 1989
- First Things First, by Stephen Covey, 1994
- The 8th Habit, by Stephen Covey, 2004
- The Leader In Me: How Schools Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time, by Stephen Covey, 2008
- Principle-centered Leadership, by Stephen Covey, 1989
- The 3rd Alternative, by Stephen Covey, 2011
- Living the 7 Habits: Applications & Insights, by Stephen Covey, 2000
- Spiritual Roots of Human Relations, by Stephen Covey, 1970
Common Questions about Stephen Covey?
- What are the 7 habits in order?
- Habit 1: Be Proactive
- Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
- Habit 3: Put First Things First
- Habit 4: Think Win/Win
- Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
- Habit 6: Synergize
- Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
- What did Stephen Covey die from?
- Covey died from complications resulting from the bike accident in 2012, at the age of 79.
- What religion is Stephen Covey?
- Covey was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- How many copies of Stephen Covey’s books have been sold?
- Overall his books have sold 20 million copies in 38 languages.
- Who is Stephen M. R. Covey?
- Stephen M. R. Covey is a public speaker and the author of the book The SPEED of Trust. He is the son of the late Stephen R. Covey best known for The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
BIG IDEAS:
“Strategies for Influence” explores and shares the BIG IDEAS from the Leaders of Influence that can help you with your Career, Business, and Leadership. Click on any of the links below to explore the Big Ideas that have influenced our work and culture.
Videos about Stephen Covey
Stephen R Covey – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Habit 1 – Presented by Stephen Covey Himself
“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
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