7 Must Read Success Lessons from Stephen Covey

Stephen R. Covey is the author of the best-selling book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” His book has sold more than 15 million copies around the world since it was first published in 1989.

Covey believes that success occurs when you align your values with the universal and timeless principles that exist in our world. Covey teaches that values govern people’s behavior, but principles ultimately determine the consequences.

Covey has also written several other books including: “First Things First,” “Principle-Centered Leadership,” “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families,” and “The 8th Habit.”

Covey is currently a professor at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University.

There’s a lot we can learn from Stephen Covey, so without further a due….

7 Must Read Success Lessons from Stephen Covey:

1. Know That Your Character is Critical

“Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.”

Watch your habits; your habits will determine your character and your character will determine your life. You cannot rise any higher than the fortitude of your character. Your character is the foundation for your life, so if you want to change your life, you must first change your character.

2. Schedule Your Priorities
 

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

Schedule your priorities. If it’s important, it must be scheduled. What you don’t schedule won’t get done. Know your priorities, and center your day on those activities.

Which brings me to my next point…

3. Never Forget the Main Thing
 

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

Never lose sight of the “big picture,” keep the main thing the main thing. Broken focus is the number one reason people fail. It’s not enough to start off on the right track; you must successfully avoid the unnecessary distractions and attractions of life which aim to sidetrack you.

Keep the main thing, the main thing!

4. Use Your Imagination

“Live out of your imagination, not your history.”

Your imagination pre-plays your future! Use your imagination to create the future that you desire.

You can’t progress very far looking out of the rear view mirror of life; use your imagination to look ahead.

See your future as bright; if you can see it and believe it, you can have it. Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t – you’re right.”

5. First Things First

“Effective leadership is putting first things first.”

To be a great leader you must put “first things first;” you must be able to distinguish the critical from the insignificant, and you must always place the critical first: First in order, first in priority, and first in rank.

If you place the critical first, and if you give the critical your focus and your attention, the “effectiveness” of your leadership will soar.

6. Change, Choice and Principles

“There are three constants in life… change, choice and principles.”

Change, choice and principles give you the power to achieve your dreams.

You can change your life, if you align your choices with the timeless principles that produce success.

With the weapons of change, choice and principles, impossibilities become possibilities.

7. Remember That Decisions Decide Destinies

“We are not animals. We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice.”

Covey said, “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.”

Your decisions will ultimately decide where you go in this life; you’re not limited by the accomplishments of your parents, and you’re not confined to the achievements of your peers. You can achieve whatever you believe you can achieve, and you can do whatever you believe you can do.

The sky is your limit; the world is your oyster.

Thank you for reading, please pass along!

Posted in: Self Improvement, Success