Sean Covey Quotations

You are free to choose what you want to make of your life. It's called free agency or free will, and it's your birthright.

Don't struggle about the struggle. In other words, life's full of ups and downs. So if you're struggling, don't worry, everyone else has or will at some point.

Although I'm a retired teenager, I remember what it was like to be one. I could have sworn I was riding an emotional roller coaster most of the time. Looking back, I'm actually amazed that I survived. Barely.

Ask any successful person, and most will tell you that they had a person who believed in them... a teacher, a friend, a parent, a guardian, a sister, a grandmother. It only takes one person, and it doesn't really matter who it is.

Paradigms are like glasses. When you have incomplete paradigms about yourself or life in general, it's like wearing glasses with the wrong prescription. That lens affects how you see everything else.

Seeing things from a different point of view can help us understand why other people act the way they do. We too often judge people without having all the facts.

I think the greatest challenge between child and parent is communication.

You shouldn't feel guilty about taking time for yourself. Every so often, everyone needs to give themselves a big ol' bear hug and treat themselves to some TLC.

Stop being a critic and be a light; don't be a judge, be a model. I think we are far too critical. I think the best way to correct behavior is to accentuate and affirm positive behavior and to ignore negative behavior. Generally speaking, there is a time to correct, of course; but my biggest advice would be, 'Affirm your child.'

One of the greatest gifts a parent can give a child is to help them find their talents.

My focus has kind of been on teenagers, you know, and I think we've got a huge crisis right now in America, among our teens.

Saying 'yes' to one thing means saying 'no' to another. That's why decisions can be hard sometimes.

Having the courage to say no when all your friends are saying yes is one of the most difficult things you'll ever have to do. Doing it, however, is one of the biggest charges you can ever make to your personal battery. I call this 'won't power.'

Ultimately, you choose to be happy or miserable. The reality is that although you are free to choose, you can't choose the consequences of your choices. They're preloaded. It's a package deal.

The average teen today spends about 35 hours a week in front of a screen of some kind: iPod, movie, TV, video. And a lot of it is good, but a lot of it's not. And so I think you've got that five hours a day of media coming into your kid's head that's creating a lot of havoc out there.

Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become what we repeatedly do.

You should see my baby pictures. My cheeks hung off my face like water balloons. You can imagine how often I was teased.

Some of the more popular life-centers for teens include Friends, Stuff, Enemies, Self, and Work. They each have their good points, but they are all incomplete in one way or another, and they'll mess you up if you center your life on any one of them to the exclusion of the others.

My dad is a good role model for me, and then I had a high school coach that really helped me out when I was struggling and made a big difference in my life.

That's important, apologizing, listening, you know, I think the teens I speak with, most of them don't feel understood. They feel like they're being lectured to all the time.

These problems are real, and you can't turn off real life. So I won't try. Instead, I'll give you a set of tools to help you deal with real life.

If you're planning on dropping out of high school, prepare yourself for the future by repeating aloud each day: 'I'm looking forward to low-paying jobs for the rest of my life.'

The following is a list of statements made many years ago by experts in their fields. At the time they were said they sounded intelligent. With the passing of time, they sound idiotic.

Being gentle means forgiving yourself when you mess up. We should learn from our mistakes, but we shouldn't beat the tar out of ourselves over them. The past is just that, past. Learn what went wrong and why. Make amends if you need to. Then drop it and move on.

Instead of trying to blend in and be like everyone else, be proud of and celebrate your unique differences and qualities. A fruit salad is delicious precisely because each fruit maintains its own flavor.

Listening can heal wounds.

All the events of your past have formed a lens, or paradigm, through which you see the world. And since no one's past is exactly like anyone else's, no two people see alike.

My dad told me that when I was born my cheeks were so fat the doctors didn't know which end to spank.

Small changes can make huge destination differences.

You can usually tell when a couple becomes centered on each other because they are forever breaking up and getting back together.

A fruit salad is delicious precisely because each fruit maintains its own flavor.

Instead of playing to win, I was playing not to lose. It reminds me of the story I once heard about two friends being chased by a bear, when one turned to the other and said, "I just realized that I don't need to outrun the bear; I only need to outrun you.

Honesty is a principle. Service is a principle. Love is a principle. Hard work is a principle. Respect, gratitude, moderation, fairness, integrity, loyalty, and responsibility are principles. There are dozens and dozens more. They are not hard to identify. Just as a compass always points to true north, your heart will recognize true principles....

Make as many friends as you can, but don't build your life on them alone. It's an unstable foundation.

If you decide to just go with the flow, you'll end up where the flow goes, which is usually downhill, often leading to a big pile of sludge and a life of unhappiness. You'll end up doing what everyone else is doing.

Honesty is always the best policy, even when it's not the trend.

If you could envision the type of person God intended you to be, you would rise up and never be the same again.

Now think deeply. What have you done with your life over the past year? How do you feel inside?

It's especially hard to admit that you made a mistake to your parents, because, of course, you know so much more than they do.

Education must be a lifelong pursuit. The person who doesn't read is not better off than the person who can't.

Don't wait until people are dead to give them flowers.

The primary purpose of going to college isn't to get a great job. The primary purpose of college is to build a strong mind, which leads to greater self-awareness, capability, fulfillment, and service opportunities, which, incidentally, should lead to a better job.

Strong minds talk about ideas; weak minds talk about people.

Don't let your pride or a lack of courage stand in the way of saying you're sorry to people you may have offended.

I like how Mother Teresa put it: "Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile." If you approach life this way, always looking for ways to build instead of to tear down, you'll be amazed at how much happiness you can give to others and find for yourself

It's hard, but sometimes it is better to have no friends for a time than to have the wrong friends. The wrong group can lead you down all kinds of paths you really don't want to be on. And retracing your steps can be a long and hard journey

We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.

We are free to choose our paths, but we can't choose the consequences that come with them.

Life is a mission, not a career. A career is a profession, a mission is a cause. A career asks, What's in it for me? A mission asks, How can I make a difference?

One of the few things that can't be recycled is wasted time.

Isn't it kind of silly to think that tearing someone else down builds you up?

We become what we repeatedly do.