Great Throughts Treasury

"Don't compromise, when you can synergize."

"Each of us guards a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside."

"Easy leadership is putting first things first."

"Each of us tends to think we see things as they are, that we are objective. But this is not the case. We see the world, not as it is, but as we are?or, as we are conditioned to see it. When we open our mouths to describe what we see, we in effect describe ourselves, our perceptions, our paradigms. When other people disagree with us, we immediately think something is wrong with them."

"Effective management is putting first things first. While leadership decides what first things are, it is management that puts them first, day-by-day, moment-by-moment. Management is discipline, carrying it out."

"Educating the heart is the critical complement to educating the mind."

"Effective management without effective leadership is? like straightening deck chairs on the Titanic."

"Effectively delegating to others is perhaps the single most powerful high leverage activity there is."

"Effective people lead their lives and manage their relationships around principles; ineffective people attempt to manage their time around priorities and their tasks around goals. Think effectiveness with people; efficiency with things."

"Effective people stay out of Quadrants III and IV because, urgent or not, they aren?t important. They also shrink Quadrant I down to size by spending more time in Quadrant II?Quadrant II is the heart of effective personal management."

"Effective interdependence can only be built on a foundation of true independence."

"Education ? continually honing and expanding the mind ? is vital mental renewal."

"Employers and business leaders need people who can think for themselves - who can take initiative and be the solution to problems."

"Every time I see high-trust cultures, I see a lessening of adversarialism."

"Efficient? scheduling and control of time are often counterproductive. The efficiency focus creates expectations that clash with the opportunities to develop rich relationships, to meet human needs, and to enjoy spontaneous moments on a daily basis."

"Effectiveness ? often even survival ? does not depend solely on how much effort we expend, but on whether or not the effort we expend is in the right jungle."

"Empathetic listening is the key to making deposits in Emotional Bank Accounts, because nothing you do is a deposit unless the other person perceives it as such. You can work your fingers to the bone to make a deposit, only to have it turn into a withdrawal when a person regards your efforts as manipulative."

"Empathy is not sympathy. Sympathy is a form of agreement, a form of judgment. And it is sometimes the more appropriate emotion and response. But people often feed on sympathy. It makes them dependent. The essence of empathic listening is not that you agree with someone; it's that you fully, deeply, understand that person, emotionally as well as intellectually."

"Empathic listening is, in and of itself, a tremendous deposit in the Emotional Bank Account. It's deeply therapeutic and healing because it gives a person psychological air."

"Empathic listening involves much more than registering, reflecting, or even understanding the words that are said. Communications experts estimate, in fact, that only 10% of our communication is represented by the words we say. Another 30 percent is represented by our sounds, and 60% by our body language. In empathic listening, you listen with your ears, but you also, and more importantly, listen with your eyes and with your heart. You listen for feeling, for meaning. You listen for behavior. You use your right brain as well as your left. You sense, you intuit, you feel."

"Empathic listening is so powerful because it gives you accurate data to work with. Instead of projecting your own autobiography and assuming thoughts, feelings, motives and interpretation, you're dealing with the reality inside another person's head and heart. You're listening to understand. You're focused on receiving the deep communication of another human soul."

"Empathy takes time, and efficiency is for things, not people."

"Expand your perspective by expanding your mind."

"First build upon a strong core of principles that are not open for continuous change; at the same time, be relentless in the quest for improvement and continuous self-renewal. This dialectic enables an individual to retain a rock-solid foundation and attain sustained growth for a lifetime."

"Everyone has values; even criminal gangs have values. Values govern people?s behavior but principles govern the consequences of those behaviors."

"Family home evening is more for the purpose of teaching values and gospel principles, displaying talents and enjoying different kinds of family fun and activities."

"Everyone must be proactive and do all they can to help themselves to stay employed."

"Family-centered parents do not have the emotional freedom, the power, to raise their children with their ultimate welfare truly in mind. If they derive their own security from the family, their need to be popular with their children may override the importance of a long-term investment in their children?s growth and development. Or they may be focused on the proper and correct behavior of the moment. Any behavior that they consider improper threatens their security. They become upset, guided by the emotions of the moment, spontaneously reacting to the immediate concern rather than the long-term growth and development of the child. They may yell or scream. They may overreact and punish out of bad temper. They tend to love their children conditionally, making them emotionally dependent or counter-dependent and rebellious."

"Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs."

"Every time you think the problem is 'out there,' that very thought is the problem."

"First seek to understand, then to be understood."

"For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root."

"For those filled with regret, perhaps the most needful exercise of proactivity is to realize that past mistakes are also out there in the Circle of Concern. We can?t recall them, we can?t undo them, we can?t control the consequences that came as a result."

"For me, the essence of the great American Dream is spiritual. I believe that our Constitution is inspired and that it is based on principles that are timeless and universal. This is the reason why 95% of all written constitutions throughout the world are modeled after our Constitution."

"Fulfilling the four needs [spiritual, mental, physical, social] in an integrated way is like combining elements in chemistry. When we reach a "critical mass" of integration, we experience spontaneous combustion--an explosion of inner synergy that ignites the fire within and gives vision, passion, and a spirit of adventure to life."

"Give no answer to contentious arguments or irresponsible accusations. Let such things "fly out open windows" until they spend themselves."

"God was at the center of your life, everything else would find its proper place."

"Friend/Enemy Centeredness. Young people are particularly, though certainly not exclusively, susceptible to becoming friend-centered. Acceptance and belonging to a peer group can become almost supremely important. The distorted and ever-changing social mirror becomes the source for the four life-support factors, creating a high degree of dependence on the fluctuating moods, feelings, attitudes, and behavior of others."

"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."

"Generally, people who spend their time making excuses are those who lack focus and discipline. Setbacks are inevitable; misery is a choice. There are always reasons, never an excuse? Passion comes from the heart and is manifest as optimism, excitement, emotional connection, determination. It fires unrelenting drive. Enthusiasm is deeply rooted in the power of choice rather than circumstance. Enthusiasts believe that the best way to predict the future is to create it. In fact, enthusiasm becomes a moral imperative, making the person part of the solution rather than part of the problem of feeling essentially hopeless and helpless."

"Habit 2 ? Begin with the End in Mind. Individuals, families, teams, and organizations shape their own future by first creating a mental vision for any project, large or small, personal or interpersonal. They don?t just live day-to-day with no clear purpose in mind. They identify and commit themselves to the principles, relationships and purposes that matter most to them."

"Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind Effective network marketers have a clear vision and passion for that vision. They know what they want to achieve where they see themselves in their business organization. Everything they do, every activity they perform, is driven by that vision. That?s why they practice Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind. Instead of waiting for others to make things happen, they develop their own clear vision of what they want to achieve in their business and where they will land in the future."

"Habit 1 ? Be Proactive. Being Proactive is more than taking initiative. It is recognizing that we are responsible for our own choices and have the freedom to choose based on principles and values rather than on moods or conditions. Proactive people are agents of change and choose not to be victims, to be reactive, or to blame others."

"Habit 3 ? Put First Things First. Putting first means organizing and executing around your most important priorities. Whatever your circumstance, it is living and being driven by principles you value most, not by the urgent agendas and forces surrounding you."

"Habit 4 ? Think Win-Win. Thinking win-win is a frame of mind and heart that seeks mutual benefit and mutual respect in all interactions. It?s thinking in terms of abundance and opportunity rather than scarcity and adversarial competition. It?s not selfishly (win-lose) or like a martyr (lose-win). It?s thinking in terms of ?we,? not ?me.?"

"Habit 5 ? Seek First To Understand, Then to be Understood. When we listen with intent to understand others, rather than with the intent to reply, we begin true communication and relationship building. Opportunities to then speak openly and to be understood come much more naturally and easily. Seeking to understand takes consideration; seeking to be understood takes courage. Effectiveness lies in balancing or blending the two."

"Habit 6 ? Synergize. Synergy is the third alternative ? not my way, not your way, but a third way that is better than either of us would have come up with individually. It?s the fruit of respecting, valuing, and even celebrating one another?s differences. It?s about solving problems, seizing opportunities, and working out differences. It?s the kid of creative cooperation of 1+1=3, 11, 111? or more. Synergy is also the key to any effective team or relationship. A synergistic team is a complementary team ? where the team is organized so that the strengths of some compensate for the weaknesses of others. In this way you optimize and run with strengths and make individual weaknesses irrelevant."

"Habit 7 ? Sharpen the Saw. Sharpening the saw is about constantly renewing ourselves in the four basic areas of life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. It?s the habit that increases our capacity to live all other habits of effectiveness."

"Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do)."

"Habits lie at the intersection of knowledge, attitude and skill."