This week we lost an incredible man who made a rich and meaningful contribution to the field of leadership development, and, more importantly, to the lives of many people. Stephen R. Covey will be missed.
In dedication to him, I thought I would share my favorite of his “7 Habits” – Habit 2 Begin with the End in Mind.
“Although Habit 2 applies to many different circumstances and levels of life, the most fundamental application of “begin with the end in mind” is to begin today with the image, picture, or paradigm of the end of your life as your frame of reference or the criterion by which everything else is examined. Each part of your life – today’s behavior, tomorrow’s behavior, next week’s behavior, next month’s behavior – can be examined in the context of the whole, of what really matters most to you. By keeping that end clearly in mind, you can make certain that whatever you do on any particular day does not violate the criteria you have defined as supremely important, and that each day of your life contributes in a meaningful way to the vision you have of your life as a whole.”
– Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People