“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
Stephen R. Covey
This is one of my favorite quotes of Stephen Covey. Like many of his aphorisms, the above quote sounds simple, but it is very hard to put into practice. Two suggestions as to why we don’t keep the main thing the main thing are:
- We don’t know our main thing; or,
- We allow others to pull us into their main thing
This week, Stephen R. Covey, the author of one of the classic business books, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” died at the very young age of 79. I have read this book numerous times, but upon hearing of his death, I immediately downloaded a new copy on my Kindle. I remain amazed at the wisdom of this 1990 classic. As I read it now, it is as fresh for me as if for the very first time.
Covey wrote and developed the seven habits after studying hundreds of books and essays written in the first 150 years of our nation on success, Covey noticed that the literature of the 20th century was dominated by gimmicks or "social Band-Aids" to improve the personality while the writings of Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin, for example, were based on character and principles such as integrity, courage and patience.
Do you keep the main thing the main thing? If not, is it because you don't know your main thing, or you are involved in someone else's main thing?
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