Few calendar quotes

More quotes from the Seven Habits daily calendar.

Samuel Johnson observed, "The fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and he who hath so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief he proposes to remove."

I would say there's a definite truth here. But it also assumes you've already met the lower-level needs of Maslow's hierarchy.

How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and, keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most.

-o-

If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster. We may be very busy, we may be very efficient, but we will also be truly effective when we begin with the end in mind.

-o-

Efficient management without effective leadership is, as one individual has phrased it, "like straightening deck chairs on the Titanic." No management success can compensate for failure in leadership.

These three all speak to the difference between doing things right, and doing the right thing. Which also reminds me of Dorothy Sayers writing on the need to do good work, not just good works...