It's such an awesome and inspiring book about a wide variety of people (whether rich or poor, or famous or not) who have achieved everyday greatness and constantly strive to better themselves.
As you read through Stephen Covey talks about how to achieve Everyday Greatness and he explains that it comes from 3 Everyday Choices.
1) The Choice to Act - "The first choice we make every day is, will we act upon life, or will we merely be acted upon" Are your actions reflecting someone who is in control of their lives or someone who is being controlled?
Most of you will probably read this and thinks its a simple question, of course I choose to act. But when the end of the day comes our actions are what will tell the truth of how were are deciding to live our lives. Only you can decide to act, it takes discipline and the ability to begin with the end in mind.
2) The Choice of Purpose - Most people are driven by short term results and instant gratification. We want the convenience of the now and what will make us happy in this very moment. Unfortunately by choosing these short term satisfactions we are hurting our ability to achieve much larger, more fulfilling long term goals and dreams because typically the easiest answer is the wrong one(thats why it's easy). We make ourselves inflexible to seeing our long term vision come into fruition because most of us don't make our choices based on our end purpose.
Before you decide, ask yourself, is this going to help me achieve my long term goals?
Does this decision align with my focus and dreams. Will this choice hurt me beyond today?
Think Big and think about more than just the now.
3) The choice for Principles - "Will we live our lives in accordance with proven principles, or we will suffer the consequences of not doing so?" In his book Stephen Covey shares one of his favorite anecdotes to illustrate his point.
"One foggy night at sea a captain of a ship saw what looked like the lights of another ship heading towards him. He had his signalman contact the other ship by light. The message was "Change your course ten degrees to the south."
The reply came back "Change your course ten degrees to the north."
Then the captain answered: "I am a captain, so you change your course ten degrees to the south."
Reply:"I am a seaman first class-change your course ten degrees to the north."
This last exchange really infuriated the captain, so he signaled back: "I am a battleship-change your course ten degrees to the south."
Reply: "And I am a lighthouse. Change your course ten degrees to the north"
"It's a lighthearted message but the point remains, neither the size of the vessel nor the rank of the helmsman mattered. The lighthouse was not going to change its course. Only the captain had a choice of whether or not to course correct.
The lighthouse is like a principle. Principles are immovable. They do not change. Everyone is equal subject to them. Like the lighthouse, principles provide permanent markers against which people can set their direction in times of both storm and calm, darkness and light."
If you want to achieve Everyday Greatness then use these 3 choices to help guide you into the life you want and truly deserve.
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