If you want to have a more pleasant, cooperative teenager, be a more understanding, empathic, consistent, loving parent. If you want to have more freedom, more latitude in your job, be a more responsible, a more helpful, a more contributing employee.
How many on their deathbeds wished they'd spent more time at the office - or watching TV? The answer is, No one.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of prioritizing meaningful experiences over work or distractions.
Stephen Covey's quote reflects on the common regret people have at the end of their lives regarding how they spent their time. It serves as a reminder that personal connections, experiences, and quality time with loved ones are far more valuable than the time spent on work commitments or passive entertainment. The essence of the quote encourages individuals to reassess their priorities and focus on what truly matters in life before it's too late.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
A motivational speech about work-life balance can incorporate this quote to highlight the need for personal connections.
More from Stephen Covey
All quotes βListen with your eyes for feelings.
If we live out of our memory, we're tied to the past and to that which is finite. When we live out of our imagination, _x000D_ we're tied to that which is infinite.
Synergy is the highest activity of life; it creates new untapped alternatives; it values and exploits the mental, emotional, and psychological differences between people.
Keep in mind that you are always saying "no" to something. If it isn't to the apparent and urgent things in your life, it is probably to the most fundamental, highly important things.
Don't argue for other people's weaknesses. Don't argue for your own. When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from it / immediately.
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Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.
Love and business and family and religion and art and patriotism are nothing but shadows of words when a man's starving!
When I first went up to see my editor, I was with my agent, and my editor said, 'Well, what have you been doing all these years?' And my agent said, 'He's been in recovery. From his childhood.'
But it's just because the chances are all against you, just because there is so little hope, that life is sweet over here.
Strange, how such a small realization can affect everyone's life forever. In movies there is always a carefully staged moment - a big crescendo of music, close- ups of the actors' faces, the camera slowly pulling away to let all this sink in for the viewer...but, in real life, most all of the extraordinary things happen with no more loudness than a whisper.
Living the past is a dull and lonely business; looking back strains the neck muscles, causing you to bump into people not going your way.