Success Advice
6 Classic Lessons We Can All Learn From Stephen Covey
Dr. Stephen Covey, wrote the best-selling book in 1989 titled “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. His death saddened many, but most people have been grateful for his life and work. His book has several insights and splendid ideas that have inspired many.
The 7 Habits has a way of seeping you in, with several life lessons touching on almost every aspect of life from marriage to parenting to leadership.
More than 20 million copies of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People have been sold and the book has been named as one of the most influential management books by most organizations including Forbes and Time Magazines. In 1996, Stephen Covey was listed among the 25 Most Influential Americans by the Times because of his hard work and efforts on the book.
Stephen Covey believed that success occurs when one aligns their values with timeless and universal principles existing in the world. He teaches that values are what govern the behavior of people, but principles are what ultimately determine the consequences. Besides his best-selling book of 1989, he also wrote “First Things First”, “The 8th Habit”, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families”, and “Principle-Centered Leadership”. From his achievements and great work, here are 6 classic lessons we can learn from Stephen Covey.
1. Putting First Things First
One of the most important lessons that we can learn from Covey is putting first things first. Covey has a chapter that introduces today’s conventional wisdom framework of being able to distinguish the urgent from the important tasks. He says:
“Easy leadership is putting first things first”.
In order to be a great leader, one has to prioritize the most important things before others, and has to distinguish the most critical from the insignificant and place the critical first.
First in order, then first in priority and first in rank. If the critical is placed first, and given the critical focus and attention, there is certainly effectiveness in leadership with soar.
2. Begin With The End In Mind
This was his second habit, and he shows us that it is easier to do something in the short run than in the long run. It is important in everything that we do, we ask ourselves what we are trying to accomplish. It is more adept at answering this question for the short and medium term goals. You will realize, you can getter better at beginning with the end in mind for longer term goals but you my still have to put in more effort to get there. By nature, long term goals are less clear and the path to achieving them is also less certain. It is therefore important that we learn to articulate these goals and then reverse to try engineering them from the back in ways that are actionable in the short run.
3. Think Of Win-Win Situations
Covey teaches us to always think of Win-Win Situations. We can learn to look for solutions that can benefit everyone in the society. According to him:
“This is a frame of the heart and mind that always seeks mutual benefit in all interactions of humans”.
According to Covey, Win-Win means agreements are mutually satisfying and beneficial. He says that the way people think in terms of dichotomies; win or lose, hardball or softball, strong or weak is fundamentally flawed.
4. Stick To Your Main End Goal
Do not be swayed from your main life goals. Covey states that,
“The main goal is to keep the main goal the main goal”.
It is important that you never lose sight of the big picture and always be determined by keeping the main thing the main thing.
Failure is hugely contributed to by losing focus. Even though you have a good start, it is essential that you avoid all sorts of distractions and attractions you may experience in life that may sidetrack you. Be focused on the main thing, and keep it the main thing!
5. Your Character Is Critical
Stephen Covey teaches us that our character is a composite of our habits, and therefore, we should know that character is very critical. Watch your habits because they determine your character and it is your character that defines your life. It is difficult to rise higher than your character’s fortitude. Your character forms the foundation for your life and for you to change your life, you have to change your character.
6. Be Good At Listening
Lastly, we first need to understand, to be understood. Listen to what other people have to say and try to understand them. Equally, they will grant you the same courtesy and respect your opinions just as you have shown them. Stephen writes,
“We have a tendency to rush things, and fix them up with good advice”.
However, we often fail to take time to diagnose and really understand the problem. This message is very crucial to effective interpersonal communication.
R.I.P Stephen Covey
Your Legacy Lives On!
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This Overlooked Skill Drives Real Business Growth
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In every successful leader’s toolkit, one skill stands out above the rest: the ability to listen. While good leaders are known for making confident decisions, great leaders understand that those decisions are only as strong as the information they’re based on. And that information? It comes from truly listening to their teams, peers, and even critics. (more…)
Scale Your Business
Tired of Wasting Money on the Wrong Marketers? Here’s How Smart Entrepreneurs Are Finally Hiring Right

If you’ve ever Googled how to hire a Facebook marketer or best TikTok marketing agency only to spend thousands on someone who couldn’t deliver…congrats, you’ve joined a very expensive club! For many entrepreneurs, hiring a digital marketer feels like more like visiting a casino and gambling with your runway, than it feels like securing a partner who’ll help build your business. Often, it feels like you’re betting on a stranger to grow the dream you’ve poured your savings into.
And way too often, you lose that bet.
You don’t need another list of the “Top 10 Agencies” with five-star testimonials and polished logos. You need to know which marketer can actually drive results for your business. Not in theory. In practice.
This is where entrepreneurs are learning to pivot. And it’s why a new platform called TruthMetric.com is turning heads across the startup world.
Why Most Startups Burn Through 3–6 Marketers Before Finding the Right One
Here’s the hard truth: most startups don’t fail because of their product, they fail because they can’t get sales or sell it fast enough. And in trying to fix that, founders usually go through five or six marketers, burning tens of thousands before finding someone who truly knows how to convert.
You build your product, get your website live, maybe even launch an ad campaign. But when you search for help and look up how to “hire a YouTube ads agency” or “top Facebook ad expert for Shopify”, you get hit with a sea of shiny portfolios, “ninja” titles, and endless promises.
Three months later, you’re still waiting on your first profitable campaign, and you’re most likely out tens of thousands, feeling utterly defeated…and maybe grinning with an affinity for that upcoming boxing class with a picture of that marketer’s fac……nevermind.
If this sounds like you, it’s time for what one entrepreneur called a strategic shift to scale smarter, not harder.
Introducing TruthMetric.com: The Transparent Marketplace for Hiring Marketers Who Deliver
TruthMetric.com isn’t just another freelancer platform or agency directory. It’s the first hiring solution where you can see three years of real, verified marketing performance before spending a dime.
That includes:
- Verified ad campaign performance
- Actual return on ad spend (ROAS)
- Industry-specific experience
- Platform specialties (Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Google Ads, and more)
Whether you’re looking for a Facebook ads expert, a TikTok marketer, or a YouTube growth strategist, TruthMetric.com lets you filter and compare based on what actually matters, results.
This level of clarity is something you won’t find on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. And it solves what many founders know too well as the New York Pizza Problem: where every marketer claims they’re “the best,” just like every pizzeria in Manhattan says they’re #1. Often without showing you results, you get sucked into this dream of collaboration, until the nightmare commences the moment you fork that first invoice payment. Hence the deception that leads to many business owners losing their hard earned savings and budget to launch their grand idea.
With TruthMetric, you finally get the data to decide for yourself, BEFORE you hire. Now if only New York Pizza shops had the same transparency then maybe you’d finally find the best pizza in New York, perhaps the perfect post work out after a boxing sesh? I think so!
Why Founders Are Shifting to Results-First Hiring
Most entrepreneurs think they need to do it all themselves, until they burn out or burn through their budget. That’s exactly why this founder had to drop the Superman complex and hire a marketing genius.
What makes TruthMetric so powerful is that it turns hiring into a confident move, not a hopeful one. You’re no longer guessing. You’re choosing from proven performers. You know what vertical they dominate. You know their past client performance. You see the monthly results from the campaigns they ran, and the outcomes they achieved.
It’s not just efficient. It’s empowering.
Scaling Quickly Requires Automation and Eliminating the Noise
Founders who scale quickly understand one thing: growth isn’t just about hustle, it’s about systems. TruthMetric is the system for finding great marketers at speed. No more DM’ing ten freelancers or interviewing agencies feeling like you are asking the world of them to just see some prior results. Instead you get to see the information you need to make an informed decision and plug into verified talent, all ready to perform.
This difference allows for you to match perfectly with the right talent quickly. If you’re building your business to run lean and fast, this convenience plugged in with automation can help you scale your small business right alongside your new marketing hires.
Why TruthMetric Is Also a Boon for Marketers, Not Just Founders
This isn’t just a win for founders, it is a gift for great marketers, too.
If you’re a freelance marketer who’s been quietly pulling 10x ROAS for clients while being passed over for flashy agencies, you now have a stage where your results speak louder than your brand.
TruthMetric is a true meritocracy. No fluff. No sales tricks. Just data.
If you’re tired of being overlooked and ready to stand out based on what you actually deliver, this is your home.
The Secret Weapon for Investors and M&A Operators
There’s another angle here that some of our readers might miss.
Investors, private equity firms, and M&A advisors should be drooling at the thought of having a proven talent pool they can plug and play and the ability to use TruthMetric to revive underperforming companies. Imagine acquiring a business or becoming an active investor, then dropping in a verified operator with a history of explosive growth in that niche.
It’s plug-and-play. Scale on demand.
That kind of insight has never been available before. You couldn’t do this on Upwork. You certainly can’t do it through a friend-of-a-friend referral.
And when it comes to attracting high-performing talent, here’s how to hire top talent and keep them around.
Let’s Really Drive This Home…
If you’ve wasted money on agencies or freelancers who couldn’t deliver, it’s not because you’re bad at hiring, it’s because the game was stacked against you. Trusting dreamy charismatic sales pitches over data was a doomed approach from the start.
TruthMetric levels the playing field by showing you what no other talent marketplace does and that’s proof.
Real marketers. Real results. Real growth.
It’s time to stop guessing and start hiring based on data.
Visit TruthMetric.com and make your next marketing hire the one that actually works.
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