Poem Collection from 7 Habit Highly Effective Teens from Sean Covey

#1: Who am I?

 I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.

I will push you onward or drag you down

to failure. I am completely at your command.

Half the things you do you might just as 

well turn over to me and I will be able to do 

them quickly and correctly.

I am easily managed--you must merely

be firm with me. Show me exactly how you 

want something done and after a few lessons

 I will do it automatically. I am the 

servant of all great individuals and, alas, of 

all failures, as well. Those who are great I

have made great. Those who are failures,

I have made failures.

I am not a machine, though I work

with all the precision of a machine plus

the intelligence of a human. You may run

me for a profit or run me for ruin--it

makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me, 

and I will place the world at your feet. Be

easy with me and I will destroy you.

Who am I?

I am habit

#2: Man in the Mirror

I'm starting with the man in

the mirror

I'm asking him to change

 his ways

And no message could have

been any clearer

If you wanna make the world

a better place

Take a look at yourself, and

then make a change.

#3

When I was young and free and my my

imagination had no limits, I dreamed of

changing the world;

As I grew older and wiser I realized the

world would not change.

And I decided to shorten my sights

somewhat and change only my country.

But it seemed immovable.

As I entered my twilight years, in one last

desperate attempt, I sought to change

only my family, those closest to me, but

alas they would have none of it.

And now here I lie on my death bed and

realize (perhaps for the first time) that if

only I'd changed myself first, then by

example I may have influenced my

family with their encouragement

and support I may have bettered my

country, and who knows I may have

changed the world.

#4 There's a Hole in My Sidewalk by Portia Nelson

I walk down in the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in.

I am lost...I am helpless.

It isn't my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don't see it

I fall in again.

I can't believe I am in the same place

But, it isn't my fault.

I still takes a long time to get out

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the side walk

I see it there

I still fall in. It's a habit.

My eyes are open

I know where I am

It is my fault. I get out immediately.

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

I walk down another street

# 5 By Douglas Malloch

The tree that never had to fight

For sun and sky and air and light,

But stood out in the open plain

And always got its share of rain,

Never became a forest king

But lived and died a scrubby thing...

Good timber does not grow with ease,

The stronger the wind, the stronger the trees

#6 By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in

a wood, and I--

I took one less 

traveled by,

And that has made all

the difference.

# 7 By Shakespeare

What win I, if I gain thing I seek?

A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.

Who buys a minute 's mirth to wail a week?

Or sells eternity to get a toy?

For one sweet grape who will the vine destroy?

#8

To realize the value of One Year,

Ask a student who failed his or her AP exams.

To realize the value of One Month,

Ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.

To realize the value of One Week,

Ask an editor of weekly magazine.

To realize the value of One Day,

Ask a daily wage laborer who has six kids to feed.

To realize the value of One Hour,

Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realize the value of One Minute,

Ask a person who missed their train.

To realize the value of One Second,

Ask the person who survived an accident.

To realize the value of One Millisecond,

Ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.

# 9 Please Listen

When I ask you to listen to me

and you start giving me advice,

you have not done what I asked.

When I ask you to listen to me

and you begin to tell me why

I shouldn't feel that way,

you are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me

and you feel you have to do something

to solve my problem,

you have failed me,

strange as that may seem.

Listen! All I ask is that you listen

Don't talk or do--just hear me

# 10 The Cold Within

Six humans trapped by happenstance, in bleak and bitter cold,

Each oe possessed a stick of wood, or so the story's told.

Their dying fire in need of logs, the first man held his back,

For of the faces 'round the fire, he noticed one was black.

The next man looking 'cross the way they saw one not of his church,

And couldn't bring himself to give the fire his stick of birch.

The third one sat in lattered clothes, he gave his coat a hitch,

Why should his log be put to use to warm the idle rich?

The rich man just sat back and thought of wealth he had in store,

And how to keep what he had earned from the lazy, shiftless poor.

The black man's face bespoke revenge as the fire passed from the sight,

For all he saw in his stick of wood was a chance to sit the white.

The last man of his forlorn group did naught except for gain,

Giving only to those who gave how he played the game.

Their logs held tight in death's still hand was proof of human sin.

They didn't die from the cold without--they died from the cold within

I hope it's inspire you guys :D

-NA