For many of us there is a gap between the compass and the clock - between what's deeply important to us and the way we spend our time.
Source: First Things First, Stephen R. Covey with A. Roger Merrill and Rebecca R. Merrill, 1994
The clock/compass framing is the organizing metaphor of the opening of First Things First (1994): the clock stands for commitments, schedules and how we spend time; the compass for vision, values and what matters most; and Covey names the gap between them. This wording is a condensed rendering of that passage rather than a verbatim sentence I can pin to a page, so I withhold the top of the scale. The author name in the record is misspelled: it is Stephen R. Covey, not Steven Covey. | Suggested reattribution: Stephen R. Covey