"Inside-Out" means to start first with self; even more fundamentally, to start with the most inside part of self — with your paradigms, your characte… - Stephen Covey

Give no answer to contentious arguments or irresponsible accusations. Let such things "fly out open windows" until they spend themselves.

Most people see effectiveness from the golden egg paradigm: the more you produce, the more you do, the more effective you are. But as the story shows, true effectiveness is a function of two things: what is produced (the golden eggs) and the producing asset or capacity to produce (the goose). If you adopt a pattern of life that focuses on golden eggs and neglects the goose, you will soon be without the asset that produces golden eggs. On the other hand, if you only take care of the goose with no aim toward the golden eggs, you soon won’t have the wherewithal to feed yourself or the goose.

If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.