Lighthouse Imagery
In order to illustrate the nature of principles, Covey relates the story of a captain of a ship who grows furious at an approaching vessel for not moving aside before realizing that the approaching vessel is in fact a lighthouse. These immovable pillars of objective reality are like principles, which are universally applicable truths that must be taken into account when making subjective judgments. The lighthouse imagery emphasizes both the immovable nature of principles and their qualities of bright luminescence.
Paradigm-Shift Imagery
The Paradigm Shift is one of Covey's big ideas of the book. It is a shift of perspective from one frame of reference to another, and it often involves seeing things as if for the first time or in a completely different light. Accordingly, Covey uses much imagery to convey this sense, along with several examples, such as Copernicus's revolutionary ideas on the heliocentric motion of the planets as well as Einstein's revelation of the Theory of Relativity in physics.
Control Imagery
Another one of Covey's main ideas is that miserable people don't have the total lack of control over their happiness they might believe at first. Their circumstances might have control over their physical bodies, but they can't have complete control over their minds. He encourages them to fight back and take control of their happiness, using all kinds of control imagery in the process.
The Quadrant
Covey uses the image of a quadrant as a visual aid for sorting through tasks that must be completed in an attempt to prioritize and categorize. The axes of this box are urgency and importance: the important and urgent tasks must be done immediately, while the important, non-urgent tasks may be planned for. The unimportant urgent tasks can be delegated to someone else, while the unimportant and non-urgent tasks may be completely eliminated. This imagery serves as a helpful tool for a reader's prioritization.
