“FIRST THINGS FIRST”

“First Things First”



Stephen R. Covey “First Things First”

Introduction

In this book, Covey proposes that previous time management theorists had not gone far enough to accommodate the ever increasing demands on our day-to day life. He proposes a lifestyle which involves working towards balancing key life roles on a weekly basis and being guided by principles, mission and goals. This approach would suggest that we should not be trying to be more efficient (do more things in less time) but to be more effective in the areas of our life that matter the most.

Book overview

First Things First - the definitive work on Time Management Stephen Covey explains that most people are driven by the concept of urgency. But to really effect positive change in our lives, we need to reorganize the way we spend our time; based on the concept of importance - not urgency. Study the following matrix of time demands and you will come to realize that for most people, the problem is that we are continually doing the urgent stuff, at the expense of the important (Edwards, 2000).

The first section of the book introduces us to the concept of the "Clock and Compass." Covey suggests that most of us are guided by our clocks (representing appointments, schedules) rather than our compasses (representing our "true north" direction of values, vision and principles.) He suggests that there are three generations of time management schools which attempt to solve the problem of handling time constraints, none of which successfully enable us to be long-term focused, values-driven AND flexible, As a result, he proposes a fourth generation which seeks to have the advantages of the previous three generations without their drawbacks and enable us to be guided by our inner compasses, not our clocks. In effect we will be able to put first things first (Sayles, 1993).

In order to have the right focus Covey asks us to identify our weekly tasks and place them in the following diagram:

Covey argues that most people spend the majority of their time doing tasks in Quadrant I, when actually activities that produce most positive results in personal and professional lives are in Quadrant II. If a person spends too much time in Quadrant I, they may escape to Quadrant IV for a while for temporary relief. In order to find more time to spend in Quadrant II, a person can reduce the time spent in Quadrant III. The more time spent in Quadrant II, the more they will see a decrease in the amount of time in Quadrant I. We have no real choice when it comes to Quadrant 1 activity because Quadrant 1 operates on us; that is, activity which falls into this category must be done. The real choice is when it comes to Quadrant 2. We can choose to spend time here or not but Quadrant 2 is the key to getting things under control (Stephen et al, 1994).

In Section Two - Keeping the main thing the main thing, Covey hopes ...