Product Description: I'm getting more done in less time, but where are the rich relationships, the inner peace, the balance, the confidence that I'm doing what matters most and doing it well?
Does this nagging question haunt you, even when you feel you are being your most efficient? If so, First Things First can help you understand why so often our first things aren't first. Rather than offering you another clock, First Things First provides you with a compass, because where you're headed is more important than how fast you're going.
Amazon.com Review: What are the most important things in your life? Do they get as much care, emphasis, and time as you'd like to give them? Far from the traditional "be-more-efficient" time-management book with shortcut techniques, First Things First shows you how to look at your use of time totally differently. Using this book will help you create balance between your personal and professional responsibilities by putting first things first and acting on them. Covey teaches an organizing process that helps you categorize tasks so you focus on what is important, not merely what is urgent. First you divide tasks into these quadrants:
Important and Urgent (crises, deadline-driven projects)
Important, Not Urgent (preparation, prevention, planning, relationships)
Urgent, Not Important (interruptions, many pressing matters)
Not Urgent, Not Important (trivia, time wasters)
Most people spend most of their time in quadrants 1 and 3, while quadrant 2 is where quality happens. "Doing more things faster is no substitute for doing the right things," says Covey. He points you toward the real human needs--"to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy"--and how to balance your time to achieve a meaningful life, not just get things done. --Joan Price
This booked really helped me I give this book five stars as it really helped me organise and prioritise my life. I develped a great mission statement, I review my roles weekly, and I am so happy with all the things I am achieving. I am also developing Integrity, really! Rather than just talking the talk I am walking the talk. I have had a few friends recently comment on my input into their lives. I now can schedule, my personal goals weekly, my family goals with my two young children, making my husband happy, doing commmunity work and looking out for my friends. Whilst I am still a work in progress, this book together with the 7 habits, have made a huge impact in my world. I have read SO many self help books, but in the end they just made me feel bad that I wasnt achieving all these things. But FTF, really makes you think about whats important to you, there is no use in following someone elses plan if those values dont resonate within your own world or heart. Go ahead and get this, read it and apply it. Slowly you will see how putting FTF can rock your little world.
A great simple framework The book provides a great framework for being productive - focusing on the important over the urgent. It covers the dangers of spending too much time on things that others deem mandatory, sacrificing what is truly valuable.
Two dissenting thoughts on the book. The first is the obvious - "If only it were so easy..." Of course if it were easy, there would be no need for the book. The second is that the key concepts could be delivered in a much shorter format. But that's a small complaint - how expensive is a $12 paperback? It pays for itself with even a small improvement in personal productivity.
Urgent and important Despite the fact that I plan my week using the Covey time management principles as a result of having taught this program for many years some time back, I recently re-read the book.
What struck me was that the lessons are timeless. I doubt if anyone is going to come up with as powerful a matrix as Stephen's and the Merrills' to sum up how we spend time.
Once you grasp the difference between managing your time and leading your life, you will never turn back.
Many years ago, as a Covey apprentice, I used the annual planner to analyse how I had spent the entire past year. The result enabled me to change my life by highlighting where I needed to increase my leverage. Could I have come to the same conclusion through common sense and discipline? Perhaps. BUT - I hadn't! I came to these conclusions because the book presented strategies and tools to make it easy.
The recent re-read has allowed me to connect again with the system.
And of course, I have yet to come across another system that tackles motivation as robustly. Good intentions often fall by the wayside but with First Things First, you have tools to support and reinforce those good intentions.
The greatest strength of the book for me, lies in the single lesson of Quadrant 4, that is, a section of your total time allocation devoted to IMPORTANT things - not emergencies - but things that can be planned and then YOU decide what's important to you and plan to do it. That way it gets done.
First Things First This book is phenomenal. It encourages us to create a vision for where we want to eventually end up in life and gives us the necessary tools to get there. It is a very good reminder of what really matters. I highly recommend it!
For the individual always on the run This is a great book to read for those of us who juggle life. It talks about how to prioritize and how to over come Urgency Addition. If there was one book to make the time to read, it should be this one.
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