FIRST THINGS FIRST-Stephen R. Covey

Great follow up to 7 Habits in FIRST THINGS FIRST. This 373 page large sized softcover by Stephen Covey, with a. Roger Merrill and Rebecca R. Merrill was published in 1994. In his book First Things First , Stephen Covey describes setting priorities as the most important aspect of successful (personal) improvement. No matter how efficient you do your work, if you´re doing the wrong thing, nothing will really improve. This is where Covey distinguishes himself from traditional time management theories which are designed around the efficiency of a task. He compares the difference between efficiency and setting priorities with a compass and the clock: how fast you go is not as important as where you´re going. In the first part of the book, SHORTCOMINGS OF TIME MANAGEMENT are discussed, based on three generations of theory: Priority is what is happening now Priorities are deducted from calendars and goals Priorities derive from values and goals To be able to set the right priority, FOUR AREAS OF HUMAN NEEDS are described on which we can focus ourselves: Physical needs, like clothing and nourishment Social needs, to love and to maintain relationships Mental needs, to learn and to grow Spiritual needs, rendition and contribution. These four areas are overlapping and the center in which all needs come together is called ´the fire within´. The idea is that problems within one of the areas can partly be balanced out by focusing on one of the other three. Part two describes THE POWER OF PRIORITIZING . The most important aspect of successfully prioritizing anything, is taking the time to reflect on your past actions and think about what actions you would like to do next. Covey describes the metaphor in which a garden can only be beautiful if there is a gardener who is taking care of it. The same holds for our personal life. Be your own gardener! The foundation of setting the right priorities lies in the principle of PUTTING IMPORTANT STUFF FIRST . Naturally, people tent to do urgent stuff first, which is a dangerous way or working because as long as there is enough urgency, there will never be time to start working on the important stuff. The most famous metaphor for this is the pot with rocks, gravel, sand and water. To work according to Covey´s standards is to: put the big rocks in first, which represent important, non-urgent matters Then add up as many gravel as possible, important and urgent matters add sand to the pot to fill the little pieces of space in between, the urgent, unimportant matters finally, you will find that there is still room for some water, the unimportant, non-urgent matters. Note that it could be possible to fill the pot entirely with water, and it would be impossible to add big rocks to the pot, because it would overflow. The pot represents our calendar. The big rocks symbolize the activities that are important to you on the long term and should be planned in your calendar before anything else, because like with the water in the pot: there will be no time for the important stuff left if you put the urgent unimportant stuff first. The next step in setting priorities is then HOW TO DETERMINE WHAT STUFF IS IMPORTANT . The tool which can be used to help defining what is important to person is to write down a so called ´personal mission statement´ which include the following: An acquittal of your personal talent A contribution to a higher goal than yourself A description of needs divided in all four dimensions described above (physical, mental, social and spiritual). Great advice on how to do it in this book in almost new condition. Just some light tanning on inside front and back covers. Shipping and handling 4.60 Media Mail to US destinations. Canadian residents 23.40 First Class mail. All others welcome but extra postage required and shipped entirely at your risk.