First Things First
by A. Roger Merrill, Rebecca R. Merrill, Stephen R. Covey
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Book Reviews of First Things First
Book Review: Useful and Important But Not Enough Here for 350 Pages
Summary: 4 Stars
Stephen Covey and crew have written a worthwhile book about making your day to day life reflect your most important priorities and purposes. The key concept of the book is Quadrant II. Quadrant II are those activities that are important but not necesarily urgent. They argue that most people spend most of their time in Quadrant I (urgent and important) and Quadrant III (urgent, not important) but that it is more effective to spend more time in Quadrant II. Quadrant II is where we plan, think about the best way to do something, prioritize, reflect, etc... and thus provide the best structure for carrying out our plan. A previous reviewer put it well when he said that this is "quality" time. The second part of the book, which is its heart, explains exactly how to use Quadrant II organizing. Its about translating your mission, roles and goals into your plans for the upcoming week and then reviewing that week in order to learn from it.
I found section two very helpful from a technical standpoint but the most interesting part of the book is chapter 3, "To Live, to Love, to Learn, to Leave a Legacy". It is here that Covey and company give us their conception of human nature and the good life. To live refers to our physical needs which are for health and wealth; to love refers to our social needs which are to be in healthy relationships; to learn refers to our mental needs to learn, develop our capacities and grow; and to leave a legacy refers to our need to be a part of something bigger than ourselves and to make a contribution. In my opinion, this is a pretty good outline of the basic categories of human need. They then list the four human endowments (self awareness, conscience, independent will, creative imagination) which we need to use in order to satisfy our needs.
But I do have some reservations about this book. First, there is just not enough material here for the approximately 350 pages they spend. I only read about 225 pages, skipping around, because I didn't feel like anything new or interesting was being said. Second, I agree with the review of Peter Hupalo about all the copyrighted drawings....
I am glad I read this book because it is a useful meditation on what it means to put first things first, what those first things are and how to implement this. But I couldn't read the whole thing and all the copyrights and "generation four" talk is annoying. I do recommend this book.
---- Greg Feirman gfire77@yahoo.com
Book Review: The best book on time management I have ever read.
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Time management is good. Organizing your goals is good. But all of these things are only good if your goals are actually valid ones. If you spend all your time creating to-do lists, and carefully plotting out weekly goals ... but your goal is to get a "bigger fur coat" while your children are starving and you're miserable at work, something is out of sync. This book is all about making sure that what you do is what you REALLY want to do. It's about a higher level of time management.
By the way, I read a few Rags to Riches novels by Horatio Alger and though there's no emphasis specifically on time management, it is evident how unconsciously time is managed by entrepreneur minds to reach certain goals in life. These may inspire you and help you visualize how things could go right for you as long as you keep yourself loyal to your set of values and keep goals clear. They inspired me so I hope they do the same for you:
Adrift in New York: Tom and Florence Braving the World
Bound to Rise: A Classic Rags to Riches Story!
The Cash Boy: A Classic Rags to Riches Story!
Cast Upon the Breakers: A Classic Rags to Riches Story!
Chester Rand: The New Path to Fortune
Book Review: Highly recommend this book. Time is money!
Summary: 5 Stars
I highly recommend this book for anyone who is feeling overwhelmed by little things, frustrated with traditional time management, and in need of some tools to bring clearer focus to their life and their goals.
Rather than offering you another clock, First Things First provides you with a compass. While other programs teach you harder, faster, and smarter First Things First teaches you direction and priorities because where you are heading is more important than how fast you are going.
This is the best book on time management I have ever read.. It takes the "Habits" principles--sometimes a bit too abstract and shows you how to put them to work. Excellence is not required by their success formula. You are guided in choosing how driven you want to be by your priorities, and you'll know what (or who) is suffering when you decide to read junk mail.
I started to look for Rags to Riches stories for inspiration and motivation and I bumped into Horatio Alger novels. In many of these stories you can see how ordinary people apply time management, most times unconsciously, to achieve amazing things. Enjoy:
Do and Dare: A Brave Boy's Fight for Fortune
Driven from Home: Carl Crawford's Experience
The Errand Boy: A Classic Rags to Riches Story!
Fame and Fortune: A Classic Rags to Riches Story!
Frank and Fearless: The Fortunes of Jasper Kent
Book Review: Not big on self-help books....
Summary: 4 Stars
Covey's "First Things First", was required prerequisite text for a class. At first I balked at the idea of someone telling me how to organize and structure my time and life. Pushing my preconceived notions aside I tackled the reading with an open mind, since I was about to start academic studies again. I found much of the book to be blatant common sense, which seems to be a precious commodity today. As it turns out the book was very helpful. It put words to my present thoughts and allowed me to align myself with what the book calls "a true North principle". In all if you are a person who needs some structure or guidance or is lost in the day to day shuffle; I would definitely recommend this book. One word of advice is that you whole heartily read it. It can become very deep with intangible philosophies and at times trying with repetitive words (you will become quite familiar with the word synergy), but press on past it and you will be able to gain a better understanding of why you wake in the morning.
A side note to that; Covey, in my opinion, is a devout follower of LDS. The religion I have had some conflicts with. Not withstanding the book does not feed their doctrine down your throat, directly. Alhough some of the LDS religious undertones, albeit the good ones, are made slightly evident throughout the book. Despite my dislike of their doctrine, I will be the first to admit that of the world's religions the LDS seem to have a better grasp of family and community structure than most. In that regard, we could all stand to be a little more influenced by the shirt-and-tie guys. Oh, and the book makes some efforts to sell some other Covey self help tools, which again if you are lost in the woods may be of some help although a poor marketing tool for the needy.
Book Review: Focus on important, not just urgent things
Summary: 4 Stars
Most time-management schemes fail because they don't address basic principles. But this is a rich, moving, and powerful book for anyone who is open to its message. The authors have identified a clear path to a way of life that enriches the person, the people around, and the world at large. For principle-centered living, it is critical to focus on activities that are important, and not just urgent. We must learn to live by the compass of principles instead of focusing on the clock. We must also have the humility to understand that importance is defined by principles that are larger than our values. Don't focus on urgent activities. Focus instead on important things - first things. Set principle-based goals. Try to do the right thing, for the right reason, in the right way. Focus on working with others to create win-win situations.
Utilizing a 6 step program, this book examines the steps needed to keep First Things First:
Connect with your mission: What do you want to be and do? What gives life meaning?
Identify your roles: What responsibilities and expectation come from roles at home and at work?
Select your goals: For each role, establish what items are the most important and that will result in the most constructive impact.
Create a weekly framework: Plan your week by placing the most important things for each role in your schedule.
Exercise integrity in the moment: Preview, prioritize, and distinguish time-sensitive activities from others. This will ensure you maintain your perspective and use that perspective to make the tough choices that will arise from daily challenges.
Evaluate: The process is only working if you review your week and form the foundation for the next week.