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: Can you say paradigmfifty zillion times!
Summary: 3 Stars
When I read this book, the movie, Princess Bride, came to mind. In it, Vizzini, one of the characters in that movie, uses the word "inconceivable" repeatedly. Eventually, another character in the movie, challenges him by saying: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." Such is the book, First Things First, but the word here is "paradigm."This is not an easy book to read; in fact, it could possibly induce a mild coma in the careless reader. At the least, it should come with a warning about operating heavy machinery afterwards. The difficult style is a result of having three authors. There are places in the book which begin "Stephen:" or "Roger:" or "Rebecca:" Other sections of the book bear no such introduction, insinuating the three are speaking in chorus; and then, there are passages which appear to have been authored by various acquaintances of theirs. This disorienting method of writing severely detracts from the already fragile quality of information in the book. If you are writing a book and need two people to help you write it, you need to either change subjects or find a different partner.
The book is not completely lacking value though. Chapters, Four through Eight, offer a decent time management system for those individuals who need to start somewhere; and Appendix A is an excellent resource for drafting a personal mission statement. Otherwise, the core information is hopelessly out of date by twenty-five years. The authors might be shocked to learn some of us are already using "sixth-generation paradigms" and are looking for something better. Really! Besides, if you are busy counting paradigms, you do not need to read a time management book much less write one.
Book Review: An unexpected life-changer
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to get a couple of things out of the way right now to make you understand why this book has been so important to me (and could be to you as well). First, I am definitely someone who shuns most self-help tomes--I think most of them are crutches for weak people too lazy to get their acts together or too clueless to embrace a little common sense. Second, my prior experiences with the Covey cult were less than satisfying, as I had a boss (now departed) who talked the Covey talk but did not (I now see) truly walk the walk. This book differs from the _7 Habits_ texts in that it really deals with taking the general Covey concepts ("principle-centered living") and giving them a practical sheen--in this case by applying them to time management. Learning to divide my activities between "urgent" and "important," planning my life around certain "roles" that I have to fill, and composing a "mission statement" (a much more realistic and helpful version of year 2000 New Year's resolutions for me)--these were the concepts that have really helped me organize my life as efficiently as possible (and I was already pretty organized). I highly recommend buying the book and then following up by getting a Franklin Covey planner, where you can take the lessons from the book and start building your time and life around them. I have loaned the book to several friends and students (I teach high school) and all of them have benefitted from it in some way or another. Buying _First Things First_ will be one of the best things you can do for yourself.And I can't believe I just wrote a positive review of a self-help book. Trust me on how helpful this book can be.
Book Review: Changing the way you live your life...
Summary: 4 Stars
When I began reading this book, I was only reading it because it was required for a business class I am taking. I was skeptical about what Covey was saying because I felt my life was fine the way it was. The book got a little deep at times and I really needed to concentrate to get through it and understand it but when I did, I began to rethink all of the things I do in my life. Covey talks about "The Farming Principle." He tells you about a farmer that needs to plant the seeds and cultivate the land over a period of time to get the best results and reap the full benefits. He said that you can't do all of that in a day or a week and expect to really be successful. This was the point of the book that changed the way I think about things in my life. I live my life through cramming everyone that is urgent in and as long as I got it done at the end of the day, no matter what I had to put aside to accomplish it, I was a success. This is the wrong way to think because you really feel an emptiness inside for the things you missed while doing the other things. Covey shows us ways to look inside of yourselves and determine what our priorities are. Once you sort out all of the roles you play and decide what is most important, Covey shows you how to work all of it together so you finish your day feeling whole and fulfilled. Although I haven't completely implemented everything that Covey mentioned in the book, the seed has been planted and little by little, I am working on changing my life. This isn't something that happens over night but Covey gives you the steps and the encouragement to work on bettering the way you live your life to achieve true success.Book Review: Urgent and important
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: DON'T GET STALLED ON THE URGENT, WORK ON THE IMPORTANT!
Summary: 5 Stars
I agree and embrace Dr. Covey's human needs: to live, love, learn and leave a legacy. The beauty of "First Things First" is that we learn how to live our lives to fulfill these needs. This time management book focuses on the person rather than the problem. The ideas are simple, but I find it necessary to remind myself every day to question the importance and urgency of what I am about to do. Too often we let things which are urgent prevent us from doing the important. And usually, the urgent isn't truly important. It "stalls" long term progress by diverting our attention. The examples of how to make these decisions are very helpful, stressing quality, working on what we are passionate about and what is important. There is a section in "The 2,000 Percent Solution", by Mitchell, Coles and Metz, that presents an Eight-Step Process to identify what is most important in business (a parallel to what is important personally). The steps include learning the importance of measurement, deciding what is important to measure, identifying future best practices and implementing actions to get there, identifying ideal best practices and approaching them, and matching the right people and right motivations with the task (so there is passion), and lastly, repeating the process for more new ways to improve. "First Things First" does for the individual what "The 2,000 Percent Solution" does for business. I recommend you read both books and read them again and again.