First Things First Summary
5 min read ⌚
MicroSummary: “First Things First”, a collaborative work by Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill and Rebecca R. Merrill, is a book about priorities. Its main idea is that with the correct time management techniques, you can easily move from a sense of chaos and urgency to a state of peace and constant productivity. And you’re only few weekly reviews and a simple change of mindset far from it!
Do you with your tasks? Do you wish you could find a way to live a calmer, and more productive life? Do you wish to unclutter your every day and sleep peacefully at night knowing you did everything you needed to do?
The summary of “First Things First” will give you a new look at what a balanced life means. It will provide you with the proper insight and motivation that you need to stop the desperate urge for pursuing timely bound matters: Start focusing on real stuff.
You like how this introduction sounds? Then continue reading, we are just warming up.
Who Should Read “First Things First”? and Why?
From time to time, we must abandon our old habits to open up space for new and modern ones. Wherever you live, you are aware of the fact that traditional views are created to impose one particular perspective on us – only hard work pays off. The path to success requires performing a multitasking and adherence to the deadlines.
This idea is wrong.
The new worldview that Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, and Rebecca R. Merrill portray refers to an entirely new system that emphasizes the importance of things rather than quantity of those matters. The authors of “First Things First” want to encourage everyone to change the way of perception, alluding mostly to young people who are still in the process of creating their true identity.
About Stephen R. Covey, A Roger Merrill and Rebecca R. Merrill
Stephen R. Covey was born in Salt Lake City- Utah on October 24, 1932. In 2012 the world had lost one of the greatest businessmen, philosophers, theorists, and speakers of the 20th century.
Stephan spent almost his entire life living and dwelling on US soil. He is best known for his PrinciplesCentered Living theories that Stephen R. Covey used to teach. He was also the vice-chairman of Franklin Covey Corporation and the author of several books including: “First Thing First” and “The 7 habits of highly effective people”.
A. Roger Merrill is among the leaders in time management and leadership development theories and studies. He obtained a degree in management and Roger is currently among the representatives of the Covey Leadership Center.
Rebecca Merrill assisted both A. Roger Merrill and Stephen R. Covey on different tasks, and she co-authored “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”.
“First Things First Summary”
Some time-management schemes fail because they don’t refer to fundamental norms.
Despite people’s conservative nature and aversion to change, this thrilling, entertaining and compelling book can become a life-changing experience for anyone open to its message.
For an author (or in these case authors) it’s vital to have specified a clear path to an advanced mindset that drives people and the world to a new prosperous future. If you guide yourself by a principle-centered living, it is vital that you place your focus on critical daily activities and not just the ones you consider to be urgent.
If you have developed good habits over the years, then learning and living under a compass of principles is going to be a piece of cake.
Now, you probably do what we all do – you focus on the time you spend working. Stop it right away!
Rather than focusing on time, your effort should be pointed at productivity. Nothing can be achieved without humility and humble approach. The real-life values are defined by your living principles that are much more meaningful than money.
Establish good habits if you haven’t developed them already and stop focusing on principal activities. Instead, place your focus on only the most essential activities – known as “First things.”
Always try to do the right thing, have a righteous cause composed of principle-based objectives. If you want to create win-win situations, all you need to do is to improve your communication skills.
Of course, not everyone will enjoy the advice in this book equally.
There are more than 200 countries in the world, thousands of different cultures and religions and not everyone is ready to start living a quiet, modest, and spiritual life. Some people appreciate finding beauty in simple things, and if you are such a person, this book can provoke an inner transformation and improvement.
We acquire knowledge from lots of different places- traditional management theories focus is placed on how-to-do methods and practices.
They prioritize specific tasks, strict deadlines, planning teams and procedures followed up with short-term and long-term objectives in mind that match company’s vision and mission.
Classic time-management approach indicates – if a person does a lot of things more efficiently at the same time, that individual would be able to control its life and find an inner harmony. Stephan R. Covey disagrees with this notion.
According to him, a person cannot directly control its entire life, so it is meaningless to resist the natural flow of happiness and spontaneity.
Key Lessons from “First Things First”
- Completely change your life, with the principle-centered living concept
- The principle is under constant improvement
- The main thing must always be your priority
Completely change your life; with the principle-centered living concept
Principle-centered living theory transforms our mindset from time management to individual leadership. Rather than just solving difficulties and looking for solutions, we need to build strong bonds and synergistic relationships. We will start seeing opportunities which we’ve missed with the previous behavior.
The principle-centered living concept would grant you an opportunity to reorganize your thoughts and the reduce thinking.
The principle is under constant improvement
In the earlier mentioned principle, we accept our uniqueness and the fact that we can function independently.
However, this kind of interdependence mustn’t be taken for granted under any circumstances.
Principle-centered planning has a transformative nature; it is not just a matter of delegating to different individuals or treating those persons separately. It changes everything; it brings unity, richness, communication, connectivity, spontaneity, and happiness into person’s life.
The main thing must always be your priority
We are aware that external factors and influences are subtly governing our lives. For example, good health and financial security must always come first. In relationships, we strive to earn respect from the other side and love.
Afterward, the next step would be to learn that principles prevail in every culture after we realize that we become more humble and happy.
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“First Things First” Quotes
Consequences are governed by principles, and behavior is governed by values, therefore, value principles! Click To Tweet It is that a meaningful life is not a matter of speed or efficiency. It’s much more a matter of what you do and why you do it, than how fast you get it done. Click To Tweet What we believe about ourselves and our purpose has a powerful impact on how we live, how we love, and what we learn. Click To Tweet Basing our happiness on our ability to control everything is futile. While we do control our choice of action, we cannot control the consequences of our choices. Click To Tweet Best way to predict your future is to create it. Click To Tweet
Our Critical Review
Just like every other thing, this book can have various impacts on different personalities. The writing style can be a little tricky to interpret, however, the message is profound and meaningful.
Emir is the Head of Marketing at 12min. In his spare time, he loves to meditate and play soccer.
