The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People ( 08 )

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Habit 3: Put First Things First TM -- Principles of Personal Managemen


Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least
-- Goeth


Habit 1 says, "You're the creator. You are in charge." It's based on the four unique human
endowments of imagination, conscience, independent will, and particularly, self-awareness. It
empowers you to say, "That's an unhealthy program I've been given from my childhood, from my social
mirror. I don't like that ineffective script. I can change."
Habit 2 is the first or mental creation. It's based on imagination -- the ability to envision, to see the
potential, to create with our minds what we cannot at present see without eyes; and conscience -- the
ability to detect our own uniqueness and the personal, moral, and ethical guidelines within which we
can most happily fulfill it. It's the deep contact with our basic paradigms and values and the vision of
what we can become.
Habit 3, then, is the second creation -- the physical creation. It's the fulfillment, the actualization,
the natural emergence of Habits 1 and 2. It's the exercise of independent will toward becoming
principle-centered. It's the day-in, day-out, moment-by-moment doing it.


You can't become principle-centered without a vision of and a
focus on the unique contribution that is yours to make.


Management, remember, is clearly different from leadership


The ability to manage well doesn't
make much difference if you're not even in the "right jungle."


Effective management is putting first things first. While leadership decides what "first things" are, it is management that puts them first, day-by-day, moment-by-moment. Management is discipline,
carrying it out.

In other words, if you are an effective manager of your self, your discipline comes from within; it is a
function of your independent will. You are a disciple, a follower, of your own deep values and their
source. And you have the will, the integrity, to subordinate your feelings, your impulses, your moods
to those values.

"The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don't like to do,"
"They don't like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of
their purpose."


It also requires independent
will, the power to do something when you don't want to do it, to be a function of your values rather
than a function of the impulse or desire of any given moment.


best thinking in the area of time management can be captured in a single phrase:
Organize and execute around priorities.

the concept of daily planning, of making a specific plan to
accomplish those goals and activities determined to be of greatest worth.

Quadrant II


the two factors that define an activity are urgent and important. Urgent means it
requires immediate attention. It's "Now!" Urgent things act on us.


Urgent matters are usually visible. They press on us; they insist on action. They're often popular
with others. They're usually right in front of us. And often they are pleasant, easy, fun to do. But so
often they are unimportant!
Importance, on the other hand, has to do with results. If something is important, it contributes to
your mission, your values, your high priority goals.


We react to urgent matters. Important matters that are not urgent require more initiative, more
proactivity. We must act to seize opportunity, to make things happen.


We react to urgent matters. Important matters that are not urgent require more initiative, more
proactivity. We must act to seize opportunity, to make things happen.


Some people are literally beaten up by the problems all day every day. The only relief they have is
in escaping to the not important, not urgent activities of Quadrant IV. So when you look at their total
matrix, 90 percent of their time is in Quadrant I and most of the remaining 10 percent is in Quadrant IV
with only negligible attention paid to Quadrants II and III. That's how people who manage their lives
by crisis live.
There are other people who spend a great deal of time in "urgent, but not important" Quadrant III,
thinking they're in Quadrant I.
People who spend time almost exclusively in Quadrants III and IV basically lead irresponsible lives.


Quadrant II. They are obviously important, deeply
important, but not urgent. And because they aren't urgent, you don't do them.

To paraphrase Peter Drucker, effective people are not problem-minded; they're opportunity-minded.



There are other people who spend a great deal of time in "urgent, but not important" Quadrant III,
thinking they're in Quadrant I. They spend most of their time reacting to things that are urgent,
assuming they are also important. But the reality is that the urgency of these matters is often based on
the priorities and expectations of others.


Effective people stay out of Quadrants III and IV because, urgent or not, they aren't important.
They also shrink Quadrant I down to size by spending more time in Quadrant II.



In the time management jargon, this is called the Pareto
Principle -- 80 percent of the results flow out of 20 percent of the activities.



What it Takes to Say "No"
The only place to get time for Quadrant II in the beginning is from Quadrants III and IV. You can't
ignore the urgent and important activities of Quadrant I, although it will shrink in size as you spend
more time with prevention and preparation in Quadrant II. But the initial time for Quadrant II has
come out of III and IV


You have to be proactive to work on Quadrant II because Quadrant I and III work on you.


you are always saying "no" to something. If it isn't to the apparent, urgent
things in your life, it is probably to the more fundamental, highly important things.