Become Highly Effective: Habit 3

What We’re Reading

By Stephanie Wharton

The third habit in Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, builds on the first two, and is the last one designed to bring people from dependence to independence. The first habit is about recognizing the need to be proactive and taking action to make things happen. The second habit encourages us to begin with the end in mind by establishing a personal mission statement to provide the context for our daily actions. Next, Covey adds the action step, which is to put first things first.

Habit #3: Put First Things First

This third habit can only be accomplished when habit one and two are in place. We can only properly organize and arrange our time when we have identified our core values and recognized our ability to take action. Covey focuses this chapter on his time management matrix and how to move into the second of the four quadrants. Here is what the matrix looks like:

Urgent activities demand our attention, are visible, and require action, but can often lack importance. Important activities are focused on the results we strive to achieve by supporting our vision and mission we set in habit two. Quadrant two activities are at the heart of effective self-management.

How do we move out of constantly resolving crises to actually preventing them through quadrant two activities? Covey encourages us to ask ourselves, “If you were to fault yourself in one of three areas, would it be: the inability to prioritize, the inability or desire to organize around those priorities, or the lack of discipline to execute around them?” The key is to look at the week as a whole and work on weekly planning rather than daily planning. Learn to say “no,” establish boundaries, and act on the priorities you have taken the time to create. I’ll leave you with my favorite quote from this chapter: “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”