Personal Effectiveness: First Things First

1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
A report by Gloria Alvarez, Dustin Lai, Cesar Loncomilla, Crystal Chen

2. About The Book
 AUTHOR: Stephen R. Covey
 PUBLISHER: Franklin Covey CO.
 COPYRIGHT DATE: 1994
“How fast you go is not as important as where you are going.”
In this book, Stephen Covey describes setting priorities as the most important
aspect of successful(personal) improvement.

3. FOUR SECTIONS
 Section one: The Clock And The Compass
 Section Two: The Main Thing Is To Keep The Main Thing The
Main Thing
 Section Three: The Synergy Of Interdependence
 Section Four: The Power And Peace Of Principle-centered
Living

4. Section One: The Clock and the Compass
1.) There exist a gap between what’s deeply important to us and the way we spend our
time. Many try to close the gap by the traditional time management which have shown to
fail.
a.) Our struggle to put first things first can be characterized by contrast between two
powerful tools that direct us: the clock and the compass. The clock represents our
commitments, appointments, schedules, goals activities and how we manage our time. The
compass represents our visions , values, principles, mission, conscience, direction and how
it leads our lives.(pg19)
b.) In an effort to try to close the gap between the clock and the compass we turn to the
field of time management.

5. Section One: The Clock and the Compass
2.) The attributes of older generations creates the urgency addiction that diminishes our
fulfillment. The fourth generation captures all the strengths of the previous generations and
negates the weaknesses.
a.) The 1st fundamental idea is our four human needs that consists of our physical, mental,
social, and spiritual needs.
b.) The 2nd fundamental idea is the “True north” principles that comprise of our individual
realities, outside of our control, that govern our lives and leads towards quality life.
c.) The 3rd fundamental is our four human endowments which are self-awareness, conscience,
independent will and creative.

6. Section Two: The Main Thing is To Keep the Main Thing the Main
Thing
1.) The process of putting first things first by bringing out our vision and balancing our
roles, we can achieve a more quality life.
a.) Create a daily plan, during the process consider your vision and mission, identify four
roles select quadrant II goals in each role.
b.) At the end of your week consider ion asking yourself the following question which
will help to continue developing a better weekly plan.
c.) We all have an “inner vision” that fuels our passion that is based on our self-
awareness, conscience, independent will, and creative imagination.
d.) To balance the different aspects of our lives, we give ourselves “roles.”

7. Section Two: The Main Thing is To Keep the Main Thing the Main
Thing
2.) We have been told about the power of goals and what can we achieved in the
process and about the different points of view that we have about it. We also have to
take into account our own capacity to accomplish our own goals.
a.) Goal setting is very useful for us.
b.) Conscience and inner self, this is also fueled by our “true north” and our motivation
can be powered by asking ourselves what? Why? And how?
c.) Focus in the most effective way to solve our problems.
d.) Quality of life depends on the principle-centered choice.
e.) The repeated process of organizing, acting and evaluating helps us see the
consequences of four choices and actions more clearly.

8. Section Three: The Synergy of Interdependence
1.) Effective interdependence is core to the dilemma of time management.
a.) Interdependent nature of life affects the ability to work with people in every
dimension.
b.) Interdependence consist of four endowments which are self-awareness, understand
conscience, independent will, own creative imagination.
c.) Thus these endowments empowers to create and have strong and healthy
relationships.
2.) By learning to help others, we create a win-win scenario where everyone benefits.
3.) It would be ideal for all of us to live in empowered cultures but we don’t because we
face several obstacles.

9. Section Four: The Power and Peace of Principle-centered
Living
1.) We could now implement items from quadrant II and III in order to move from management to
leadership.
a.) You are creating events in which they are scheduled and finding opportunities in which you create
a system. While others see events as isolated events.
2.) Peace is essentially a function of putting first thing first.
a.) The people who follow the principles learned are more likely to accomplish their goals, they have
positive qualities and foster good relationships with their peers. These people know what is first and
what is not and they also know that they must be the change that we seek in the world.

10. THANKS FOR
LISTENING!