Habit 3: Put First Things First

Introduction

Habit 3 of Stephen R. Covey’s ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" is "Put First Things First". The first habit is to work proactively and accept responsibility for our own lives. The second habit was "Begin with the End in Mind" which was more about our direction i.e., where we are heading. Now we will explain “habit 3: put first things first” which is more about personal management. Our independent willpower guides us to take important decisions and once we take our own responsibility then our personal management becomes liberating. Our confidence increase as we observe that we are working on our own plan rather than acting upon someone else’s plan.
Putting first things first is a method of choosing high-priority tasks first and smartly overlooking time-wasting unnecessary activities. 

Managing Ourselves, Not Our Time

Do you know what successful people do not like? Just like unsuccessful people, they also hate to work for long hours on their goals but they still do it. This approach of doing things even if they don’t like is a difference-maker. But unsuccessful people search for multiple reasons of not doing things and procrastinate.
We are trained to manage our time with check sheets, notebooks, and calendars but these are just some tools to increase productivity. Focusing too much on things can make a shortfall of time but if we focus on relationships then we can become efficient people.

Eisenhower Box or Urgent Important Matrix

This is also known as the four quadrants of time management. It was made popular by the Ex-US president Eisenhower and hence it is called Eisenhower Box or urgent important matrix. Stephen Covey later reintroduced this matrix in his book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". This urgent important matrix focuses upon two very important factors i.e., importance and urgency, and criticality of any activity can be gauged with the help of these factors. Urgency depicts the immediate attention required for the activity and importance define resonance with the personal mission. Everything on our To-do list can be categorized under one of the quadrants of the Eisenhower box or Urgent Important Matrix. Let us understand The Four Quadrants of the Urgent Important Matrix

Quadrant 1: The Quadrant of Necessity
This quadrant represents those activities that are necessary for us to focus on because these activities are urgent and important for us. We cannot ignore these activities at any cost because the pendency of these activities can make big trouble for us. If there are multiple Q1 activities pending in your life then we are often must be saying, "I have to" or "Wait I am doing this" i.e., a victim language. Many people postpone their works until it becomes urgent and important. Read another important article to prevent procrastination.
Quadrant 2: The Quadrant of Quality
These activities are very important for us but as these are not urgent hence we used to put these on the back burner. We think that these activities will be done when I'll get some time and that spare time never comes. Proactive people focus on these activities and become successful. The more time we spend on Q2 activities, the more value we add to our life. Many people waste too much time procrastinating on Q2 activities that these activities become Q1 activities and then we start running around with the fire brigade. Start now and execute Q2 activities to bring more quality to your life.

Quadrant 3: The Quadrant of Deception
These are those activities that are urgent but not important. This quadrant is also known as the quadrant of deception because we get deceived while prioritizing these activities. These activities are not important but as these are urgent hence we start completing them on priority. For example, an incoming call or SMS ping can be felt like an urgent activity but it may be or may not be an important activity. Similarly Facebook pings, email notifications can also be seen as urgent but these can be postponed at our own will. 

Watch this inspirational video on Mahabharata:

Quadrant 4: The Quadrant of Waste
These activities are also called escape activities as people take support of these activities to release their stress. These activities are not important and also not urgent. These are considered wasteful activities. Many people watch multiple web series to release their office-related stress. 

Summary

Ask yourself, "what are those things that if you did on a regular basis would make a tremendous difference in your personal life ?" Just follow those things with the help of Urgent Important Matrix and you will observe that you are putting first things first.