Habit 3 Put the First Things First

Habit 3 Put the First Things First

The Habit of Integrity and Execution

Habit 3 is part of our private victory as we move from dependence to independence. Habit 3 is the habit of action and honesty. Once we recognize that we have the freedom to choose (Habit 1) and where we want to go and what to do (Habit 2), we are able to take action (Habit 3)!

To Put First Things First means that we put our plans into action.

. A Mediocre Manager has the Paradigm: I can do it all---bring it on.

. An Effective Manager has the Paradigm: I organize and act on my highest priorities.

Focus on Top Priorities

The most effective Managers focus on what is important. This is not an easy task because often time we let urgent things get in our way. Many times we want to see instant results and do not realize that many times this is only a quick fix to our problem.

Quadrants I. Important & Urgent

. Wildly important goals

. Important guest calls

. Major deadlines

. Last-minute assignments from your supervisor

. Pressing problems

. Crisis

Quadrants II. Important but Not Urgent

. Wildly important goals

. Planning

. Continuous Improvement

. Professional development

. Coaching and mentoring

. Win-win performance agreements

Quadrants III. Urgent but Not Important

. Too many objectives

. Unimportant meetings.

. Meaningless reports

. Needless interruptions

. Low-priority email

. Other people’s minor issues

Quadrants IV. Not Urgent & Not Important

. Workplace gossip

. Busywork

. Aimless Internet surfing

. Time-wasters

. Irrelevant phone calls

Eliminate the Unimportant

We should eliminate all QIII and QIV activities and then balance our time between QI and QII, with an emphasis on QII.

FOCUS ON THE IMPORTANT!

To be an effective Manager, you must plan your activities for each day, week, month, etc. Without planning, your focus switches to QII and QIV activities and you become less productive.

My Big Rocks

1. What are the big rocks in your life?

2. How do these big rocks impact your life?

3. What can you do to make sure you focus on the big rocks everyday?

We can see how important it is to determine the big rocks in our lives and how we need to plan each day to help us balance QI and QII activities. In the end, we are the ones who must put all this in to action and make the commitment to follow through. When we live Habit 3, we put in to action creativeness and our vision for the future.

Living Habit 3

The best way to live Habit 3 is to practice today’s learning.

1.    Plan our a week based on your preference of planning (outlook, notebook, etc.) using big rocks, little rocks, roles, etc.

2.    Research a new planning tool or perfect what you currently use.

3.     ENSURE THAT YOUR PRIORITIES (WHAT IS IMPORTANT) ALL TIE BACK TO MAKING YOUR CONTRIBUTION STATEMENT A REALITY!