BECOMING HIGHLY EFFECTIVE ATTENDING TO FIRST THINGS FIRST

PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST It is termed as ONE of the SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE by Mr.STEPHEN R.COVEY The habit is “PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST” It means EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT

PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST In an essay “THE COMMON DENOMINATOR OF SUCCESS”, Mr. E.M.GRAY searches for one common quality among all successful people and found that it is EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT than the hardwork, human relations or good luck. PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST means ORGANIZE AND EXECUTE AROUND PRIORITIES.

ATTENDING TO FIRST THINGS FIRST The two factors that define an activity are URGENT and IMPORTANT. URGENT means it requires immediate attention. Urgent things act on us.They insist on action. IMPORTANT means it relates to our mission, high priority goals.

ATTENDING TO FIRST THINGS FIRST TIME MANAGEMENT MATRIX URGENTNOT URGENT IMPORTANT (QUADRANT I) Crises Pressing problems Deadline driven projects (QUADRANT II) Prevention, Planning, Recognizing new opportunities Recreation NOT IMPORTANT (QUADRANT III) Interruptions, Some calls, Some reports, Some meetings (QUADRANT IV) Some mail, Some phone calls, Time wasters, Pleasant activities.

ATTENDING TO FIRST THINGS FIRST Some people are really beaten up by problems all day every day. In their matrix, 90% of their time is in Quad I and most of the remaining 10% in Quad IV. Some people spend more time in Quad III, thinking that they are in Quad I. Now, think about your spending of time? Which quadrant, you think, the highly effective people will concentrate?

ATTENDING TO FIRST THINGS FIRST PEOPLE WHO SPEND TIME EXCLUSIVELY IN QUAD III AND QUAD IV LEAD IRRESPONSIBLE LIVES. EFFECTIVE PEOPLE WILL STAY OUT OF QUAD III & IV CONCENTRATE ON QUAD II SO THAT ACTIVITIES UNDER QUAD I IS MINIMISED.

ATTENDING TO FIRST THINGS FIRST Quadrant II is the heart of effective personal management – the “first things” we need to put first – as it deals with things like - Building relationships - Writing a personal mission statement - Long-range planning - Preventive maintenance - Preparation.

ATTENDING TO FIRST THINGS FIRST EVEN THOUGH EFFECTIVE PEOPLE HAVE QUAD I CRISES AND EMERGENCIES THAT REQUIRE IMMEDIATE ATTENTION, THEIR NUMBER IS SMALL. But, we seldom do Quad II just because they are not URGENT.

Advantages of quad ii IF WE CULTIVATE THE PROACTIVITY TO GO FOR THE ACTIVITIES IN QUAD II, WE WOULD FIND - Our effectiveness would increase dramatically. - Our crises and problems would shrink to manageable proportions because -we would be thinking ahead -we would be doing things that keep situations from developing into crises in the first place. (In time management jargon, this is called the PARETO PRINCIPLE => 80% of the results flow out of 20% of the activities)

Find timings for quad ii  The only place to get time for Quad II in the beginning, is from Quad III & IV. How? To say “yes” to important Quad II priorities, you have to learn to say “no” to other activities, sometimes apparently urgent things. = It is almost impossible to say “no” to the popularity of Quad III or to the pleasure of escape to Quad IV if you don’t have a bigger “YES” burning inside. = Only when you have the self-awareness to examine your program to which you can say “YES”, then will you have sufficient will power to say “NO” with a genuine smile, to the unimportant. = Effectively delegating to other skilled and trained people

Attending to first things first How to organize Quad II activities? =Identify roles =Selecting Goals =Scheduling =Daily adapting.  BY ADOPTING TIME MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES, WE CAN EASILY BECOME EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGER AND THUS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PERSON.