1st slide

- putting first things first means doing to the most important things in life. It means being clear
about your priorities and acting on them
-They neglect the larger life priorities until it becomes too late to act on them. To become a
master of your time, you need to first be aware of your priorities in the larger context of your life.
- shifts the idea of time management into priority management
- This means you are spending time doing things that will help you reach your goals rather than
always doing things because of impending deadlines
- Hence, people are constantly living deadline by deadline
- This is all about self-management, not just in terms of managing our time, but more importantly
about fixing and following our priorities. It is about turning our vision into reality, slowly but
surely.
- Habit 3 is about life management as wellyour purpose, values, roles, and priorities. What are
first things? First things are those things you, personally, find of most worth. If you put first
things first, you are organizing and managing time and events according to the personal
priorities you established in Habit 2.

2nd slide
-Habit 1 says, Youre in charge. Youre the creator. Being proactive is about choice. Habit 2 is
the first, or mental, creation. Beginning with the End in Mind is about vision. Habit 3 is the
second creation, the physical creation. This habit is where Habits 1 and 2 come together. It
happens day in and day out, moment-by-moment. It deals with many of the questions addressed
in the field of time management
-Habit 3 is the personal fruit, the practical fulfillment of Habits 1 and 2.
-Habit 1 says, "You're the creator. You are in charge." It's based on the four unique human
endowments of imagination, conscience, independent will, and particularly, self-awareness. It
empowers you to say, "That's an unhealthy program I've been given from my childhood, from my
social
mirror. I don't like that ineffective script. I can change."
Habit 2 is the first or mental creation. It's based on imagination -- the ability to envision, to see
the
potential, to create with our minds what we cannot at present see without eyes; and conscience
-- the
ability to detect our own uniqueness and the personal, moral, and ethical guidelines within which
we
can most happily fulfill it. It's the deep contact with our basic paradigms and values and the
vision of
what we can become.
Habit 3, then, is the second creation -- the physical creation. It's the fulfillment, the actualization,
the natural emergence of Habits 1 and 2. It's the exercise of independent will toward becoming
principle-centered. It's the day-in, day-out, moment-by-moment doing it.
- Habits 1 and 2 are absolutely essential and prerequisite to Habit 3. You can't become
principle-centered without first being aware of and developing your own proactive nature. You
can't
become principle-centered without first being aware of your paradigms and understanding how
to shift
them and align them with principles. You can't become principle-centered without a vision of and
a
focus on the unique contribution that is yours to make.
But with that foundation, you can become principle-centered, day-in and day-out,
moment-by-moment, by living Habit 3 -- by practicing effective self-management

3rd slide
-fourth human endowment --independent will -- that really makes effective self-management
possible.
The degree to which we have developed our independent will in our everyday lives is measured
by
our personal integrity. Integrity is, fundamentally, the value we place on ourselves. It's our ability
to
make and keep commitments to ourselves, to "walk our talk." It's honor with self, a fundamental
part of the character ethic, the essence of proactive growth.
Effective management is putting first things first. While leadership decides what "first things"
are, it is management that puts them first, day-by-day, moment-by-moment. Management is
discipline,
carrying it out.
-Discipline derives from disciple -- disciple to a philosophy, disciple to a set of principles, disciple
to
a set of values, disciple to an overriding purpose, to a superordinate goal or a person who
represents
that goal. In other words, if you are an effective manager of your self, your discipline comes from
within; it is a
function of your independent will. You are a disciple, a follower, of your own deep values and
their
source. And you have the will, the integrity, to subordinate your feelings, your impulses, your
moods
to those values.
4th slide
- The first generation of system is about reminders of our tasks through notes and to-do lists.
While these are generally helpful, there are two downsides. Firstly, commitments may not be
kept, because people do tasks as they appear as on the list or according to whatever may seem
important at the time. Secondly, there is a lack of long-term vision. Using lists do not enable us
to look ahead or get to the truly important tasks.

- The second generation improves on that. It is about planning and preparation looking
ahead, identifying deadlines and scheduling future events accordingly. Tools used include
calendars and appointment books. With this system, we now have personal accountability since
our tasks are tied to a certain deadline. We can also be more organized and prepared, such as for
meetings and appointments.
However, the downside is we become fixated on what is in the calendar. In our focus to complete
our tasks, we may tune out distractions, such as a call from friends or general family time, even
though we may genuinely value people and relationships!

-The third generation addresses that, somewhat. It is about Prioritizing, planning and
controlling including clarifying of values and goal setting based on those values. Daily tasks
are subsequently planned in accordance with these goals. Examples include personal organizer
and electronic or paper-based planners.
Most of us use this system today. When I was studying in business school, most people were
operating by this system. Everyones common goal was to have a successful career in a
reputable company; Subsequently our daily tasks revolved around getting good grades, project
work, studying, etc.
However, the system does not factor in deeper values such as relationships, spirituality, inner
peace which are more important in the bigger picture. While people become highly successful in
goal achievement with third generation, they eventually reach a point where there is a conflict
between their goals and what gives them deeper meanings. An example would be overachieving
corporates who feel a sense of emptiness despite a successful career.

-The fourth generation system addresses this gap It focuses us on developing deeper value
tasks and accomplishing results. This is done via using Coveys framework to first classify our
daily activities, then dealing with them in a certain way based on which quadrant they fall in.

5th slide
-Quadrant 1: Quadrant of Necessity
You will find your crises or emergencies listed here. This quadrant screams for our attention
because of its urgent and consequential nature. However, many people fall into the trap of
getting caught up in Q-1. By spending all our time here, we become consumed with firefighting
every day instead of crisis prevention. Side effects include stress, burn-out, constant firefighting
and resolving problems instead of preventing them in the first place. We often see working level
employees, advertising executives, accountants, etc getting consumed by this quadrant.
-Quadrant 3: Quadrant of Deception
Some people spend a lot of time dealing with Q-3 tasks and confusing them with Q-1 tasks. They
think the tasks are important when it is otherwise. For example, you may be spending a lot of
time on a certain report which does not have any implication in your overall job performance or
appraisal. Or you may be constantly attending meetings which have no value-add. This is why Q-
3 is called the Quadrant of Deception. Many times, the urgency of these tasks are due to others
priorities or needs.
A good way to differentiate Q-3 from Q-1 task is to ask yourself: Is this task related to my goals?
Does doing this make any difference to me? Focusing on Q-3 results in short-term vision and
myopia, being out of control in life and not being able to stick through with your own goals and
plans.

-Quadrant 4: Quadrant of Waste

This is called the Quadrant of Waste, and for good reason it contains all your time wasters.
People living unconsciously have a tendency to hover around primarily Q-3 and Q-4. After
resolving Q-3 tasks, they fall into auto-pilot mode and spend time doing Q-4 tasks. This can be
because they have nothing better to do or they are procrastinating on things they should be
doing. This quadrant puts no value in our lives whatsoever. Focusing on Q-4 results in
irresponsible behaviour and dependency on other people.

-Quadrant 2: Quadrant of Quality and Personal Leadership

Q-2 is magic quadrant we need to focus on It is the most important, yet most often neglected.
Q-2 is all about having personal leadership and focusing on the important tasks that matter. Q-2
tasks should reflect your life goals and desires, which are laddered down from your life purpose.
To correctly define them, you need to be clear on your life purpose first so if you have not
discovered your life purpose, please read my 7-part series on Discovering Your Purpose!
There are two reasons why Q-2 tasks are often neglected. Firstly, Q-2 tasks never become urgent
until it is too late. For example, taking care of your health or pursuing your dreams. Secondly,
compared to other quadrants, these tasks require more investment of energy and time for
results, which conflicts with societys obsession with instant results nowadays.
However, Q-2 tasks also reap the most reward in the long run. Think about it as sowing seeds for
harvest in the future. Imagine you are a lawyer whose dream career is to be a literature teacher
(Q-2 task). While working as a lawyer, you may start studying for a degree in literature. You may
also take up teaching courses. While these will take a few years till completion, you have planted
the seed. You know it is only a matter of time before you will enjoy the harvest being a full-
fledged teacher. Another example would be relationships. You may desire to get into a rewarding,
long-term relationship (a Q-2 task). Acting on the Q-2 task means starting the conscious search
for your prospective partner now. Even though it may take you a while before you find someone
you desire, you will be able to experience benefits earlier than if you procrastinate on it.
After you plant your seeds, you will need to continuously put in time and effort to manage your
plants. However, it is simply a matter of time before you can reap the rewards of your labor. On
the other hand, if you keep on putting off these Q-2 tasks, the status quo will remain the same,
whether 5, 10, 20 years from now. Focusing on Q-2 will result in vision, perspective, balance and
control.
To become effective, you need to consciously alter your behaviour to the following key principles:
Q-1 Tasks: Manage immediately to get them out of the way. Spend the required effort needed
such that they do not blow out of portion
Q-2 Tasks: Focus disproportionately due to the high payoff from the investment.
Q-3 Tasks: Delegate to other people due to their urgent nature, but get minimally involved in
them as they are not important
Q-4 Tasks: Dump them as they are neither important nor urgent