First Things First

Abridged
Author: Stephen R. Covey
Narrator: Stephen R. Covey
Genres: Business, Self-help, Health, Body & Mind
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date: October 2007
Length: 1 hour
Ratings:
  • Book Rating: 3.5/5
Formats:
  • CD
  • WMA

Overview

First Things First is a revolutionary guide to managing your time by learning how to balance your life. Traditional time management suggests that working harder, smarter, and faster will help you gain control over your life, and that increased control will bring peace and fulfillment. But in the first real breakthrough in time management in years, the authors of First Things First apply the insights of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to our daily problems of struggling with the ever-increasing demands of work and home life.

Rather than focusing on time and things, First Things First emphasizes relationships and results. And instead of efficiency, this new approach emphasizes effectiveness. It tells us:

* Why we feel a gap between how we spend our time and what's deeply important to us
* How focusing on efficiency and control increases the gap instead of closing it
* How to determine if what you're doing is really important -- or only urgent
* How to overcome the tremendous gravity of habit
* How to put people ahead of schedules
* How to lead your life, not just manage your time

Offering a principle-centered approach and the wisdom and insight that made The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People a #1 bestseller, First Things First empowers listeners to define what is truly important; to accomplish worthwhile goals; and to lead rich, rewarding, and balanced lives.

Reviews (4)

Simple and to the point

Written by Russell Smith on August 17th, 2007

  • Book Rating: 5/5

I really enjoyed the CD, listened to it twice. I was disappointed at first that it was only 1 CD, thinking I had gotten too much of an abridged version. But it turned out to have all the great information, with none of the superfluous stuff, so i really enjoyed it. I've listened to Covey before, and I must say that this title encompassed all of his great ideas into one 1 hour + CD. I give him kudos for getting such great ideas and information, condensed into a simple listen that doesn't take too long to finish, and can be listened to over and over easily.

First Things Frist

Written by br67tb on March 10th, 2007

  • Book Rating: 1/5

The CD's were scratched. Needless to say I returned it without listening to the whole book.

First Things First

Written by Anonymous on December 21st, 2005

  • Book Rating: 2/5

Already in his previous books. If you've listened to 7 habits and 8th habit, you don't need this.

Boring - nothing new

Written by Oh Books on February 2nd, 2005

  • Book Rating: 2/5

Mr. Covey is a boring reader. Although the content is interesting and thought provoking, most of it I have heard before.

Author Details

Author Details

Covey, Stephen R.

"Stephen R. Covey is founder and chairman of the Covey Leadership Center, a 200-plus member international firm whose mission is to empower people and organizations to significantly increase their performance capability in order to achieve worthwhile purposes through understanding and living principle-centered leadership. He is also founder of The Institute for Principle Centered Leadership, a non-profit research group dedicated to transforming education and improving the quality of community life.

Dr. Covey has taught leadership principles and management skills for more than 25 years to leaders in business, government, and education. His consulting portfolio contains more than 150 of the Fortune 500 companies, as well as thousands of mid-sized and smaller organizations.

Recent awards include the first Thomas More College Medallion for continued service to humanity (1990), the Utah Symphony 50th Anniversary Award for outstanding national and international contributions (1990), and the McFeely Award from the International Management Council for significant contributions to management and education (1991).

His work in principle-centered leadership has been adopted by thousands of organizations as a foundational inside-out approach to improving quality, leadership, innovation, trust, teamwork, customer-focused service, organizational alignment, and many other strategic corporate initiatives. This approach to building and sustaining high trust cultures ultimately focuses on the relationship between all four levels of organizations?personal, interpersonal, managerial, and organizational.

Covey's work as an author, keynote speaker, teacher, consultant, television and radio guest, and executive mentor has created international interest in applying principle-centered leadership to many personal, organizational, and societal issues.

Dr. Covey is the author of several books and numerous articles on leadership, personal and organizational effectiveness, and family and interpersonal relationships. His book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, was number one on the New York Times Bestseller List with more than 1.5 million copies sold. The book is being published in over 20 countries and in a dozen languages, including Japanese, German, French, Chinese and Spanish. His latest book is Principle-Centered Leadership. His leadership advisory magazine, Executive Excellence, is in its eighth year of publication.

Stephen Covey received an MBA from Harvard and a doctorate from Brigham Young University, where he was Professor of Organizational Behavior and Business Management. He has served as an officer and board member of several organizations. "