In life, we should put first things first.
We all have many tasks to do each day, and time seems to be insufficient. It would be great if there were more than 24 hours in a day. But since that’s not possible, an effective way to manage our time and our life to flow is to prioritize tasks and spend time on the most important things. This is an essential skill and comes from the concept of ‘Put First Things First’ or ‘Do important things first’, which was introduced by Stephen Covey in the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It is a principle that helps us manage our time and life more effectively. THE STANDARD LIFE has summarized and selected those guidelines for readers as follows:
Understand the importance and urgency
First, we need to distinguish between ‘important’ and ‘urgent’. Important things are those that impact our long-term goals and values in life, while urgent things are those that require immediate attention but may not always be important.
Here is a 4 Quadrants time management chart to help manage the tasks in our lives:
- Important and urgent, such as crises and current issues
- Important but not urgent, such as planning, self-development
- Not important but urgent, such as disturbances, managing certain activities
- Not important and not urgent, such as pointless work and wasteful activities.
The goal is to spend most of your time in Quadrant 2, which are important but not urgent, because this is the area of growth and development. The way to do it starts with setting clear goals. We should know what is important to us in the long run. Then we need to plan ahead by scheduling important things before they become urgent. The สมัครสมาชิก UFABET วันนี้ รับเครดิตฟรีทุกวัน next point is to dare to say no, that is, dare to say ‘no’ to things that do not align with our goals. Finally, review and improve by practicing to evaluate our time use regularly and adjust accordingly.
Examples in everyday life
Let’s say you’re a corporate employee looking to get a promotion. Here’s how you can manage your time:
- Important and Urgent Submit important reports by deadline.
- Important but not urgent: Take online courses to develop new skills, plan long-term projects
- Not important but urgent, answer general emails, unnecessary meetings
- Not important and not urgent, playing social media during work hours, chatting nonsense with colleagues.
‘Putting things first’ doesn’t mean neglecting urgent tasks, but rather balancing and prioritizing wisely. Once you start using this principle, you’ll find your life has more direction, less stress, and long-term success is within reach. Give it a try!