Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Series – First Things (Stephen Covey)

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – First Things

 

In partnership with Moore Public Schools, we continue to examine the seven habits of highly effective people from Steven Covey’s book. The third habit is “Put First Things First.” Let’s talk about that.

 

If you go to the Emergency Department, the first stop, other than the waiting room, is triage. That is when you are shuffled into a small room for a quick assessment of your condition.  This is the only time I know of that being sicker gets you further ahead in life. The worse off you are in triage, the sooner you get seen. That is why you can end up in the waiting room for five or six hours.

                 

Triage is a necessary evil. If the hospital had unlimited resources, employees, and time, it would automatically take everyone back and start caring for them. However, of course, all those resources are limited. So, that first stop is how the hospital sets its priorities. The staff put first things first.

                 

We must do that in our lives and in the church. We only have so much time, money, and energy. We can’t be all things to all people. So, we must figure out what comes first for us.

 

We put our resources into what is most urgent and most important. Urgency is about how immediately something demands attention. Importance concerns whether it contributes to your mission, values, and significant responsibilities.

 

Naturally, deciding what is most urgent and important is not always easy for us as individuals or a church. However, I think the answer to that is often evident. Paying for my house every month will always be more urgent and important than getting a new car that I don’t need. Sometimes, figuring out what is most urgent and important takes prayer, discussion, and thought.

 

We get a clue as to what is most important and urgent by looking at how Christ lived his life and what he prioritized. The better we know him, the better we know what we need to focus on!

 

As a congregation, we need to decide what is most important and urgent for us. The Leadership Team is headed down the road to deciding these things. However, that is a task that we all take on together. That will tell us how to use the people, energy, money, and time that we have. Put first things first.