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What it argues
First Things First is Stephen Covey's full-length development of the time management principles he introduced in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, particularly the distinction between urgency and importance. Where most time management books address the question of how to get more done, Covey's book argues that the real question is what to get done — and that most people's busyness reflects not genuine priority but the tyranny of the urgent over the important.
The book's central tool is the Time Management Matrix: a two-by-two grid dividing activities by urgency and importance. Quadrant I (urgent and important): crises and deadlines. Quadrant II (not urgent but important): planning, relationship building, personal development, prevention. Quadrant III (urgent but not important): most meetings, most interruptions. Quadrant IV (neither urgent nor important): time wasters. Covey argues that most people live in Quadrant I and III while almost never investing in Quadrant II — the activities that prevent crises, build capacity, and create the life they actually want.
What it gets right
- 1.
The central question of time management is not 'how do I do more?' but 'am I doing what matters most?' Efficiency in the service of the wrong priorities produces a well-organized meaningless life.
- 2.
The Time Management Matrix reveals that most busyness lives in Quadrant I (urgent/important crises) and Quadrant III (urgent/unimportant interruptions), while Quadrant II (important/not urgent) — the quadrant of prevention, development, and relationship — is chronically underinvested.
- 3.
Urgency is addictive. The crisis mode feels productive and important but typically involves managing problems that better Quadrant II investment would have prevented.
What it covers
Who wrote it
Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012) was an American educator, author, and businessman who spent his career studying and writing about principles of effectiveness and character. His best-known work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989), has sold more than forty million copies and remains one of the most widely assigned management books. First Things First, published in 1994 with Roger and Rebecca Merrill, extends the Habits framework specifically to time and priority management. Covey founded the Covey Leadership Center, which later merged with Franklin Quest to form FranklinCovey.
