What is First Things First about?

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.

Covey's prescription is to schedule Quadrant II time before the urgencies of Quadrant I crowd it out. He introduces a weekly planning framework that begins with roles and goals — identifying the most important roles in your life and what you most want to accomplish in each — and works backward to specific weekly commitments. This is a values-first approach: clarifying what matters before planning how to spend time.

The book is denser and more philosophical than The 7 Habits in places, drawing on Covey's conviction that effective living requires moral compass before tactical planning. It is most useful for readers who feel productive but disconnected from what they actually value.