7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens–Put First Things First
The third habit of the 7 Habits of Highly effective Teens is to Put First Things First.
It’s been said that teens today aren’t faced with the same kind of hard work as teens in generations past. The truth is, teens today are simply facing a different kind of hard. Teens (and adults) are multi-tasking more than any other generation and time has become a precious commodity. So much to do, not enough time to do it. That’s why the third habit of effective teens is so incredibly important. It helps us learn to prioritize and manage our time so the things that matter the very most get done. Habit 2, begin with the end in mind, helps us figure out what the most important things are. Habit 3 helps us figure out how to make those things a priority in our lives. DOing is the hard part.
Sean Covey breaks down the way we spend our time into four different quadrants.
We each spend some time in all four of the quadrants but the real key to success is to spend as much time as possible in Quadrant 2, the Prioritizer. Quadrant 2 is made of things that are important but not urgent (because we don’t let them become urgent by procrastinating). Making lists, goals, and planning ahead to prioritize our lives–making sure first things get done first–is how we accomplish the things we really want to accomplish. Establishing a powerful habit of planning ahead, and then DOing the work is critical to our ultimate success.
Weekly planning can make a huge difference in our lives. The first step is to identify the things we want to accomplish that week. The big things. The things that matter most that week. Blocking out time for those things is the next step. And then we schedule in everything else. If we intentionally carve out the time to do our most important things first, we make sure those get done and everything else falls in to the extra time.
Along with planning, we have to overcome fear and peer pressure. It takes a lot of courage to identify and stay true to our “first things”. We must not let fear or other people make decisions for us. We are the captain of our lives (Habit 1–be proactive).
Habit 3 often seems to be the hardest one to stick to. Putting first things first takes focus and courage, but usually the hardest things are the ones that make the biggest differences in our lives. Take control of your life, identify the things that matter to you most (begin with the end in mind), and prioritize your life so those “first things” stay first.
