I’m exploring the FranklinCovey.com web site.
A bunch of essays are freely available here: Knowledge Expo
These two seem to relate most of Habit 2 well: Center on Principles by Stephen R. Covey and Moral Compassing by Stephen R. Covey
This is a good explanation of Habit 3: First Things First by Stephen R. Covey
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Somewhat at an angle to this stuff, I have enjoyed David Allen’s _Getting Things Done_ (the website is http://www.davidco.com/ )
My impression is that Covey does the 50,000-foot view, the overall goals and roles, very well, and the David Allen stuff is more useful for actual day-to-day implementation. This past week (first at a new job) would have been considerably more insane and less productive had I not had this structure to work with, so I’m feeling particularly grateful (but hopefully not annoyingly evangelistic. :-)
Ambar
That makes sense. It sounds like the materials are quite complementary.
The chapter on Habit 3 talks about time management and advances the theory that time management self-help stuff has gone through four generations.
1. To-do lists. Make a list, cross things off. Feel productive. What you put on the list and when you do things is left as an exercise for the do-er.
2. Calendars. Look ahead, plan things into the future and do them.
3. Priorities. Number things according to their priority and schedule based on priority. Goal-directed, emphasis on daily planning.
4. Allow for spontaneous changes. Schedule things, but allow your schedule to be flexible, both to take advantage of opportunities and to preserve and enhance your relationships. Emphasis on week-planning instead of day-planning.
Methods based on 1. and 2. are not giving the whole story.. there are a lot of blanks to fill in, such as whether something makes it on the list or not. I think the distinction between 3. and 4. is a pretty small one, compared to the differences between the first three. Most anyone who uses a third-generation method also knows that you have to be flexible and turn the schedule on its ear once in a while.
*nod* I would definitely categorize the David Allen stuff as 4th-gen. He’s very explicit about putting on your calendar only the things that *must* be done on that day, rather than things you would *like* to get accomplished on that day. He’s not big on lots of explicit A/B/C prioritization.