Do the First Things First

“Put first things first and we get second things thrown in: put second things first and we lose both first and second things.”

C.S Lewis

If we are alive ten years from now, where are we going to be?

I want to guess that very few people’s answers today will turn out to be remotely accurate in their very next decade.  

Those are the few with crystal clarity on what their life is all about. They are the ones who know what they stand for and how to best spend their time each day. 

Going forward, I challenge you to leave the group of ‘wandering generalities’ for the class of ‘meaningful specifics.’ The rare class of very few people who have learned to put the right things first, everyday of their life. 

So, dare to put God above all else in your own life. Then try to prioritize values, principles, and relationships. Extricate yourself from the trap of only making a living. Choose to make a significant contribution by learning to focus on what really matters. 

Basically, this is a matter of self-leadership and self command. It is an issue of making solid plans for the future and taking immediate control of our actions in the present.

Steven Covey, the author of, ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ explains this nicely when he said: “Putting first things first means organizing and executing around your most important priorities. It is living and being driven by the principles you value most, not by the agendas and forces surrounding you.”

To get to a desirable destination, we need to put the right thing first in our day to day lives. Doing this vastly simplify our lives, saves us from costly error of daily distraction, and it guarantees that we won’t fail to achieve our heartfelt aim in the end.

Now, if you are unsure whether you are on track or off track, answer the following questions. Your answer should help you gain the clarity you need to elevate your game to an optimal plane of performance.

Question 1: Do you live everyday with the end in mind?

Question 2: Do you live your life by principles or by impulses?

Question 3: Are you always in control of your time and attention?

If we are to be honest, most of us can’t answer all three questions with a resounding yes.

You see, frantically rushing around to get everything done has nothing to do with efficiency and peak performance as the former US President, Dwight D. Eisenhower rightly discovered. 

He said: “The older I get the more wisdom I find in the ancient rule of taking first things first; a process which often reduces the most complex human problem to a manageable proportion.”

Without a doubt, our best chance to end well in life comes from living with purpose, living by principles and intentional putting the right things first.

If we don’t make the necessary changes now, we may end up at the end of our lives wishing for a second chance to start over, which would be painful too late.

Therefore, begin a change right away by suspending everything else until you finish the next most important thing in your world.