First Things First by Stephen R. Covey

Author:Stephen R. Covey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mango Media
Published: 2017-12-15T16:03:40+00:00

9: Integrity in the Moment of Choice

Quality of life depends on what happens in the space between stimulus and response.

SUPPOSE that over the weekend you spent a quality half hour going through the Quadrant II process and connecting with your deep inner life. You reviewed your mission and your roles; you identified important goals. You translated them into an action plan for the week. Then, as the day began, you reviewed your plan for the day, quickly re-connected with importance, and made any conscience-directed change you felt you should make. You’re convinced that you’ve identified “first things” and have a good plan to put them first during the next twenty-four hours of your life.

So you start to live through the day you’ve planned. But somehow the day doesn’t go “as planned.”

You’re just concluding an interview with one of your employees when he suddenly breaks down and begins to share some deep concerns that affect his work. You care about this employee, but you’re scheduled to be at an important meeting in ten minutes, and you also care about the five other people who have arranged their time to be there. What do you do?

You receive a phone call from the principal at your daughter’s elementary school asking you to serve on a special task force committee to secure needed playground equipment for the school. You’ve recently made the decision not to accept any more commitments because you feel you haven’t been spending enough time in personal renewal and with your family. But you value your daughter and what the principal is trying to do for the school she attends, and you know that you have talent, resources, and connections that could make an important difference to the project. What do you say?

You’ve been working intensely on a project for several hours and you feel that your effectiveness is dwindling. You have the thought that taking a break to read a little or eating an early lunch might regenerate you. But you have a deadline, and you’re not sure whether the break is really renewal or escape. How do you decide?

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