Putting First Things First

Speech given at a Jan 2021 Red Hat Toastmaster's Speech Competition.

How many of you have ever read a book or taken a class and thought... that was great content, I’m going to apply that personally. But then got busy? Years ago I read Steven Covey’s, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and had that same thought. I was so impressed with it that I immediately went out and bought 5 copies and sent them to my 4 brothers and my dad. I wanted to do the work to apply it, but I got busy with life.

Fortunately, five years later I had the opportunity to attend a class that focused on Habit 3: Putting First Things First. Practicing this habit for the past twenty-four years, now that’s a long time, has helped me recognize when I was getting off track in life and course correct, and I want to share it with you today in the hope that I will inspire you to practice this habit as well.

Before we dive into Habit 3, you need to know a little bit about habits 1 and 2. Habit 1, Be Proactive, is realizing that you are in charge. You get to decide what you will do with your life today. You get to decide how you respond in any given situation. It’s your choice. Habit 2 is Begin with the end in mind. Let’s go do that for a moment. Close your eyes. Imagine that you are at your funeral. What do you want people to say about you? Perhaps a friend says that you always said what they needed to hear. A coworker says that you went above and beyond. Your kids talk about what a great example you were, using your gifts and talents to serve others and make the world a better place.

Open your eyes. Beginning with the end in mind is powerful because you are connecting with your deepest values.

Now we’re ready to talk about Habit 3 - Putting First Things First.

To practice habit 3, you start by identifying your roles. We all have many roles. While we are all Red Hat associates, we are all a son or daughter, maybe a sibling. We’re all a friend. And if you’re a parent, you find that you are the Activities Director as well.

Once you identify your roles, your second step is to set goals by answering the question, “What is one thing I could do (something I’m not doing now) that, if I did it on a regular basis, would make a tremendous positive difference in my role as …” you fill in the blank depending on the roles you’re focusing on that week. Or another question I like to ask is, “What is one thing I’m doing repetitively, that if I did differently, would have the biggest impact on my role?”

The third step is to plan your goals weekly and exercise calendar integrity. As I was thinking about that second question a few months back, I decided it was time to ask my husband and two young adult children living at home if they agreed that it was a reasonable expectation that everyone plan, prepare, and cook one meal a week. I scheduled a family meeting and pitched my request. Everyone agreed. We’ll come back to this story in a minute.

Step 4 is to Adapt daily. We plan weekly, but sometimes unexpected urgent's come up, so we have to adapt.

The last step is to review and reflect on your week. Did I meet my goals? What worked? What didn’t work? And what can I do differently next week?

Back to the plan and cook dinner story. At the end of that week, I had cooked all of the dinners except for one. We failed at our goal, but a few weeks ago, as a family, we reflected on why it didn’t work and what we could do differently. We’ve been at it three weeks now, and so far we are executing on our commitments.

To execute well in any of our roles requires that we take care of ourselves physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Covey calls this “Sharpening our Saw” or personal renewal. If I’m a woodcutter and I never take the time to sharpen my saw, eventually my blade will get dull and I won’t be able to produce as much. YOU have to take care of you because no one can do the work for you and you receive the benefit; although, it would be nice wouldn’t it? I’d love to pay someone to do my sit-ups for me.

Let’s run through this practice one more time: 1) Identify your roles, including personal renewal as a role 2) Set goals for your roles, including a physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional goal for yourself 3) Schedule them & exercise calendar integrity 4) Adapt daily 5) Review and Reflect

Do this on a consistent basis over the next 5, 10, 15, 20 + years, and it will help you live your life in alignment with your values, you’ll notice if and when you get off track and course correct.

What are your roles?

What are your goals?

Will you schedule them?

Will you give yourself the time to do what you aspire to do?

What will they say at your funeral?

You get to decide.

Thank you for listening.