In the spirit of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the #1 nationwide bestseller, First Things First is a revolutionary guide to managing your time by learning how to balance your life. Traditional time management suggests that working harder, smarter, and faster will help you gain control over your life, and that increased control will bring peace and fulfillment. The authors of First Things First disagree. In the first real breakthrough in time management in years, Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, and Rebecca R. Merrill apply the insights of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to the daily problems of people who must struggle with the ever-increasing demands of work and home life. Rather than focusing on time and things, First Things First emphasizes relationships and results. And instead of efficiency, this new approach emphasizes effectiveness. First Things First shows why we feel a gap between how we spend our time and what's deeply important to us; how focusing on efficiency and control increases the gap instead of closing it; how to determine if what you're doing is really important - or only urgent; why your inner compass is more important than any clock; how to set and achieve principle-centered goals; how to turn your weeks into an upward spiral of learning and living; how to overcome the tremendous gravity of habit; how to turn your resolutions into reality; how to put people ahead of schedules; and how to lead your life, not just manage your time. First Things First offers a principle-centered approach that will transform the quality of everything you do by showing how it involves the need to live, to love, to learn, and to leave a legacy. With the wisdom andinsight that made The 7 Habits of Highly Effective people a #1 bestseller, First Things First empowers readers to define what is truly important; to accomplish worthwhile goals; and to lead rich, rewarding, and balanced lives.