Habit 3: Put First Things First

WEEKLY PLANNING

So far, you’ve figured out your purpose, values, roles, and first things. How are you going to make sure your first things really are first and stay first? The best way we’ve found is through weekly planning.

There are many different tools you can choose to use for your personal planning system. At FranklinCovey, we realize you have many options— paper-based, handheld, and desktop, to name a few.

Your chosen tool should help you keep balance in your life by helping you identify your roles and priorities. You need a tool that will help you focus not only daily, which is a great thing, but weekly as well.

Organizing weekly helps keep you in the fourth generation of time and life management. It provides a larger context than simple daily planning. Truly scheduling your priorities can best be done from a weekly perspective. As you move forward in keeping your first things first, commit to investing from twenty to thirty minutes a week in weekly planning. Follow these steps as you plan:

1. Write down your key roles.

2. Select one or two of your highest priorities to focus on this week.

3. Look at the week and schedule your tasks and appointments.

4. Adapt daily, using A, B, C, 1, 2, 3 prioritization.