Seven Habits: How do you Put First Things First if you don't know what those things are?

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Stephen Covey's system requires a lot of self-knowledge and introspection, and thus assumes that people are good at introspection! Putting First Things First is the third of the seven habits, but, of course, by definition, it is the first habit in another sense.

Covey expects that people are capable of looking inside themselves. This is a large assumption, but one that is, to a greater or lesser extent, a fact that is true of most everyone nevertheless. I suspect, however, that the question is less one of whether people can look within, and more one of whether they are willing to do so.

Many people are skeptical or resistant to self-examination, almost as if life is only to be lived "externally" to themselves. Of course Covey's system recognizes that, indeed, much of life is lived "on the outside," that interaction with people, things, and environment is a large part of what life is all about. But, all the same, it seems like common sense that if you are not looking inside to see how it is that you approach the world, if you are not considering whether your approach may be missing the mark or hurting your chances at some kind of success that you really want, then you are being foolish.


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