Quotes on Put First Things First

Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

Put first things first and we get second things thrown in: put second things first & we lose both first and second things.

You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.

You can’t get second things by putting them first. You get second things only by putting first things first.

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.

Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.

I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure - which is: Try to please everybody.

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.