My friend Donna reminded me of a quote she thought was from Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People  "First things first and let all the rest go." Well I loved that time management philosophy and I do own that book, but could not find it among my many many books. So I Googled it and found that Stephen Covey wrote another book First Things First-Live, Love and Leave a Legacy.

Whatever, I like letting the rest go. So for me the first thing, of course, is home and family, my morning reading and lesson reminders of A Course in Miracles, health and exercise, and then this week my first things were to finish making choices for bathroom renovations and redecorating, completing my web site, and again decluttering and cleaning, which seem to be a never ending task.

I notice how I get sidetracked by a Soduko puzzle, or interesting television program, or book I haven’t picked up for a long time, or a friend’s phone call, or one of my adult children calling, or my husband just wanting to chat, or an e-mail that pulls me into another task. And then I think "first things first." Friends and family and just sitting and talking with my husband are all first things aren’t they? Aren’t they what living is all about? And loving? but the legacy part isn’t going to happen if I don’t focus.

You know if all I leave behind is a full, rich, and satisfying life full of love. Isn’t that a legacy?

Back to First Things First, I am grateful that my friend mentioned this quote to me. It has been very helpful – especially the part about " and let all the rest go." Every time I work on my to do list I now think, if I were to get sick and have to lay on the couch and baby myself and watch my favorite shows or sleep all day, what would be a loss if it did not get it done?

What are your first things?