Book/Cassette Review: First things first, By Stephen R. Covey and A. Roger Merrill.

Read by Stephen R. Covey. Simon and Schuster Audio (Cassette), £9.99 initial purchase and £2.99 to swap at the tape exchange in Welcome Break service areas.

I find that I have less and less time to invest in reading business and self development material. It’s almost impossible to keep up with the dozens of emails I receive, numerous market updates and, of course, the industry and general press. Ring a bell? I think that I may have found a solution, well for me at least. The nice people at Welcome Break, a motorway rest area chain found in the UK, have a system where you can purchase one audio book on cassette and trade it for a new one as often as you like (at a small cost of course). My hours spent in a car can now be used for something useful – entertainment, education or self development.

Recently, on one of my frequent visits to our offices Cambridge, I listened to ‘First things First’. In summary this book identifies and develops a ‘novel’ theme for personal development by encouraging the management of priorities rather than time. To be quite clear, I found the message to be valid – we do need to spend more time prioritising tasks as opposed to fire fighting commitments in ever decreasing timeslots. What I found frustrating was that the content could have been delivered in less than half the time. Perhaps it was because I listened to the book in one session – maybe I should have played it over 2 or 3 journeys? On the positive side, the basic concept, although not radical, is worth considering. I believe, however, that there is a place for both strategies – managing priorities and improving execution efficiency. Although I found myself straining to remain interested and attentive, I thought that the authors made good and frequent use of examples and similes. This at least maintained some level of interest on my part, but not enough to recommend this as a read. If it could be abbreviated into a 20 page (or 20 minute audio) deliverable, it would be well worth the time.

Allan Behrens

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