In this chapter, Covey encapsulates the first habit as defining yourself as the creator of your life experience. The second habit is defined as using the imagination to visualize your creation. The third habit involves manifesting your creation in the material world. You do this through proper management of yourself and your resources by putting first things first.

In contrast to the right brain activity of conceptualizing a goal, management requires the left-brain activity of organizing and planning the steps to arrive at that goal. Covey recommends the exercise of a person’s independent will to “organize and execute around priorities” (171). If we don’t identify these priorities, we can fall into a reactive state of mind by only dealing with the crisis at hand instead of planning for a meaningful future.

This chapter delves into the process of time management, and Covey recommends using a quadrant approach to distinguish what is urgent from what is truly important. He divides a day’s activities into the following four quadrants:

I) Important and urgent

II) Important but not urgent

III) Not important but urgent

IV) Not important and not urgent

Covey believes that if one is truly attempting to ingrain the third habit of putting first things first, then a person should strive to spend most of their time on activities that fall into Quadrant II.