ABSTRACT
The pressures on family relationships shift throughout an economic cycle. During the Great Recession, families understandably felt the strains of economic hardship resulting from lost jobs or reduced hours. As the economy slowly but steadily recovered, however, the source of strain for many families switched to a scarcity of time. Fortunately, the late Stephen Covey left the Lean leaders with a treasure chest of principles for mastering our time, both at work and at home. Whereas library shelves of books exist on how to get more done in a given amount of time (efficiency), Covey's classic First Things First is devoted to selecting the most important things to accomplish. Covey's basic premise is that effectiveness trumps efficiency when it comes to time management. Covey lobbies for this exercise of identifying and scheduling our most important tasks to become a weekly habit. Covey explains that the demands for lean leaders' time can be classified by two factors, importance and urgency.
