For leaders who are performing well yet living poorly
Whatever gets your first moment gets your whole day.
Right now your phone gets it. Your inbox gets it. Yesterday's unfinished list gets it. FIRST shows you how to give that moment back to God, with a 350‑year‑old prayer the church forgot and five minutes before your feet touch the floor.
Signed and numbered hardcover from a first printing of 2,000. Ships the first week of December.
You're doing everything right. So why does it feel like this?
If you lead anything, a company, a team, a family, you may know exactly what I mean.
- You're tired in ways sleep doesn't fix.
- You give everything you have and still reach the end of your best days missing something you can't name.
- You're surrounded by people all day, and you still carry every real decision by yourself.
- Your faith is real. But somewhere between Sunday morning and Monday's first meeting, it stopped changing how you lead.
The harder you drive, the less solid it all feels. I know, because I lived that way for thirty years.
Here's what I finally learned. The shaking isn't the market. It's the foundation you've been standing on. And it starts cracking in a place almost nobody looks.
It isn't your calendar. It's your first moment.
Think about the first second you're awake, when your mind comes out of sleep and forms its first thought. I call it the first fruits of the mind. Almost all of us give it away without knowing.
We reach for the phone. We run through the day's tasks. We list everything from yesterday that's still undone. The cleanest moment we'll get all day is gone before our feet touch the floor.
And whatever gets your first moment gets your whole day.
Three hundred and fifty years ago, the English clergyman Thomas Ken figured this out. He wrote his students a prayer for the moment they woke, before the world got a word in. He ended it with four lines you've sung a hundred times:
“Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”
The church kept the hymn. It lost the prayer that leads to it.
I didn't go looking for that prayer. I needed it.
For thirty years I led on one formula. Work harder, add excellence, get success. It worked, right up until a stage-four cancer diagnosis took everything that formula was built on.
I was left with one thing I could still give God: the first minute of the morning. So I gave it.
I went back for Thomas Ken's prayer. And what I found was bigger than a prayer. Christ was there in that first moment, every single morning, waiting on me.
He always had been.
Joe Petersen
Fort Worth, Texas
“So the Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.”Isaiah 30:18 NLT
FIRST
One Prayer. Five Minutes. Everything Changes.
FIRST gives you the Sacred Start Prayer. Five movements, five minutes, prayed before you're fully awake: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, and surrender, in that order.
You can pray it tomorrow morning.
Then the book follows that first moment outward, into the day it reorders and into the people who'll carry your words long after you're gone.
The first moment, where it goes, and where the Sacred Start Prayer comes from.
What surrender looks like under real pressure, in the office and on the calendar.
How a surrendered life overflows into the people you lead, at work and at home.
Inside these twelve chapters, you'll discover
- Why your first thought of the day sets the tone for every meeting, decision, and conversation that follows it.
- The prayer the church misplaced, where it came from, and why it ends with a hymn you already know by heart.
- The five movements of the Sacred Start Prayer, in the order Joe prays them every morning.
- What surrender looks like under real pressure, in the office and on your calendar, not just on Sunday.
- Why you can be surrounded by people all day and still feel alone in every real decision, and what changes when you stop starting the day alone.
- How a surrendered morning overflows into the people you lead, at work and at home.
- Why the peace you've been chasing was never out ahead of you.
This book is for you if
- You lead people and you're tired of leading on fumes.
- Your faith is real, and you want it to reach Monday morning.
- You've tried harder and it hasn't made things lighter.
- You want something you can do tomorrow, in five minutes.
It's probably not for you if
- You want a productivity hack with a Bible verse on top.
- You're looking for someone to tell you to hustle harder.
- You'd rather read about surrender than practice it.
He doesn't teach this from a safe distance.
Joe Petersen spent three decades in real estate development. For the past thirteen years, one day a month, he has sat in a closed room with a dozen chief executives who agreed to tell each other the truth.
Every Monday since April 3, 2017, he has led a five-minute prayer call for business leaders. It started with about fifteen people on a phone line. Today an average Monday includes more than 10,000.
He works at surrender every morning. Some mornings he loses, the same as you.
What leaders are saying
Real quote from an early reader
Name, title, companyReal quote from an early reader
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Name, title, companyThe first edition is 2,000 copies. Each one is signed and numbered.
- 2,000 hardcovers. That's the whole first printing.
- Signed and numbered by Joe, every copy.
- A note Joe writes by hand ships with every order.
- Shipping is included in every price. No surprises at checkout.
- Ships the first week of December, in time to give.
Your numbers are held the day you order.
Reserve your signed copy
Every price includes shipping. Every hardcover ships the first week of December.
The signed first edition
The Hardcover
- Signed by Joe
- Numbered, from a first printing of 2,000
- A note Joe writes to you by hand
- Shipping included, with nothing added at checkout
Ships the first week of December. Your numbers are held the day you order.
One to keep. More to give.
Numbered sets, signed and shipped together, in time for Christmas.
The Pair
Two signed, numbered hardcovers. One for you and one for someone you love.
Reserve the PairShips the first week of December. Your numbers are held the day you order.
The Table
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The Twelve
Twelve signed, numbered hardcovers. For a small group, a board, or everyone on your list.
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The First Hundred
One signed hardcover numbered between 1 and 100, from the very start of the first printing.
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For the people you lead
Put the same first five minutes in front of your whole team.
The Team
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Reserve In PersonIn Fort Worth? Choose “Hand delivered in Fort Worth” at checkout. It's free.
Prefer a paperback? $19.99, shipping included. Order the paperback
Questions leaders ask
I already have a morning routine. Why would I need this?
Most morning routines start after the first moment is already gone. The phone, the list, the worry about yesterday get there first. FIRST is about the five minutes before your feet touch the floor, before any of that gets a word in.
I don't have time for one more thing.
It's five minutes, and you do it before you get out of bed. You don't add anything to your day. You give its first moment to God instead of your inbox.
Is this just a book with a prayer in it?
No. The prayer is where it starts. FIRST is twelve chapters in three sections, Start, Live, and Love, that follow that first moment into how you lead, how you handle pressure, and how you love the people around you.
When will my books ship?
The first week of December, in time for Christmas giving. Your numbers are held the day you order.
Is shipping really included?
Yes. Every price includes shipping. There's no shipping line at checkout and no coupon codes. In Fort Worth, choose free hand delivery at checkout.
Can I order for my whole team?
Yes. See the team packages above. For anything larger, write to REPLACE-CONTACT-EMAIL.
Tomorrow morning, something will get your first moment.
It can be the phone, the list, and the weight of yesterday. Or it can be the One who's been waiting there all along.
Reserve my signed copyFrom a first printing of 2,000. Ships the first week of December.
P.S. Every hardcover is signed and numbered, and every order ships with a note I write by hand. I'd be honored to send one to you. Begin tomorrow. Before your feet touch the floor.
Joe