During one of my business classes the professor told a story that has stuck with me for years. A few of my clients have also used this story in their presentations and something about it just clicks with me.
The story was the “The Big Rocks Of Life” by Dr. Stephen R. Covey. If you haven’t heard it before, the full story can be read here. The short version is during a presentation a man puts an empty mason jar on the table. He then puts as many big rocks in as will fit and asks the audience if the jar is full. They reply yes, and he then repeats the process with gravel, and asks the same question. He then uses sand, and finally water so that the jar is actually full. When he asked the audience what the point of his presentation was someone answered that no matter how full your jar was there was always room for more. The man replies no, the point is if you don’t put the big rocks in first you’ll never get them in at all.
Putting this into perspective in both your professional and personal life, I view it as ensuring that I block time out during my week to work on my major goals and projects, everything else is gravel, sand and water.
Here’s an example of putting this into practice. At the end of last year, I took a hard look at my daily schedule over the course of a few weeks. What I discovered was that while I was very busy every day, I wasn’t necessarily productive. I was wasting a lot of time switching between tasks and trying to handle everything as it happened. And my big rocks were suffering for it. Switching between tasks frequently may seem like a great way to handle incoming emails and projects but the truth is it not only splits your focus but it takes time to get out of the mindset of the item you were working on and into the new one. Simply put, it interrupts your flow.
Now I have a schedule I follow. I’ve blocked out 2-3 hours a few days a week to work on my big rocks. I decide at the beginning of each week what I need to accomplish and that’s the one and only thing I work on during my “big rock blocks”. I put my phone on silent, close out of my email, and my focus is entirely on accomplishing the steps I need to take to meet whatever goal I have set. In just two weeks I have accomplished more towards reaching my goals than I did in the last 4 months combined. Hopefully within a few months of sticking to this schedule the habit will be fully ingrained and I will have accomplished the first of my big rock projects and be moving on to the next one.
What are your big rocks for this year? Are you setting aside blocks of time to work on them? Or is the gravel, sand and water going in the jar first? If you need help making your big rocks your priority, or just have a great story to share that relates to the topic, contact us – we’d love to hear from you!
Until next time … to your success!
Paige Jackson
Create 2 Sell