Put One Big Rock on Your Calendar
The end of this week is your last opportunity to put a big rock on next week’s calendar. Once day-to-day urgencies appear, they prevent you from accomplishing important tasks.
You’ve been meaning to make a list of activities you can take off your calendar and give to someone else, for example. But you’re so busy you can’t find time to do it.
Most can’t resist screaming trivialities.
You can’t schedule next week’s important work next week.
4 reasons little rocks replace big rocks*:
- We haven’t identified big rocks. The first step in doing important work is deciding what it is.
- We think big rocks require dramatic action. But self-care might be as simple as taking a walk.
- Speed makes small rocks seductive. Unimportant tasks are often completed quickly. You think, “I’ll just check off this small thing first.” But you end up chasing small things all day.
- Big rocks are quiet. Small rocks are noisy. By the time a big rock gets noisy, you’ve neglected it too long. Think of your health.
*How to do things that matter most before it’s too late.
One big rock:
Put an appointment with an important task on next week’s calendar today.
Think of something you’ve been meaning to do. Schedule it. When someone calls, tell them you’re booked.
Big rocks contribute to the life you aspire to build but haven’t found time to build.
Big rocks expand opportunities.
Big rocks strengthen relationships.
Big rocks maximize your talent. Working on a big rock energizes. Constantly working on small rocks insults you.
Big rocks give meaning. But don’t think meaningful activities are always difficult. Big rocks are often simple.
Big-rock-activities make disproportionate contributions to satisfaction.
The longer you wait to schedule big rocks, the smaller life becomes.
Why do small rocks keep us so busy we don’t have time for important tasks?
What big rock do you need to put on next week’s calendar?
When we were in the office, I used to schedule meetings with just me, myself, and I in a conference room on a different floor. Getting away from my desk (and from my colleagues) — even for a half-hour — made all the difference. The WFH equivalent is turning off email and texting (like MS Teams) so you can’t be interrupted.
I love how simple ideas can make a big difference. Thanks for jumping in.
This really speaks to me! I’m always chasing those small rocks to get them off of my “to do” so I can move onto the big rocks, and I never seem to get to them. It can be very exhausting. A great message for a Friday. Excuse me, I have to go schedule my big rocks for next week!
Choosing to schedule big rocks helps focus on the important rather than the “urgent.” Having monthly off-sites help establish a pattern for a team to focus on the important issues rather than on the fires.
I schedule time in a university library to do my thinking and reflecting. It is a great reflective environment.
I used this as a Leadership Learning Opportunity for my team. We never seem to get to the big rocks (Strategic) always chasing the small rocks (Tactical). So what happens is we are always firefighting (small rocks). Thanks for the reminder of small rocks vs big rocks