First Things First
July 19, 2011 by Cat Matson
By Cat Matson, Alito
Most business owners I meet know the things they need to do first… marketing, planning, coaching their staff, focussing on strategic matters.
But those same business owners struggle with getting to most… if not all… of those important, business-building activities. Why? Because they’re busy in the day-to-day ‘stuff’ of running their business.
In Stephen Covey’s classic, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, habit number 3 is First Things First (habits 1 and 2 are Be Proactive and Start with the End in Mind). And by First Things First, he means making sure those important, strategic matters get addressed FIRST… not ‘waiting’ until you have time to do them.
He has a great analogy of filling a jar with sand, small rocks and big rocks. If you start with the sand and the small rocks and then try to jam your big rocks in ‘on top’, they’ll never fit.
Instead, if you put the big rocks in first, then the small rocks and the sand… everything will fit – as the small stuff will fill in the spaces (visit my Facebook page to watch a video demonstration).
Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? But ask yourself, what do you fill your days, weeks and months with? Big rocks? Or the little stuff?
Don’t get me wrong… the ‘little stuff’, like phone calls, emails, customer emergencies might be ‘little’ in the rocks analogy… and they’re still important. But the problem is, if we don’t put the ‘big’ things in our lives first… well, honestly, it’s just way too easy for our time to be filled with the small rocks and sand of our lives.
So here’s my tip: At the start of each week (maybe even on a Sunday night), spend 30 minutes scheduling the ‘big rocks’ into your week. Make appointments with yourself and block those times out in your diary. And then keep the appointments. The other stuff will still get done – it will fit into the spaces around your big rocks.
So before you rush off to the next task on your to-do list… take a moment and check your diary… have you scheduled time for the ‘big rocks’?
Over to you: What other tips do you have for ensuring the ‘big rocks’ get done first?
MORE GREAT POSTS BY CAT MATSON
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Cat Matson - AlitoCat is a Business CATalyst, sparking ideas for peak business performance. With a keen interest in strategy, marketing, social media and personal effectiveness, Cat works with clients to have their business firing on all cylinders. Appalled by the notion of ‘silver-bullet’, ‘one-size-fits-all’ approaches to business success, Cat works with savvy business owners to connect the RIGHT resources with the RIGHT strategy to produce the desired business outcomes. When not working, Cat enjoys time with her 2 young boys, her husband and exploring the ever-evolving possibilities of social media. She is a connection junkie – getting a buzz out of connections both on- and off-line and is often seen with iPhone to ear and iPad at fingertips.
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Okay, this is really really simple but it has SERIOUSLY transformed my business and I’ve jumped from success to success over the past 6 months. I just started using a timer!
I work in 25 minute blocks and go at it like I’m running a race and then I get 5 minutes off to surf the net/check email/check my lists and so on.
I’m on a 5 minute break right now
Since doing this I don’t hesitate to get stuck into my ‘big rocks’, because I know I only have to do 25 minutes! I use a free timer with a loud (and somewhat satisfying) gong at the end.
So true – We so often get caught in the little things and forget the big picture. So easy to get caught in the daily tasks and lose sight of the ‘money bringing in’ tasks…
A great reminder Cat – thank you.
I do sit down to plan my week but until now have only assigned tasks to certain days. Not surprisingly, I often get to the end of the day & haven’t achieved all that I wanted to as I have been distracted by the ‘other’ things.
This week I’m going to take your advice & block out periods of time to get the work done. Thank you