When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. So, how do we Do Right With Urgency?
 
Have you heard of the "Big Rocks" concept by Stephen Covey? The premise is simple: Your work and personal life has big rocks and little rocks. The size represents the importance and, essentially, what should be prioritized. They all must fit into a jar, which represents your time.
 
Pour the little rocks in first, and you can get them all in the jar, but you won't be able to fit the big rocks in, represented by the jar on the left in the image. Put the big rocks (your priorities) in first, though, and then the little rocks (daily tasks and responsibilities) will naturally fall into the remaining space allotted. Plus, there is still room for sand and even water (alerts, messages, news, interruptions) to fill in the additional space. You can fit nearly everything in if you take care of the most important stuff first.

Make a deliberate effort to identify your big rocks. Then commit the time to those priorities, whether they are new business initiatives, deepening your important stakeholder relationships, building a stronger team, being more innovative, attending better to your health and growth, or just spending more time with family and friends. You can do this by scheduling into your week to focus on big rocks, so it becomes uninterrupted time. It's so easy to get caught up with the sand and gravel, but if you don't prioritize the big rocks, you will not achieve what you truly want to achieve.
 
It seems like an easy concept in the physical world, but how do we apply this to our real-life tasks? How do we make sure we put the big rocks first when it's so easy to get side-tracked by the little rocks and sand?
Here are four easy steps to help.
 
          Step 1: Identify your big rocks. Considering your role, personal and professional needs - what should you be prioritizing? Given your strengths, skills, expertise, capabilities - where does your time add the most value? It helps to write this down.

          Step 2: Identify your little rocks. What are other things you need to be spending time on, important things, but not priorities?

          Step 3: Identify your sand. Often, sand is the things that are urgent but not important. Something you feel you need to take care of right away isn't as important as other things. Sand is usually things that take away your ability to focus and be productive. This could include a possible situation that occurs without notice.

          Step 4: Reflect on how you could reprioritize your daily tasks. Are we doing nonurgent – nonimportant items first to get them out of the way, or are we focusing on our big rocks and tasks that support those first? If we are not focusing on our big rocks, it is time to re-evaluate.
 
Support our behaviors of We Do Great Together, and We Are Respectful and Dependable by sharing your Big Rocks with the E-Team. Post them to the Gratitude Wall and review other posts. This is an excellent opportunity for us to come together to support each other and put our values into action.
 
Want more information or resources?

• Big Rocks – Stephen Covey Video
• The Eisenhower Principle Matrix

 Have Questions? Please email EssexNEXT@essex.com