Put Your Rocks In First

It’s December and almost time to close out the calendar year. Do you know what the next year will hold? How about the next quarter?

If you’re following this blog series, you already have some of your essential goals in place. We’ve moved through setting our 1-year goals, and now it’s time to define the specific projects for the first 90 days of business in 2016.

Why 90 days?

When setting goals, it’s important to have a big-picture perspective. That’s why the book Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, by Gino Wickman, emphasizes creating plans for 10 years, 3 years, and 1 year out.

But once you have a big picture, it’s time to start thinking in terms of the concrete steps you’ll take to reach those goals. Ninety days is an ideal frame for these concrete plans for one simple reason: It creates laser-sharp focus.

Things can change a great deal over the course of a year, and even annual goals can end up feeling far away. Ninety days, however, is a real and in-your-face time frame that lets your team focus on checking off manageable chunks of your big goals — and enjoy measurable progress. It’s a time frame in which you can actually see the results.

The New Year is coming fast, and your team will soon be battling for your most important resources: time and money. The next 90 days is all that matters.

Rocks go in first

With your 1-year plan defined, the priorities for the next 90 days are called your “Rocks.”

You’ve probably heard the analogy that compares daily tasks to rocks, gravel, sand, and water. If your work day is represented by a glass cylinder, the order in which you fill that container is critical.

• Rocks are your true priorities (e.g., “Gain 10 new customers.”)
• Gravel is your daily obligations (e.g., “File payroll.”)
• Sand is the interruptions that inevitably occur
• Water is everything else

You have to put the Rocks in first and let the gravel, sand, and water fill the gaps. If you put them in last, you’ll find that all the other material has already filled the container and there is no more room. Focus on your priorities, or they just never happen.

Rocks are specific, they can be measured, and they are attainable.

Everyone carries their own Rocks

Your organization has a set of Rocks; in addition, everyone on your team has their own Rocks that relate to their responsibilities.

In an effective organization, each person carries and tends to his or her own Rocks, focusing on those immediate priorities, rather than everything at once. By limiting their priorities to what is manageable, your team members are able to focus on what is most important and not be affected when sand and water get thrown in the mix.

The “less is more” principle really works when it comes to Rocks. A few very well-placed, important, and useful priorities are far more successful than many partially completed priorities. With clearly defined 90-day Rocks, your team members will deliver more clarity, a greater return for the effort you’ve invested, and better results.