‘Biggest Rock First’ refers to putting your most important priorities on your schedule first and then fitting other, lesser priorities in around them, a time/energy/life management technique popularized in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.
One challenge is that we can become overly focused on a particular big rock and for an excessive period of time. As we ‘work a rock’ it becomes a smaller and smaller problem and at some point it is no longer your biggest rock, even at times nowhere near close. It is important to not become myopic, to step back periodically and reassess. When you solve your #1 priority, your #2 gets a promotion.
Closing Quotes:
“Instead of saying, ‘I don’t have time’ try saying ‘It’s not a priority,’ and see how that feels.” – Laura Vanderkam
“Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have.” – John C. Maxwell
“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage – pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically – to say ‘no’ to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside. The enemy of the ‘best’ is often the ‘good’.” – Stephen Covey, 1932-2012
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier