I recently saw a recording of a women’s college sports coach talking to her athlete students. She was addressing the common believe that if we just get past ‘X’ then it will be easier; this semester, this test, this class, this year, etc. Her point to the students was that it doesn’t get easier. You get better at doing ‘hard’!

Darren Hardy had expanded on this, reminding us that the first time we were behind the wheel of a car, the amount of things we had to remember, the amount of information coming at us, was overwhelming and we wondered how we would ever be able to get on that highway, navigate to unknown places, keep our hands at 10 and 2, shift gears (if you remember those days), all while staying within the speed limit! Over time, we got more comfortable processing all that data, we built new neural pathways to process and automate some of the tasks. Nowadays, you probably sip your hot coffee, listen to the radio, and referee the kids in the back seat!

I’ve heard the Rocks and Sand analogy in several different presentations and books. The idea is that when you have a bucket or container, and you put the large rocks in first, then the medium rocks, then the small rocks, then ultimately pour in the sand, you can get a lot in the bucket. If you fill it with sand first (the small things), you cannot get the various size rocks in there at all. There are some great videos that really bring home this model.

Translated to our lives—business and personal—planning for the rocks, the important tasks, the bigger, high priority things, then

blocking time for the medium tasks and priorities, ensures the most important things get done, the most important people get our time. Then there’s room for the ‘sand’ of our life. Conversely, if we fill our time and schedules with the small things, we find we don’t have room for the larger, more important items at all.

Taking this to the next level, many of our clients use the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) model of management in their businesses. Examples of these methodologies include Traction and Scaling Up. These are structures to help a business grow and stay on track with its goals, from the leadership team to those on the front lines. The quarterly goals, the bigger items that move a business forward towards its one-year, three-year, and longer-term goals are the quarterly Rocks. The idea is to schedule these most important tasks and goals so that as the day-to-day engulfs us, we have priority time reserved to move these critical items forward.

Add in quarterly check-in meetings, regular meeting structures and rhythms, along with documentation, clear job descriptions, right people in the right seats, and you have a very focused company, all rowing in the same direction.

This might seem overwhelming, but the various YouTube videos of the Rocks and Sand being added to a terrarium is a great visual for team members. Making this a regular topic of discussion in team planning meetings can lead to small wins that reinforce the concept. The goal is to make it a habit; celebrating successes along the way can bring this home!

One other thought on this. I’ve heard that a lion, no matter how hungry, will not go after a mouse. It takes more calories to catch the mouse than the mouse will provide the lion. A lion that is focused on its prey will ignore the flies around its eyes, and just about anything else that might be an annoyance.

It’s planning on a meal and all focus is on the hunt! How could we apply this in our work day? What about turning off notifications during a focused hour on a project? What about turning off the phone ringer? What other ways could we limit the distractions and stay focused on the ’hunt’?

Last thought: Maybe we could use this at home? What about turning off work alerts and email notifications during family time, dinner with your spouse, school visits? Seems like that would be a great way to show our family that we’re with them, not just in body, but whole souled! – CMW