What Are Your 3 Big Rocks?
Today I want to talk to you about a really simple concept that helps my clients set their day up for a win.
It’s a really simple and implementable strategy that ensures you are always focusing on the tasks and priorities that will move the needle the most for you, your team and your business.
I’ll also explore with you why people don’t / won’t do this, and it has a lot to do with them secretly enjoying being stuck in a stressed out and overwhelmed state.
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Hello everyone, Josh here. Hope you're having an incredible day
Now in today's video, I want to ask you - what are your three big rocks?
Now, I use this teaching concept a lot with my engineering coaching clients and it really helps them set up their day for a win. And you know, I'll talk a little bit about the time management element of it, but really want to talk to you about - well, why don't we do these things?
We all know about prioritising our workload and we all know about, you know, doing the big things first and setting aside time for those big elements. But why don't we do that?
So, I want to explain to you today about this concept. It’s really, really simple and it helps set your day up to win. And then I want to talk about, well, why don't we do these things from a mindset or psychology point of view?
So, the concept of three big rocks is essentially what are the three big things that you need to get done today? Really, really simple. But every one of my clients when I set them up like this, have wins every single day because you're focusing on, you know, the three main things that they need to get done today.
And these are not things that are meaningless or trivial tasks. They are the three things, when you sit down at your desk or in your office first up in the morning, every one of my clients does this first up in the morning. What are the three big things that I need to get done today that will move the needle the most for my business or for my team? It might be a fee proposal or it might be having a coffee with a client. It might be getting out there. It might be having a conversation with a teammate or bringing your team together for a team meeting.
But what are the three big things that I can do today that would move the needle the most for myself, my team and my business? Write them down and you don't do anything else until you've done those three things. Then you know that the rest the day you can spend working with your team, that you can spend making calls, responding to emails but you know that you've done three big things that will move the needle the most for you and your team and your business.
And they're done so that you've got the rest of the day to actually relax, have a bit of fun and do those less important, but, you know, tasks and need to get done.
So that's the technique. That's the that's the concept. Now why don't people do it?
Because secretly, people love being stressed out. Secretly people love being in burnout or overwhelm. They won't admit it. But people love to say to someone, “Oh, I'm just so busy rushing off to one meeting after another”. “I've just got to get this thing done.” And people actually really, really enjoy being able to say to someone, “I'm so busy, I'm so overwhelmed. I've got so much on that I don't know what to do”. And if you're nodding or if you know that's true for yourself, yeah, then it's actually really quite a true phenomenon. People love to say that they're really super busy and stressed out. It's a societal thing. I don't get it.
It's weird, but it's actually true. People love to have so much on their plate, to feel overwhelmed and burnt out and can then talk to others about it at the water cooler or with their teammates.
People say they want to focus their priorities. They say they want to put their focus on the priorities that will move the needle the most. They might do it for a week, but then they slip back into that state of overwhelm and panic because secretly people love being busy. And that's why people don't change when it comes to, you know, setting your priorities and workload for the day.
Like I said, I don't get it. For me, a really well run day is one where, you know, you've done those three things that move the needle the most and then you can spend the rest of the day having fun and connecting with your team or talking to clients and responding to emails. And you know that you've moved the needle as much as you possibly could in that day. And you don't have to run around being stressed and frantic all the time.
Sure, there's going to be things that come up that require attention. You do get stressed a bit, but you're not in that stressed out, overwhelmed state all the time.
So, my challenge to you is - can you incorporate the three big rocks into your day and see how it goes?
Would love to hear your thoughts and comments? Let me know and come back to me. And if you'd like some help with this stuff. Reach out to me. I work with a lot of engineers, a lot of clients in this space helping with these types of things.
I'd love to hear from you. Talk soon.
Josh ‘Moving The Needle’ Stone
PS: If you’re interested, here are 4 ways I can help you grow your engineering team and business:
- Download our FREE PDF guide – “Your Leadership Style”
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If you’re serious about getting real results and want deeper and more rewarding levels of success in your engineering career – I am putting together a new Leadership Code group next month. If you’d like to work with me and my team to hone and develop your winning work, client relationship, leadership and team performance skills… just send me an email at [email protected] and put “Leadership Code” in the subject line and I’ll get you all the details.
- Have me work with you and your team privately
If you’d like me to work directly with you and your team and help you win more work, turn clients into raving fans, build and then grow a high performing engineering team... just send me an email at [email protected] and put “Private” in the subject line... tell me a little about your business, your role and your team and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details!
