As we get into the rhythm of our department development calls, I wanted to send you some thoughts to help you develop rocks for each month. Here’s a quick video with a written summary below.
Why do we call them “rocks“?
- Comes from a business analogy, summarized by Gino Wickman here – “Picture a glass cylinder set on a table. Next to the cylinder are rocks, gravel, sand, and a glass of water. Imagine the glass cylinder is all of the time you have in a day. The rocks are your main priorities, the gravel represents your day-to-day responsibilities, the sand represents interruptions, and the water is everything else that you get hit with during your workday. If you, as most people do, pour the water in first, the sand in second, the gravel in third, and the rocks last, what happens? Those big priorities won’t fit inside the glass cylinder. That’s your typical day. What happens if you do the reverse? Work on the big stuff first: Put the rocks in. Next, come the day-to-day responsibilities: Add the gravel. Now dump in the sand, all those interruptions. Finally, pour the water in. Everything fits in the glass cylinder perfectly; everything fits in your day perfectly. The bottom line is that you need to work on the biggest priorities – your Rocks – first. Everything else will fall into place.”
Tips for picking a personal rock
- Context of the company’s rocks
- 2-4 total – Fewer priorities are better than many
- S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, time-bound)
- Tasks and rocks – Can it be done in a day or week or month?
- Evaluate – If I accomplish these this month…
Examples
- Maternity leave prep
- Finalize plan for maternity leave
- Get Anne to 0 STL + Launch 2 new clients with Jessica
Reach out to Anne Cassell for questions.