The "Big Rocks" Strategy: How to Finally Stop Procrastinating

We’ve all been there. You have that one project…the "Big One"...that’s been sitting on your to-do list for weeks (or maybe months). You know it needs to be done, but every time you look at it, you suddenly find the urgent need to clean up your desk or scroll through LinkedIn for an hour.

I’ll be the first to admit it: I am really, really good at procrastination.

I tell myself that the tasks are too hard, too time-consuming, or require a level of focus that I don't have right now but I will at some future date! But here’s the secret I’ve discovered: My anticipation of the task is almost always worse than the task itself.

Stephen Covey famously talked about the concept of "Big Rocks." If you fill a jar with sand and pebbles first, you’ll never fit the big rocks in. But if you put the big rocks in first, the small stuff will fill in the gaps around them.

The problem is that we spend our whole day dealing with "sand" (emails, notifications, minor errands) and leave the "big rocks" for "later"—a time that never actually comes.

To beat the paralysis of my never ending to-do list, I’ve started using a simple rule I heard recently: Pick three things and knock them out.

Not ten, not five, just three.

The mountain looks massive but the next three steps are much more manageable. Here are the steps that I’ve been using to make it work:

1. Define Your Big Goal: What is one thing you’ve been avoiding?

2. Break It Down: Find 2 or 3 actionable, small tasks that move you in the direction of that big goal.

3. Write Them Down: Put them on paper. There is power in seeing them outside of your head.

4. Execute and Celebrate: Once those three things are done, consider your day a win. You don’t have to finish the whole project today. You just have to move the needle. 

   
   

If you can tackle three small tasks every day those "Big Rocks" will eventually be moved.

So, what are your three things for today? Write them down, do them, celebrate the win, and do it all over again tomorrow.