The art of placing big stones: doubling your efficiency

The art of placing big stones: doubling your efficiency

Original article: big rocks first: double your productivity this week
Author: Zen Habits
Translator: Xianzhi

A university lecturer brought a bag of sand, a bag of small pebbles, a few big stones and a bucket during his class and asked if anyone could load these different shapes into a bucket. An enthusiastic student volunteered to go to the podium and grabbed his sandbags and poured them into the bucket. Then he put the pebbles in, but it was his turn to the big stones, he found that the bucket space was insufficient. The lecturer shook his head with regret. He emptied the barrel, put the stones into the barrel, put the pebbles in, And then poured into the sand. Finally, he shook the barrel and saw the three different shapes work seamlessly together to squeeze the barrel full.

If you compare your week to seven barrels, the things you need to do every day are as follows: big stones, small pebbles, and sand. Think about it. What about sandbags first? Or enlarge the stone first?

Make a plan for your next week and put the big stones in front

This is almost the same as the most important thing to plan every day (MITS), but it is only planned every week rather than every day. The big rock here refers to the most important task of the week. How can we make a plan for your next week?

1. List a task.Before the start of each week (Sunday evening or Monday morning), write down the important tasks you want to complete in this week. Remember is to write important tasks.
2. Keep it simple.When planning for the next week, you only need to write 4 ~ 6 big stones. Don't list more than 10 big stones from the beginning. If you don't finish them, it will only blow your self-confidence. In the future, you need to determine how much important things you should be able to accomplish every week.
3. Place large stones.Check your weekly schedule (if you don't have one, start one, or use Google calender), first list the appointments you have made, and then put your big stones in. It is best to put them in a time when you can definitely finish it, rather than the busiest time; do not put too little time to finish it yourself.
4. Leave some space.Check your big rocks and MITS every morning and don't make your schedule too tight. A compact schedule can only confuse the scheduled tasks and delay the scheduled tasks.
5. Complete as soon as possible.If you can, place the big stones in the morning and try not to put them in the evening or evening. Because in the evening and evening, you will only have the idea of delay.
6. Be proud.If all your big stones are finished, wow! Applaud and cheer for yourself ~

Why do these simple methods double your efficiency? You need to understandEfficiency does not mean to accomplish many things, but to accomplish the most important and useful things.. If you go around to complete small things, you are indeed busy with many things, but how many things have you done? We often review the past week. We may not have completed many things, but we can proudly say that we have completed the important things. So that you will feel happy, right? Learn to zoom in the stone art and you will find yourself more efficient.