Putting Your Rocks in the Jar First

This week the NoLimits team have been working on their objectives. My assistant and I were going through our objectives to make sure we were in sync. I tend to be a big picture person and had drawn up my six big wins for the next year. My assistant who is more detail orientated, emailed me her objectives. There was a list of at least 30 objectives. I felt quite overwhelmed and tired just by reading them. Her objectives had become a shopping list of individual tasks.

My assistant and I sat down and chatted about our objectives and when explaining about differentiating between tasks and objectives, I shared with her the Stephen Covey, 'Rocks in the Jar' analogy. In his book 'First Things First' Stephen Covey describes the following story:

An instructor at a lecture reaches under his table and retrieves a large gallon jar. He reaches to the side of the jar where there are some fist sized rocks and he starts putting the rocks in the jar until he can't get any more in. He asks the audience if the jar is full. They reply "yes". So he reaches under the table and pulls out a bucket of gravel. As he fills the spaces with gravel, he asks his audience if the jar is full. By now the audience suspects that it isn't full so they say "most probably not". The instructor reaches under the table and pours sand into the jar until it appears full and asks the audience if the jar is now full. "No" the audience shouts. "Good" responds the instructor. So he reaches under the table and retrieves a jug of water, pouring at least a quarter of a gallon of water into the jar until it is full. He asks his audience what's the point. His audience responds that if you work really hard you can always fit extra in. The instructor's response is "No, that's not the point. If you hadn't put the rocks in the jar first, you wouldn't have got any of them in."

Similarly when setting objectives, it's good to establish the rocks first and ask 'what are going to be my key, big wins?' Otherwise we can get so caught up with the detailed small tasks that we can't see the wood for the trees. I asked my assistant to group the individual tasks into overall key objectives in order to have clear signposts of the key big wins over the next year. Once this was established, she can then address each key objective with the list of tasks necessary to achieve it.

Now that we know what our rocks are, we have a clear vision of the route ahead.

Accentuating the Positives

Have you ever had one of those days or weeks where you think "why is this happening to me?" It's as though everything is conspiring against you and yet when you look more closely, these negative goings on, may have some positive repercussions.

Take last week in Bali, which had some challenging situations for me. In the space of two days the air conditioning on our rusty and dented hire car stopped working while driving in the sweltering midday sun. Shortly afterwards, the car broke down completely at Bali airport, so I ended up pushing it and I had guests arriving from our NoLimits Singapore Office with no transport to offer them. When I was given a much improved replacement car, we experienced a puncture in the middle of the Balinese countryside. The spare tyre was bald, bulging and half flat and when we finally arrived at a garage, the air machine was broken! After sorting out the punctured tyre and a new spare tyre, the hire company wanted to replace the improved car with the original, old dented car. When I asked to keep the new car, I was told I couldn't because it wasn't insured. I had been driving my guests on the potholed and perilous roads of Bali in a car that didn't have insurance!

Even though these situations appeared inconvenient at the time, if it wasn't for this whole series of events, I wouldn't have thought to check out the car insurance coverage. It turns out that I'm not covered to the extent I thought I was. By being driven to look into more detail, I have been able to sort out my insurance. I can now drive with peace of mind.

Turning around the negatives into positives can help us reframe situations for the better. What situations can you turn around for the better? As Michael Jordan, says:

"Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation." 

Taking Control

I was chatting to a good friend and work colleague yesterday. She recently moved to South Africa and will be on the move again in July as her partner's job is relocating to Europe. We both came to the conclusion that the best thing for her to overcome not knowing and feeling unsettled is to take control. She is now organising herself to find appropriate work opportunities in Europe and I'm writing her a reference. She already feels much better by taking action. She's focusing her energy on being in control, rather than worrying.

My family and I have spent the last 3 days travelling back to Bali from the UK with stop-overs en route in London and at our NoLimits Head Office in Singapore. I feel jet lagged, disorientated and out of control. I have 3 huge suitcases to sort out, as well as all the bits and pieces from the hand luggage. To top it all, there's no food in the house!

The only way to start feeling good is to take control. To take control requires getting into action. Getting into action requires organisation.

Although reluctant at first to get organised and take action, I feel much better now that I've unpacked, found places for everything and most importantly organised food! I'm in control.



As Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric says "Control your destiny or somebody else will."

How Resolute Are You?

It's that time of year when we decide to make New Year's resolutions and if we haven't done so yet, we wonder whether we should. There are also those of us who, based on previous unsuccessful attempts, become cynical, wonder why we ever bothered trying, and so decide to do nothing. For the millions of people across the world who do make New Year's resolutions, it is estimated that only a mere 10% manage to achieve them.

The main reason for failing to achieve our resolutions is that we are not resolute enough. According to Merriam Webster's On-line Dictionary a 'resolution' is defined as:

(a) the act or process of resolving;
(b) the art of analysing a complex notion into simpler ones;
(c) the act of answering / solving.

A synonym to 'resolution'  is 'courage' which is defined as mental or moral strength to venture, persevere and withstand danger, fear or difficulty.

'Resolute' is defined as marked by firm determination, purpose, belief, resolved and unwavering.

If we are able to follow through our resolutions using the dictionary definitions of these empowering words, we are much more likely to succeed.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to build a personal and professional development retreat in Bali which, at the moment, is a piece of land that was a former banana plantation and is surrounded by a jungle of wild trees and wildlife. For this big resolution, there's lots to be resolved, it's a complex notion that needs to be analysed into simpler ones and a lot of questions require answering. This resolution requires courage, determination, purpose and unwavering belief.

Now that the excitement of buying the land has passed, a resolute character will determine success, as with any resolution we choose to make, no matter how large or small:

"Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed."
Robert Cavett

Will my New Year's resolution be successful? Keep on reading this blog to find out ...........