How executives can take back control of their time

Your calendar will fill itself. The important question is whether it will fill with the work that matters most.

In an executive role, almost every open space attracts a meeting, a decision, a request or an issue that someone quite reasonably believes needs your attention. By Monday afternoon, the week you intended to have may already be disappearing. The strategic work has moved to Friday, the important conversation has been postponed again, and the time you protected for thinking has somehow become a “quick check-in” involving six people.

Recently, a client described this experience of “keeping so many plates spinning in the air” so that she was in a state of constant worry about what would happen if one dropped and smashed.

If you’re also feeling this way, Stephen Covey’s familiar “big rocks” metaphor is especially helpful to help you shift into a more empowered way of owning your time and attention. It’s simple enough to remember when the week gets busy, and practical enough to use without creating an entirely new personal productivity system— which, frankly, would just become one more thing to manage.

First of all, it helps to realize that the way you’re thinking about your situation affects your options. Most metaphors I hear are are about not being in control, or barely hanging on: besides plate spinning, I often hear “I’ve got lots of balls in the air,” or requests buzzing at you like mosquitos.

Instead, imagine your available time as a container- a bowl or a jar. Next to it are piles of rocks, pebbles and sand. The big rocks represent the few priorities that deserve your best attention. The pebbles and sand are the smaller tasks, meetings, requests and interruptions that can easily occupy every available space.

When the smaller things go in first, there’s rarely much room left for the work that matters most. The practical method is to identify your big rocks and give them a place before the rest of the week fills in around them.

The most important shift is to realize that you are choosing what goes in the bowl. You are not powerless. The key is to be proactive and really choose- don’t just let your bowl get filled up for you.

1. Choose your big rocks

At the beginning of the week, ask yourself:

What are the two or three most important things for me to move forward this week?

Keep the number small. A list of nine big rocks is just a longer to-do list where everything feels like a priority.

Your big rocks should represent meaningful leadership priorities. One might be thinking through an emerging strategic issue, preparing for a significant decision or having a conversation that’s been waiting too long. You may need to strengthen an important relationship, develop someone on your leadership team or create enough space to regain perspective on an issue you’ve been carrying.

These priorities will change with the season of your leadership. When you’re new to a role, relationships and listening may need more of your attention. During a major transition, communication and alignment may move to the forefront. In a more stable period, you may be able to focus on strategy, succession and building the organization’s longer-term capacity.

The key is to identify what genuinely needs your attention now. A useful question is:

What will make the greatest difference if I give it focused attention this week?

2. Give each priority a place

A priority becomes far more likely to happen once it has a specific place in your calendar.

“Spend time on strategy” is an admirable intention, although it’s remarkably easy to move. “Tuesday from 8:30 to 10:00 to review our three-year capacity needs” has a much better chance of surviving.

For each big rock, decide what you’ll do, when you’ll do it and how much time it needs. Consider what boundary will protect that time and whether anyone else needs to know that you’re unavailable.

Some priorities require uninterrupted thinking. Others need a scheduled conversation, a decision deadline or a recurring block in the calendar. Choose a time when you’re likely to have the energy the work requires. Saving your most difficult strategic thinking for 4:00 on Friday afternoon may be placing a little too much faith in your future self.

It also helps to decide in advance what would justify moving the commitment. A genuine emergency may qualify. A routine request from someone who happened to find an opening in your calendar probably doesn’t.

3. Make room

Placing a new priority into an already full calendar doesn’t create capacity. Something else has to change.

Ask yourself what you can delegate, delay, shorten or simplify. Look for meetings where your presence has become customary, decisions that can sit with someone else and updates that could be handled in a more efficient way.You may decide to leave a standing meeting, shorten a regular check-in or give another leader clearer authority. You may discover that a routine document can be perfectly adequate without receiving another round of executive polishing.

This is often the most revealing part of the exercise. Most leaders can identify important work. Making room for it requires a real choice. One question I use with clients is:

What are you willing to reduce, delegate or delay so this priority has a realistic chance of happening?

Without that choice, the big rock tends to become an evening or weekend commitment. The calendar remains full, and the leader’s personal time absorbs the difference.

4. Communicate the choice

Your priorities will often affect the people around you, especially when you begin using your time differently.

Let your team know when you’re protecting time for significant work. Clarify who can make decisions while you’re unavailable. Explain when you’re stepping away from a meeting or changing an approval process.

You might say:

“I’m protecting Tuesday morning for this work, so I won’t be available for routine meetings during that time.”

“You can make this decision without bringing it back to me, provided these two conditions are met.”

“I won’t attend this meeting regularly, although I’d like a short update if a significant issue arises.”

These conversations help people adjust. They also prevent protected time from being interpreted as a blank space that hasn’t yet found its meeting.

And if someone supports your calendar, they’ll be instrumental to your success. Thoroughly brief them on your priorities so that they can help protect your time. Run through some scenarios together that help you both understand the choices that must be made.

A ten-minute weekly practice

You don’t need to redesign your entire calendar. Start with ten minutes to write down:

My two or three big rocks for this month are:

I’ll protect them by:

To create room, I’ll reduce, delegate, delay or simplify:

Then get the commitments into your calendar.

At the end of the week, take a brief look back. Did the priorities receive meaningful attention? What displaced them? Did you protect the time, or did you negotiate against yourself as soon as something else appeared? What adjustment would help next week?

You won’t control every demand on your time. Executive work will always include surprises, urgent issues and obligations that can’t be moved. This practice gives you a practical way to exercise more choice within that reality.

Your calendar will fill itself. Putting the big rocks in first gives the work that matters a much better chance of making it into your week.